The Orange did not manage to book the first victory under the rule of Frank de Boer against Spain. With goals from Sergio Canales in the first half and Donny van de Beek after the break, the game ended in a 1-1 draw in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. It means that after four international matches – previously against Mexico (0-1) Bosnia-Herzegovina (0-0) and Italy (1-1) – De Boer is still waiting for his first victory, which means a negative record. Bill Townley (in 1924) and Dick Advocaat (in 1992) were previously without a win in their first three international matches.

Compared to the Nations League match against Italy (1-1), De Boer switched back to a 4-3-3 formation, with starting places for Marco Bizot, Owen Wijndal, Joël Veltman and Steven Berghuis. The friendly match against Spain was important for Orange in view of the world ranking, where a place among the ten best European countries must be maintained to be in pot 1 during the draw for the qualifying cycle for the 2022 World Cup. as many as ten other players compared to the previous international match against Ukraine in the Nations League (1-0 defeat), without Sergio Ramos, among others.

Álvaro Morata was at the kick-off and made the first attempt of the game with a harmless shot. De Boer soon had to make a change, because Nathan Aké had to be replaced by Daley Blind with a hamstring injury. The next setback occurred for the Orange after nineteen minutes of play, when Sergio Canales opened the score with his first international goal. After a pass from Morata, the Real Betis midfielder was able to accept and finish, partly because Veltman failed to intervene.

With half an hour left on the clock, Spain also had to change, after José Luis Gayá collided with Hans Hateboer, could not continue and was replaced by Sergio Reguilón. Shortly afterwards, the Orange thought they were entitled to a penalty when Luuk de Jong went to the ground within the box, but Italian referee Davide Massa did not put the ball on the spot. In the last phase before half-time, the best opportunities via Morata and Marco Asensio were still for the Spaniards, but the defense of the Orange managed to limit the damage.

De Boer intervened in the break and brought Stefan de Vrij, Denzel Dumfries, Davy Klaassen and Calvin Stengs into the field at the expense of Hans Hateboer, Frenkie de Jong, Georginio Wijnaldum and Steven Berghuis. The Orange came out of the dressing room well, as the equalizer was already on the scoreboard after two minutes in the second half. Wijndal’s cross bounced through into the penalty area, after which the ball fell at Van de Beek’s feet. The Manchester United midfielder scored convincingly: 1-1.

The first minutes after the break were for the Orange, but gradually Spain got into its game better. Asensio and Koke had good opportunities for a new Spanish lead, while substitute Adama Traoré also made his mark with a shot. With twenty minutes to go, however, Memphis Depay got the golden opportunity to give the Orange the lead. The attacker of Olympique Lyon, the captain after the break, was the end station of a nice attack via Stengs and Dumfries, but encountered the Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon from close by.

Because Luuk de Jong also missed a good chance, because he dawdled after a cross from Dumfries, the game in the Johan Cruijff ArenA ended up being no winner. Massa whistled after exactly ninety minutes and chose not to add injury time. For the Orange squad, a home game against Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Nations League now awaits next Sunday. Three days later, the international period will be concluded with an away game against Poland.