Frivolous Dutch team also wins the last practice match before the European Championship, partly thanks to first international goal Xavi Simons

Wessel Antes


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The Dutch national team also won the last practice match for EURO 2024 on Monday. The Dutch team were too strong for Iceland 4-0 in a soaking wet Kuip. National coach Ronald Koeman saw Xavi Simons score his first international goal, but afterwards he will be mainly concerned about the injury that Teun Koopmeiners sustained during the warm-up.

Koeman was forced to make a change to his intended starting XI before the first whistle on Monday. The experienced selector planned to change his team in no fewer than nine places and only leave Bart Verbruggen and Memphis Depay after the 4-0 practice win over Canada.

However, Koopmeiners suffered a groin injury during the warm-up, which meant that PSV player Jerdy Schouten was allowed to start against the rather weak Iceland. From the first minute, the Netherlands put a lot of pressure on the visitors' compact defense.

After a shot by Joey Veerman and several small opportunities for Memphis, it was Simons who broke the spell in the 23rd minute with his first goal in the the Dutch shirt. After a nice ball from Veerman, Denzel Dumfries nodded through to Simons, who beat goalkeeper Hákon Valdimarsson from close range: 1-0.

Even after the break, the Netherlands was the dominant party. That quickly led to a doubling of the score. Captain Virgil van Dijk was important from a corner, just like against Canada. Veerman's corner ended up over the heads of Schouten and Nathan Aké and reached Van Dijk, who was quick to nod in: 2-0.

Ten minutes after the tea break, Tijjani Reijnders escaped a leading role in conceding a goal. The AC Milan midfielder lost the ball on his own back line, after which Stefan de Vrij made an alert intervention to prevent the visitors from Iceland from scoring. After 66 minutes Koeman decided to make a substitution.

Micky van de Ven replaced Aké, while Schouten made way for Georginio Wijnaldum. Iceland did a little better in the last part of the practice match. Substitute Stefán Teitur Thórdarson thought he could surprise Verbruggen with a long shot, but saw his effort from far away hit the post.

Yet the Dutch team's last practice victory before the European Championship was never in danger. Donyell Malen, who had replaced Cody Gakpo three minutes earlier, completely ended the match after 79 minutes. After a wonderful pass from Memphis, the lightning-fast substitute only made no mistake for Valdimarsson: 3-0.

Memphis himself also thought he was making a contribution when he worked a wonderful cross from Jeremie Frimpong behind Valdimarsson. However, the video referee ensured that the celebration did not take place, because Veerman had made hands early in the attack. Super sub Wout Weghorst eventually scored a fourth Dutch goal after a tap-in on a pass from Malen: 4-0.

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