Netherlands beat Poland 2-1 in the first match of Euro 2024 group D.
The Polish ants contain the Dutch cicadas for a long time, then Ronald Koeman draws the joker from the bench: Wout Weghorst enters and scores a three-point goal at the end of an interesting and hard-fought match, in a group complicated by the presence of Austria and, above all , of France. Bitter epilogue for the Poles who had taken the lead with Buksa and were reached by a shot from Gakpa, unfortunately deflected by Romanchuk.
The veteran Szczesny acts as a phenomenon for a long time to contain the plays of Gakpo, Reijnders and Dumfries, while the young Verbruggen has fewer opportunities to show off. Zielinski and Reijnders are facing each other in midfield in anticipation of the next Milan derby. The Netherlands are beautiful to look at, but Simons and Depay make a lot of smoke while Gakpo is more concrete. In midfield Schouten contains with the help of Veerman while AC Milan player Reijnders presents himself with continuity. Poland is compact and physically continuous. Zielinski is the soul of the team, but the most continuous is Zalewski, who worries Simons and Ake’ with a performance that he hasn’t offered in Roma for some time, even if it is from his approximate clearance that the action of the Dutch peer.
In the derby of absences, Poland ‘fields’ Lewandowski and Milik, but the Netherlands prevails with Koopmeiners, De Roon, De Jong and Robbey, with the rebellious Koeman forced to recall Zirkzee from holidays, who doesn’t convince him much. Apprehension before the match with the police intervening to stop a man with an ax who wanted to get close to the Orange fans. The superior quality deludes the Dutch that the goal will arrive sooner or later but, after a save by Szczesny on Gakpo, it is Poland who passes in the 16th minute with the home specialty, the inactive ball: corner by Zielinski, slept by Dumfries and Van Dijks, winning header by Buksa. The Dutch captain turns into the fray, forcing Szczesny into one of many decisive saves. Depay wasted it and the equalizer was deserved, but a bit accidental, with a shot from the enterprising Gakpo deflected by Romanchuk. Then Gakpo and Depay miss the target from excellent positions. In the second half the match became more balanced because the introductions of Moder, Swiderski and Slisz gave strength to Poland who implemented an expensive pressing which partly dampened the effervescent Dutch maneuvering game. But the expert Koeman understands that it is time to play the card of the ‘robber’ Weghorst, who in the 82nd minute goes into the net with the first ball touched, an impact similar to his entry into the world championship with the brace against Argentina, who had then imposed on penalties. Poland tries again with Swiderski and Zalewski, but Verbruggen is attentive and certifies the deserved, but less obvious than expected, Dutch success.
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