On his debut as an Orange-international, Mark Fleks with the Dutch national team won 4-2 against Denmark in a friendly game.
The Bocholtzenaar, the first Limburg international since Joshua Brenet in November 2016, was supported in the Johan Cruijff ArenA by several buses with supporters from his native village and other South Limburg places.
Direct hit
The Orange squad just took the lead via a beautifully rounded attack by Steven Bergwijn, when Flek saw the first Danish goal fly directly against the ropes. Daley Blind was knocked in the air by the Danish defender Jannik Vestergaard with a sharp cross and Flek, who had come off his line, was unable to thwart the goal: 1-1 in the nineteenth minute.
Solid
The Freiburg keeper, who is also praised for his footballing qualities, made a solid impression with the limited number of balls that he received. The Orange was the boss on the field and often forced the Danes back into their own half. The predominance was also expressed in the score before half time: Nathan Ake nodded the 2-1 after half an hour of football and Memphis made it 3-1 from a penalty.
No chance
Immediately after the break, Flek had no chance at all with the second Danish goal: Christian Eriksen, who was warmly welcomed by the public, was on the field for less than two minutes when he pushed the ball into the corner: 3-2. After that, there were some opportunities from both sides and a fine pass by Flek led to the attack which resulted in the 4-2, when Bergwijn curled the ball nicely into the far corner.
reflex
The keeper was then finally able to distinguish himself as the closing post by tapping a Danish shot from a difficult corner in front with a smooth reflex. In stoppage time Flek also had to parry a shot by Andreas Skov Olsen in the short corner. Goals would no longer be scored, also because a striking header by Pierre-Emile Hojberg was rejected for pushing: it remained 4-2 for the Netherlands.
Opportunity
During this international match, Fleks will have the opportunity to prove himself in the battle for a place in the selection for the World Cup, in November. National coach Louis van Gaal is clearly charmed by the goalkeeper ‘discovered’ by him, who is used to playing with three central defenders in front of him at Freiburg. Van Gaal also wants to play with three men at the back as standard, in what the national coach calls a 1-3-4-1-2 system.
Germany
The Netherlands did that for the first time against the Danes. On Tuesday, the Orange squad will practice against Germany, again in Amsterdam. It is possible that Flek will be in between the posts again.