Dropping out Depay and Koopmeiners big stain on simple victory the Dutch


Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 10:39 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme

The Dutch national team has won a simple victory over Poland in the Nations League. In Warsaw it became 0-2 for the team of national coach Louis van Gaal by goals from Cody Gakpo and Steven Bergwijn. Remko Pasveer (base) and Kenneth Taylor (substitute) made their debut. Next Sunday, the Dutch national team will play its last Nations League match. Then Belgium is the opponent in the Johan Cruijff ArenA and a place in the Final Four tournament must be secured.

Remarkably enough, Van Gaal chose Pasveer as goalkeeper. The Ajax goalie was preferred over Jasper Cillessen and Mark Fleks and made his first appearance in the Dutch. Pasveer (38 years and 318 days) is now the oldest player ever in the Dutch national team after Sander Boschker (39 years and 224 days). Cody Gakpo’s starting position was also striking. The PSV captain kept Steven Berghuis on the bench and acted as number 10 behind Memphis Depay and Steven Bergwijn. At the Poles there were, among others, base places for star player Robert Lewandowski and Feyenoord player Sebastian Szymanski.

The duel in Warsaw started catastrophically for Teun Koopmeiners. The midfielder went to the ground after 49 seconds after he appeared to receive an unintentional blow to the head from Karol Linetty. The Pole’s shoe also landed on Koopmeiners’ face. The Atalanta player had to leave the field on a stretcher and was replaced by Berghuis. The the Dutch immediately threw off the shock and was the better team from the first minute. After more than ten minutes, Daley Blind seemed to score the opening goal. The wingback escaped the attention of Przemyslaw Frankowski, but hit the ball completely wrong.

Three minutes later it happened. After a brilliant attack over the right side of the field, Gakpo was in front of the goal to tap in a cross from Denzel Dumfries. In particular, the front assist of Memphis Depay, who launched Dumfries with a nice foot movement, was of great beauty. The the Dutch soon got the opportunity to double the margin, but the completely detached Bergwijn and Dumfries were not found by Depay, who did not get his foot well behind the ball. Poland offered very little in return in the first half, except for a shot by Szymanski. The Feyenoord midfielder was the end station of a smooth attack, but Pasveer found his way.

At the start of the second half, Marten de Roon took the place of Frenkie de Jong, as a result of which Berghuis pushed one line forward. Arek Milik came in for Poland. The former Ajax player soon had a huge opportunity to equalize, but shot over in a promising position after the organization was completely lost at the the Dutch. Just before Milik’s chance, the Dutch national team had to deal with another blow, when Depay grabbed the hamstring and was unable to continue. Vincent Janssen took his place in the vanguard.

The Royal Antwerp attacker did not need long to make his mark, as he claimed an important role in the second Dutch goal ten minutes after his substitute. Janssen acted as a starting point and saw Bergwijn finish in a controlled manner after a smooth combination. The latter left for Wout Weghorst fifteen minutes before the end, while substitute Berghuis was replaced by Taylor, who, like Pasveer, made his debut. In the final phase, the substitutions did not benefit the game of the the Dutch, but the home team did not become dangerous.