Netherlands UEFA Nations League campaign ended in final defeat as Goncalo Guedes sealed a 1-0 victory for Portugal.
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As Netherlands looked for their first trophy in 31 years, Ronald Koeman decided to name the same starting eleven that overcame England. That meant Marten de Roon and Ryan Babel kept their places ahead of Donny van de Beek and Quincy Promes.
Just like the first half against England, Netherlands enjoyed some decent spells of possession but lacked any cutting edge going forward.
All the chances in the first half were for the hosts but Cristiano Ronaldo among others were lacking a finish. Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt also defended several set pieces perfectly as the half ended goalless.
Koeman had seen enough and Promes was introduced at the break in place of the ineffective Babel.
Netherlands began the second half a bit brighter but Portugal took control again. On the hour mark, just after Donny van de Beek had replaced Steven Bergwijn, Portugal took the lead. Goncalo Guedes got the ball on the edge of the box and fired a strike into the bottom corner despite Jasper Cillessen getting a hand on the ball.
Five minutes later, Netherlands had a great chance to equalise but Memphis Depay’s header from close range was kept out by Rui Patricio.
Koeman brought on Luuk de Jong but an equaliser never came as Portugal comfortable saw out the game to claim the trophy.
A positive campaign overall for Netherlands ends in a deserved defeat in the final. Koeman will now have to switch focus on reaching Euro 2020 when qualifiers resume in September.
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There is only one star player in the dutch team, v van dijk, no one else. After this game i would go for de vrij or ake instead of de ligt, f. De jong is overrated nothing more, depay is only an o lyon player, bergwijn,de roon, just average or less, promes a bench warmer in the worst sevilla team of last years, babel time is over, light years away from the team of robben sneijder van persie.
You can’t be serious! De Jong and DeLigt are already world class at 22 and 19yrs.
Troll!
Did we see the same game on sunday?? What do you mean by world class? Whatch the potugese goal again, its bernardo silva passing the ball under de ligt’s feet,creating the space for the other player who scored and on my count its 2 errors in 2 games in a row that led to 2 goals! No sir, de ligt might become, but he is not world class.
De jong was a shadow on the pitch, bad defending,played simple balls and never creating superiority, and thats not world class!
A world class player wins the games and these 2 have still to prove their being “world class”, i am a dutch football fan and very dissapointed
While this new competition is not on the level of prestige as the Euro or World Cup, I am still gutted at Oranje once again losing in a final. The bright spot is that this team is quite young in comparison to 2010, when that team was at its peak.
As for the match itself, it’s clear that playing an extra 30 minutes and Portugal having an extra day of rest affected Oranje. It is what it is. I would like UEFA to provide some clarity on the VAR check for handball right after Luuk de Jong came on. We can all use the recording settings on our televisions to see that ball hit a hand.
In the end though, looking forward to September. Need a result in Germany for Euro Qualifiers.
Portugal were the better side and fully deserved to win. Holland couldn’t pass their way through Danilo and Carvalho.
The decision making by the forwards on the few offensive forays was poor. Memphis, Wijnaldum, and De Roon in particular always seemed to pick the wrong pass or tried to be too clever.
In the fall, Van De Beek should be brought into the starting XI. Fashioned the only really good chance and these 2 matches showed Holland needed a more energetic and creative #10. He should replace De Roon. Wijnaldum should then drop deeper (where he plays for Liverpool).
Good assessment Bob
What a disappointing end to a great campaign
Yet another final defeat!
I love Koeman and the great job he has bringing the Oranje back
But what he was outclassed by his counterpart
His team was lethargic and could not get anything going in the midfield and up front.
De Roon had no business starting over Van De Beek, Babel should just be dropped altogether and need to find a CF
I am gutted by this defeat, 1988 was a real time ago
This game was a fully open game unlike the one against England. It was an ideal game for guys like Bergwijn, Promes and Depay to shine. Really surprised to see him take off Bergwijn. He should’ve taken off De Roon at the end of 1st half and brought on Van De Beek.
Every time Netherlands won the ball they did not try to launch an attack immediately, instead made several sideways or backward passes giving time for the entire Portugal team to get back in and around the Penalty area. When that happens even getting a shot on goal is tough.
No wonder after 72 minutes Portugal had 14 shots while Netherlands had only 1. The Dutch players played as if they have no idea what counter attacking means. While Portugal were so quick to launch counter attacks. Can not blame the players for the loss, it clearly looked like Koeman had no idea how to respond to the way Portugal played. If it wasn’t for Van Dijk and De Ligt the final score could’ve been 3-0.
Holland looked tired. The extra day helped Portugal. Why Koeman started the same line up was a mistake. AS much as it looks promising to be able to be in this final the Dutch in my opinion are still well behind the top European nations. The fact is Portugal know how to beat Holland and it frustrates me. Frenkie de Jong showed he’s not quite ready for Barcelona step as much as I hate to say it. But go Holland go.
i feel broken for losing another final even though it is not a big competition… but i feel proud for the team tbh in the begining of the campaign i only hoped to stay in league A i couldnt believe that we could survive our group stage with france and germany
the team need to be better on the offensive side we have a good defence i see de jong in the striker position will be ideally in the offensive side with depay and bergwijn or promes on the flanks we need someone who is critical in front of the goal because we lack the perfect final shot in front of goal and we also play a lot of crosses but no one to complete it **if we have a good attack this will release some pressure on our deffence as the opponent will try to defend more than going forward this is the only way that the team is going to be unstoppable **
another point on frenkie de jong yesterday he wasn’t creative as i used to see him and not making enough forward runs as usual he only made short passes on the sides and backward and that was critical in our loss yesterday because frenkie is the dynamo of our team before the final third his touch is very important and that what we missed yesterday from him
The problem with Frenkie was not himself but the really poor quality movement and skill from those in front of him.
Can’t wait to see him with Barca.
Maybe this is a maximum level for this team who knows. Surely there must be no place for Babel and De Roon is questionable but I think I understand that Koeman wanted to cement the midfield as much as he could being defensive-minded coach. But the defeat showed that he had to take risk and to think outside of the box. Mixed feelings anyway – the defeat is deserved but maybe it is better to loose like this and to make conclusions and amendments.
Can anyone tell does this partcipation in yesterday final give Oranje any bonuses to reach Euro? Will there be additional tournament in spring 2020 with winners of lower League groups?
Dennis – specifically reaching the final yesterday had no bearing on Euro qualifying. But reaching the last 4 of the Nations League did, as that’s what guarantees Holland at least a playoff spot in Spring 2020.
But they will only play in that Spring 2020 tournament if they fail to qualify directly from their normal group with Germany and Northern Ireland.
I quite content with this campaign, we duffed Germany, beat the world cup holders France, then beat wc semi finalists England.
The upcoming youth team look strong up front, so we still have our hopes, also hope van de Beek will develop more.
Koeman deserves blame kept trudding out the same tired players over again.The question is does he continue with a 4-3-3 or switch to a 4-4-2 which allows for van de beek to become a regular and have a midfield of de roon,wiji,de beek and frenkie.