Netherlands Net Late Winner In Five-Goal Thriller
14 June, 2021
Netherlands 3-2 Ukraine
Netherlands marked their return at the European Championship with victory after edging Ukraine in a five-goal thriller within their Group C opener on Sunday evening.
The Oranje were still without centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, who joined Virgil van Dijk in the injury list and the three-man centre-defence of Jurrien Timber, Daley Blind and Stefan de Vrij found the fore while Wout Weghorst and Memphis Depay spearheaded the attack.
Netherland had an instant start as Depay and Denzel Dumfries had two good chances inside the first nine minutes nonetheless they were denied by goalkeeper Georgi Bushchan.
The Dutch came near breaking the deadlock just before the half-hour-mark after Weghorst experienced on goal and thought he previously rounded Bushchan but the Ukrainian shot-stopper made a last-ditch save, grabbing the ball off his feet.
Frank de Boer's charges had a solid finish in the latter stages of the second stanza as Georginio Wijnaldum forced a breath-taking save out of Bushchan with a volley in the box before Dumfries missed a sitter 5 minutes before half-time.
Wijnaldum finally gave Netherlands the lead seven minutes inside second stanza with a looping strike right into a gaping net after Bushchan parried a minimal cross onto his path.
Andriy Shevchenko's troops were opening up at the trunk, as Weghorst doubled the lead for Netherlands six minutes later with a cracking strike from a rebound at the near post following the Yellow and Blue didn't clear their lines.
Ukraine didn't drop their heads, as the overall game exposed and Andriy Yarmolenko pulled an objective back in the last quarter of one hour with a sensational curling strike from just outside the box that found the top corner.
Shevchenko's troops then snatched the equaliser 11 minutes before time, with Roman Yaremchuk nodding home a free-kick by Ruslan Malinovskyi.
However, the Dutch had the ultimate say as Dumfries netted the winner for the Dutch in the last 5 minutes with a header at the back post after a lofted cross by Ake.
Austria 3-1 North Macedonia
Austria won their first ever game at the European Championship after thrashing debutants North Macedonia 3-1 in a Group C opener on Sunday evening.
Austria went winless in 2008 as co-hosts and in the 2016 edition while North Macedonia qualified for the first time.
David Alaba captained Das Team at centre-back role while North Macedonia's veteran forward and skipper Goran Pandev was paired with Aleksandar Trajkovski upfront.
Das Team had an excellent start after Stefan Lainer gave them the lead in the 18th minute with a volley across goal at the trunk post after a sublime cross by Marcel Sabitzer.
However, Igor Angelovski's charges got the equaliser 10 minutes later after Trajkovski pounced on a mistake by shot-stopper Daniel Bachmann, who could not hold onto a minimal cross, which allowed Pandev to slot into a clear net.
With the sides going at one another in the first stages of the second stanza, Austria made a decision to make a double change soon after the hour-mark after taking right out Christoph Baumgartner and Sasa Kalajdzic for Michael Gregoritsch and Marko Arnautovic.
The changes paid as Gregoritsch managed to get 2-1 for Franco Foda's troops within the last 12 minutes with a first-time finish past Dimitrievski at the near post after a well weighted cross by Alaba.
Arnautovic sealed the offer for Austria with the third goal in the last minute of regulation time with a strike into a clear net after rounding Dimitrievski from Konrad Laimer's flick on.
Source:
TAG(s):