Ronald Koeman has his first win as Netherlands coach with his side defeating 10-man Portugal 3-0 in Geneva.
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After the defeat to England on Friday, Koeman decided to change up his tactics with the 3-4-3 ditched for a 5-3-2. He only made seven changes to his starting eleven. Jasper Cillessen, Kenny Tete, Nathan Ake, Tonny Vilhena, Davy Propper, Donny van de Beek and Ryan Babel all came into the side.
Portugal began the game with the bulk of possession but Netherlands managed to keep a Cristiano Ronaldo led attack out. On 12 minutes, Netherlands finally got a chance to counter and Van de Beek’s mishit shot was slid into the net by Memphis Depay.
The Euro 2016 champions couldn’t find a way through Oranje’s organised defence and on half an hour Matthijs de Ligt made a bursting run forward which ended with the centre-back hammering a perfect cross into the box for Ryan Babel to send a bullet header into the top corner.
Portugal were shocked and it got worse before the break as a Memphis free-kick was headed down in the box by De Ligt for Virgil van Dijk to sweep in a third.
At the start of the second half, Portugal came out fighting and Cillessen had to make good stops from both Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma. However, any chance of a comeback was ended on the hour mark as João Cancelo was shown his second yellow card for a hard challenge on Vilhena.
With a man extra, Netherlands soaked up the pressure from Portugal and that allowed Koeman to hand debuts to Justin Kluivert and Guus Til. The duo nearly combined for a goal late on but Kluivert’s cross was too close to Anthony Lopes in the Portugal goal. In the final moments, Cillessen and van de Beek made great last ditch clearances to maintain Netherlands clean-sheet.
Koeman gets his first win as Oranje coach and ends Netherlands horrible run against Portugal, which stretches back to 1991. A very positive end to the international break.
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Along with any criticism must also come praise – I’m really happy for the team and for Koeman, let’s hope that the Oranje can use this performance to push on into the next qualifying tournament.
I hope this result can finally end the Dutch obsession with 4-3-3. Yes it’s a friendly, but from the highlights I saw, Cristiano Ronaldo was trying hard enough to employ his embarrassing diving tactics to try to win a penalty. It’s not like Portugal didn’t care.
A result like this, even in a friendly, needs to be a building block. The players we have can play a 5-3-2 and beat the European Champions. This will give the players confidence going into the next round of friendlies and into the Nations League this fall. Today is a day to feel good for Oranje and its supporters!
Congratulations for the players and coach..it was good game with koeman sistem we will be good team agan and will dont have to afrait any top team..de light what a player will be top class..hope glory come back tu us..
Hiddink abandoned the 5-3-2 right after the World Cup and its been downhill since then. This match showed why should be preferred going forward. They look far more secure in defense, allowing very minimal space. With speedy forwards they caused problems on the counterattack.
Thought Davy Propper was excellent in midfield – counted 4 or 5 interceptions he made in the first 25 minutes alone, and he started the move for the 1st goal.
A very long way to go before Euro 2020, but Koeman has a clear direction and that’s a positive sign.
A Koeman lo estaba aclamando desde hace tiempo y va a cambiar la direccion de la oranje a ser de los mejores y mas poderosos equipos del mundo, le recuerdo a Alemania y Francia que en la copa de naciones para finales ano que van a tener un hueso muy duro, por otra parte la federacion holandesa debe concentrarse en los resultados de los juveniles que lo estan eliminando de los torneos por la misma situacion de la horrible formacion del 4-3-3 que no da resultado desde hace mucho tiempo(1988), los mejores resultados que se han alcanzado en los ultimos tiempos son en los mundiales 2010 a la final con una formacion de 4-2-3-1 y 2014 tercer lugar 5-3-2 y entonces por que el 4-3-3? que alguien me explique el por que? se han votado a la basura 2 torneos importantes y con posibilidades de tener buenos resultados, se aprendera la leccion ahora?