The 126th meeting of Netherlands and Belgium ended in a 1-1 draw at the Amsterdam Arena.
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Danny Blind’s squad was hit by several injury drop-outs prior to the tie against Belgium, and the coach now heads into the crucial World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg with more potential casualties. Stijn Schaars, making his first national team appearance since 2014, lasted only 15 minutes before succumbing to a calf injury, Vincent Janssen was forced off with suspected concussion after a clash with Simon Mignolet, and Jeremain Lens pulled up with a hamstring problem in the second half.
Despite the injuries, Netherlands managed to hold the number four in the world to a draw despite Belgium dominating possession for most of the match.
The visitors struggled to break down the Dutch defence in the first half and it was Netherlands who headed into half-time ahead through a Davy Klaassen penalty after Jan Vertonghen fouled Jeremain Lens.
Debutante Joshua Brenet nearly made it 2-0 in the second half but after a strong run past two challenges the PSV full-back fired just wide. Belgium boss Roberto Martinez threw on Romelu Lukaku as they went in search of the equaliser, but the Everton striker skied a brilliant opportunity over the bar from a few yards out.
Netherlands defence looked like it was going to hold on, but Yannick Carrasco earned Belgium a draw with a strike that hit Joel Veltman and looped over Stekelenburg. Eden Hazard nearly won it late on for Belgium but he was denied by Stekelenburg.
Netherlands now have four days to prepare for the must-win game against Luxembourg. Blind will be worried about his injury-hit squad but will be boosted by the addition of Arjen Robben, who sat out the Belgium match.
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I do not think this team go to the World Cup،There are no plans for goal، After all this time still original composition is unknown fore blind,He constantly is trial and error،until dont too late Should be fired,What happened to the Dutch football,in This team there is no any positive change
Agree with this. KNVB is Blind as Blind himself. We are at world rankings that is not only embarassing but hurtful. Every time we play I don’t see any passion to score or playing attractive attacking possession football the way we used to. We are losing it match by match. Even some games we won, the way we win is not our style anymore. Blind was a good oranje player was but ne is not a good head coach/manager. KNVB -Please face the reality and make change.
I would suggest calling up the following replacement for injured players:
Lens-Babel or Elia
Schaars-Fer or De roon
As we still have Dost & De Jong so I would suggest calling another midfielder Van Ginkel to strengthen the squad.