What a match this was. A match that lived up to its billing and got everyone almost at the edge of their seats with some lovely goals, great interplays, and 5 goals thriller.
The Netherlands hosted Ukraine at Johan Cruyff's stadium and Ukraine produced the early threats on the night. They bombarded the Netherlands but they came out of it.
The Orange boys should have gotten the lead in the 2nd minute when Memphis Depay's solo run almost gave them the lead. He had it all to do after racing through on goal with brilliant footwork from around the halfway line but his shot lacked the power and the placement to beat the goalkeeper.
Just 3 minutes after, Dumfries missed a seater after he was found but the goalkeeper saved it. In the 7th minute also, the captain of the night, Wijnaldum was set up and he blazed over the bar shockingly.
Ukraine relied on the counter and they broke a few times on the counter but it was the Netherlands who had the better opportunities but they were sloppy. It is expected for the first game to be like this and most time it is either down to luck or digging deep.
Wijnaldum also had another volley saved by the busy Ukrainian goalkeeper. Dumfries again missed another header at the side of the post when he was perfectly positioned to steer it home. Just before the halftime break, Yarmolenko should have scored but he was unable to get the last touch to lift the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper. It was a lovely interplay by Ukraine.
The second half restarted and Wijnaldum made up for his earlier saved shots in the first half when a loosed ball trickled into his path and he blasted it home. The goalkeeper did well to save the initial shot before he parried it into the path of the onrushing Wijnaldum but he wasn't lucky enough to save that shot this time around.
It wasn't long before the Netherlands secured their second goal of the night when the goalkeeper spilt the ball again and Weghorst was on hand to get it into the back of the net. Just when everyone thought the Netherlands have run off with this game, Yarmolenko produced a moment of magic when he scored sensationally. He found the top left corner of the post from just outside the box to leave the goalkeeper with no chance. To me, that's the best goal of the tournament so far. He halved the deficit to 2-1.
The Netherlands gave away a freekick just outside the box. An indirect freekick was taken and Yaremchuk positioned himself so well to guide the ball into the back of the net to draw the game level, 2-2. It was a perfectly executed freekick and a brilliant header too.
The Netherlands had the last laugh and killed any hope of a comeback for Ukraine when Dumfries also made up for his earlier first-half misses by delivering the goods with just 5 minutes to go. Nathan Ake came in and justified that substitution when he whipped in a lovely cross into the path of Dumfries who didn't waste the chance this time around to seal their 3 points on the night. The game ended 3-2 and they joined Austria, who had earlier won North Macedonia by 3-1, in 3 points.
Here is how the table stands:
Austria - 3 Points
Netherlands - 3 Points
Ukraine - 0 Point
North Macedonia - 0 Point.
Thank you for your time.
My pen doesn't bleed, it speaks, with speed and ease.
Still me,
My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
Olawalium; (Love's chemical content, in human form). Take a dose today: doctor's order.
Hi @olawalium ,I look at the player and I imagine you also yelling at you but louder ha ha ha, ignore me, but smile that this life is quite difficult, now people already vaccinated walk arrogantly making it known that they are not going to die from the virus, they forget that the primary requirement to die is to be alive, humans are not going to change
Hahahaha. Sadly, humans resist change.
Well what I say makes you laugh, me too ha ha ha, obviously I mean your screaming goooool, I guess all of Nigeria realized who was yelling, they said, that's olawalium without a doubt ha ha ha ha.
Happy night my friend :)
Hahahahaha. I love screaming when my favourite team scores 😂😂🤣❤🥰
Гарний матч!