Netherlands were dominated by Italy on Monday evening and slipped to a 1-0 defeat in Amsterdam.

Interim head coach Dwight Lodeweges decided to make one change from the side that defeated Poland 1-0 with Donny van de Beek coming in for Steven Bergwijn and Georginio Wijnaldum was played out on the right-wing.

From the start in Amsterdam, Italy were the stronger side and the came close to opening the scoring a number of times. However, Oranje survived until injury time in the first-half when Nicolò Barella headed past Jasper Cillessen.

Lodeweges tactical decision to play Wijnaldum on the right didn’t work and on the hour mark, Van de Beek was sacrificed for Bergwijn. By that point, Italy should have been 2-0 up but Ciro Immobile missed a great chance.

Denzel Dumfries and Luuk de Jong were also brought on but neither could have an impact as Italy easily dealt with a blunt Netherlands attack. Memphis Depay also picked up a silly yellow card late on which rules him out of the clash against Bosnia and Herzegovina next month.

Netherlands stay on three points and slip to second behind Italy, who have four. Poland beat Bosnia 2-1 in the group’s other game.




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