Ronald Koeman has wonderful memories in Hamburg. 36 years ago, at this venue, the Dutch took revenge for the defeat in 1974 by beating Germany to reach the final of Euro 1988. It was a tough match. It drained out a lot of sweat from both teams and 36 years later, Koeman experienced the same.
Holland
came to #Euro against the backdrop of a strong qualifier, finishing just behind
one of the favourites of this year's Euro - France. Meanwhile, Poland qualified
courtesy of the UEFA Nations League play-offs.
Holland,
amid the sea of Orange, started controlling the ball but against the run of
play, they fell behind. The Polish looked to block the spaces and stretch the
Dutch backline. Well, the Dutch had not wasted time reorganizing and registering a comeback.
Despite
wasting opportunities - Cody Gakpo drove towards the D-box of Poland and,
sensing the danger, three white Polish shirts contorted their bodies to block
the pending shot - Gakpo’s effort reflected off one defender and skidded off
Bartosz Salamon, wrong-footing Szczesny, who had already dived to his right.
1-1, but
the danger remained as Poland kept things tighter to test Holland. The Dutch
midfield offered little and it was up to Nathan Ake to link up with
the backline and provide the goods to forwards.
Just as the Dutch had gone a little down, Koeman sent on Jeremie Frimpong and Wout Weghorst to inject a bit of momentum.
Frimpong
almost immediately snuck on to a through ball only for Szczesny to smother but
then Weghorst pounced inside the box, smacking in after Aké’s deflected cross
bounced invitingly.
A hard-earned point.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
No comments:
Post a Comment