The Dutch national team failed to beat Ecuador in a practice match. National coach Ronald Koeman saw his team draw 1-1 in the Philips Stadium. The Netherlands played a large part of the match with one man less after a red card for Denzel Dumfries.
The Dutch team opened the score in the third minute. After a cross from the left, Willian Pacho put the ball into his own goal in a duel with Donyell Malen: 1-0. Shortly afterwards, Malen almost doubled the lead, but keeper Gonzalo Valle was back in his penalty area just in time to keep the ball out of the goal.
Dumfries received a red card in the twelfth minute for bringing down Gonzalo Plata who had broken through. After a foul by goalkeeper Mark Flokken, captain Enner Valencia took a penalty halfway through the first half: 1-1.
The Dutch team remained intact in the remainder. In preparation for the World Cup, the Netherlands will play the next practice match against Algeria in De Kuip on Wednesday, June 3.
Tough task
Ronald Koeman emphasized after the match that his team faces a tough task in the group stage of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. “There are people who think that we will do that for a while. But we have a difficult group,” said the national coach.
Sweden qualified for the World Cup with a victory over Poland (3-2). The Dutch team will meet that team on June 20 in Houston. Japan is the first opponent in the final rounds in three host countries on June 14. The Netherlands will conclude the group stage on June 26 with a match against Tunisia. “We played against Poland at the last European Championship and in the qualifying tournament for the upcoming World Cup,” said Koeman. “In that respect, it is nice that it turned out to be Sweden.”
“But Sweden has a good team and recently also eliminated Ukraine. And Japan won against England tonight. We can really compete at the World Cup.”
