Taylor and Cillessen immediately in error; Geertruida cannot keep Mbappé: 3-0


Friday, March 24, 2023 at 8:56 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 21:15

The Netherlands fell behind in France within two minutes on Friday evening. Antoine Griezmann’s goal started with a hesitant performance by Kenneth Taylor, who failed to keep the ball in the team twice in a row. There were already doubts about the line-up of Ajax’s midfielder in the Dutch beforehand. Moments later, Jasper Cillessen made a mistake with a free kick, which was badly processed by the goalkeeper. Dayot Upamecano tapped in the 2-0. It got even worse for the the Dutch, as Kylian Mbappé already signed for 3-0 in minute 21.

In the second minute of the game, Taylor wanted to put the ball wide on Marten de Roon, a pass that was intercepted by Adrien Rabiot. Taylor was able to fix it himself, but was unable to prevent the French from regaining possession a few seconds later. Kylian Mbappé crossed low, Griezmann tapped in: 1-0. Five minutes later, Cillessen let a tricky high free kick hit the body, allowing Upamecano to simply tap in: 2-0. The the Dutch seemed to recover, but in minute 21 Mbappé made it 3-0. The superstar ducked behind the defense and escaped the attention of Lutsharel Geertruida, who unsuccessfully stepped in to intercept the pass.

Ronald Koeman stated to the NOS that Mats Wieffer is struggling with minor complaints and therefore cannot start. Hans Kraay junior didn’t know that yet when he joined ESPN put big question marks on Taylor’s drafting. “I would choose Wieffer 100 percent, next to De Roon,” Kraay immediately noted. “Whoever plays on the left or right. Koeman will undoubtedly say that Taylor always plays on the left side at Ajax and can do that well now, but that doesn’t matter to me at all. I really choose Wieffer at the moment, there I wouldn’t have doubted it for a second.”

The the Dutch has to be in pursuit in Paris, where it has started the European Championship qualifying cycle. That is not new for the returned national coach Ronald Koeman. In his first term as choice lord, the Netherlands fell behind in eleven of the twenty games under Koeman, seven times that happened in the first fifteen minutes.