Wout Weghorst got up this morning with a special premonition, he says in front of the camera of the NOS. In the won exhibition game with Georgia (3-0), the striker of the Dutch national team scored the 2-0, and with it his first international goal. That goal stirred up a lot of emotions. “It was pure relief and pure joy,” Weghorst recalls.
“It was just really nice, especially because it was just an important goal in the game. It’s not about me, because the most important thing is that we just go to the European Championship with a good feeling. But it was not a coincidence, there is no such thing as coincidence,” emphasizes Weghorst. “Sometimes you get up and you know it’s going to be a special day. It’s easy to talk now, but I knew.”
A very happy Weghorst has his first goal in the Dutch! He makes it 2-0 against Georgia. #nedgeo pic.twitter.com/yLnfoaLmtN
— NOS Football (@NOS Football) June 6, 2021
The VfL Wolfsburg striker is referring to the connection between him and Memphis Depay, with whom Weghorst has prepared well for the meeting with Georgia. “Coincidentally, it happened yesterday at training. I make these runs from his back and I told him that. I also showed him some footage of a similar run of mine against Scotland. Now he delivered the perfect ball with the perfect speed. Ultimately, I’m ready to finish those kinds of balls,” said Weghorst.
Despite his hit, the studio of the NOS did not react exuberantly to Weghorst’s performance. “I’ve been waiting for the changes to come”, says Pierre van Hooijdonk. “Because after that you just saw that the players who came in are able to knock a man out. In the starting line-up you actually only had Memphis who could do that, but Weghorst, Dumfries and Wijndal cannot. Then you are just very limited as a team and we saw that in the first half in particular.”
A fat and a rare insufficient in the the Dutch farewell match
Voetbalzone gave the players of the Dutch national team a score after the game against Georgia.
“Whether I prefer to see Memphis and Malen play together in the striker? Yes,” continues Van Hooijdonk. “I think that in modern football you are more dangerous as a team, because then you have more speed in the team. Weghorst is a great striker, but he doesn’t have the sheer speed that Malen or Memphis have. I also find the collaboration between Malen a bit better and more natural.”
Theo Janssen agrees with his colleague, but he can understand the emotion at Weghorst well. “Because that boy, who has played at quite small clubs, has heard from everyone from the time he started playing football that he was not good enough. And eventually he reached the Dutch national team through small steps. It’s super handsome what he’s doing and I have nothing but compliments for that. But if you look at the Dutch national team and the type that you ideally want there, I would still choose another one.”
“I understand that Memphis can work well with Weghorst,” Janssen continues. “Weghorst also plays for Memphis, of course, who knows where he stands with Weghorst. Malen is a bit of the same type of player as Memphis, because he can also get into the same rooms. What is the advantage of Malen over Weghorst is that he can go deep at the right time and then become life-threatening. And Weghorst simply misses that,” concludes the analyst.
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