Elayis Tavzan scored twice as Netherlands U21’s defeated Switzerland 2-0 in an important U21 European Championship qualifier.
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After the draw in Bulgaria, Netherlands needed to win in Deventer on Tuesday to keep up their hopes of topping the group. Erwin van de Looi stuck with his 4-2-2-2 formation with Wouter Burger, Kenneth Taylor and Thomas Buitink all coming into the starting eleven.
Netherlands had the better chances before the break with Kenneth Taylor denied by the Swiss goalkeeper, while Buitink had a goal disallowed.
At the break, Brian Brobbey came off the bench and he thought he had made an instant impact when he turned his marker and fired the ball into the net. However, the goal was disallowed for a foul.
Netherlands were then reduced to ten men with Burger seeing his second yellow card for a clumsy foul. This led to Van de Looi switching Joshua Zirkzee for debutante Elayis Tavzan.
The NEC winger had a dream debut, netting from close range in the 76th minute. Tavzan then made it 2-0 minutes later, cutting in from the wing before firing into the far corner.
Despite playing with ten-men, Netherlands comfortably held on and they are now two points behind leaders Switzerland with a game in hand.
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