Despite the Domper, the road to next year’s World Cup is still wide open, but should have been paved with gold. On Sunday in Lithuania (6 pm) the nasty taste must be washed away.
Denzel Dumfries heads the 1-0. © ANP/HH
Coverse Denzel Dumfries does it again
Again it was that Dumfries Cover that – in the 28th minute – broke the spell. The patience of Oranje was put to the test in the tight half hour before. The guests are dug in and the Netherlands had trouble finding the openings despite the frequent ball possession. The day before the qualification, Koeman had been disturbed by the basic team on the closing training, which was less than the reserve team. And even after about twenty minutes, the national coach must have annoyed the sloppy game green and yellow.
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Oranje Sprust Opportunities
Nevertheless, it was mainly because of the grabbing Polish keeper Lukasz Skorupski a miracle that the Dutch national team never took the lead. A shot by Tijjani Reijnders ended up on the post through an opponent and Skorupski had a lot of trouble turning a deployment from Cody Gakpo, but barely succeeded. His salvation to his own efforts by Nicola Zalewski, after he had held a fraction for this Dumfries from the 1-0, was more lucky than wisdom with the help of the post.
Denzel Dumfries is celebrating his goal © ANP/HH
The deserved opening goal came. It was striking that it originated from a corner by Memphis Depay and came to Dumfries’ name (1-0). A player from the Brazilian league as an assistant and a football player who earns his bread in Italy as a heading goal scorer, while there was the record number of eight (!) Internationals from the Premier League on the field. Frenkie de Jong was the third strange duck in the English bite. The goal of Dumfries was his fifth in the last seven international matches.
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A number that even Robert Lewandowski will be jealous of. In De Kuip he returned to the Polish team. The striker, who is considered the best football player ever of Poland by many, fell in dismay with the previous national coach Michal Probierz, because he decreased the captain’s band. Probierz came out of the fight as a loser, had to clear the field and was replaced by Jan Urban, who immediately put the FC Barcelona attacker back into his arms and bombarded it to the captain.
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Robert Lewandowski remains invisible
However, the biggest chance for the break was not for the invisible Lewandowski, but for ex-Feyenoorder Sebastian Szymanski, who headed completely detached next to it. The second half was a lot less entertaining than the first. Depay was close to his 51st international match (record) goal, but saw the ball be tapped just before him. As a result, he remains at the same level with Robin van Persie. That record will come. He will have made much busier about the expensive misstep. Cash culminated the ball hard in (1-1). Something Xavi Simons had failed for that.