Two penalties and one sending off
Crazy final phase: Netherlands narrowly avoid embarrassment
June 8, 2026 – 11:14 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The Netherlands has to cope with the loss of Jurriën Timber. In the last test, the team has a hard time against the outsider.
The Netherlands hardly gained any self-confidence during their dress rehearsal for the World Cup. Against the outsiders from Uzbekistan, who also qualified for the
Goals for the “Elftal” only came from foul penalties, Cody Gakpo was also accurate deep into stoppage time after the opening goal (32nd minute) (90th + 8). The Uzbeks had recently equalized through Igor Sergeyev (90+2).
That’s how the game went
The Dutch initially appeared extremely dominant after kick-off, but like in the 0-1 defeat in the endurance test against Algeria a few days ago in front of their home crowd, goals refused to come. Only the penalty kicks helped, and after Guus Til was shown a red card for handball (87th), the team wobbled for a while.
Overall, it wasn’t necessarily a successful day for the “Elftal”: before the start of the game, the association announced that Jurriën Timber would be out of the finals, and the 24-year-old defender from Arsenal FC had “not recovered sufficiently from a groin injury,” according to X.
However, there is still no place in the Koeman team for Jeremie Frimpong, who moved to Liverpool FC in 2025 after four years at Bayer Leverkusen. Instead, the former Leipzig player Lutsharel Geertruida (AFC Sunderland) was nominated. There is further concern for regular goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who had to leave the pitch after 67 minutes.
Just like Germany, the three-time vice world champions start the World Cup on June 14th, their first opponent is Japan. In Group F, the Netherlands will also face Sweden (June 20) and Tunisia (June 26).