The match: 2-1
Driven by an orange tide which had taken over the streets of Hamburg early in the day, the Netherlands quickly put pressure at the start of the match on the Poles who had lost their captain Robert Lewandowski.
The absence of the top scorer in the history of the selection could have made Poland silent but it only took a corner from his replacement Adam Buksa to open the scoring (16th). The striker on loan from Lens to Antalyaspor scored a nice header from a corner from his captain of the day Piotr Zielinski to put Poland ahead against the run of play.
A massive blow which did not, however, stop the good Dutch intentions. Ronald Koeman’s men, led by an attacking trio Simons-Depay-Gakpo, continued to be threatening on Wojciech Szczsny’s goal before finding the fault thanks to a countered strike from Cody Gakpo from outside the surface following a high recovery from Nathan Aké (29th).
The Poles, undefeated for eight matches before the start of the match, then lost the ball too quickly and defended low against the Orange offensives. Despite good intentions, the Dutch suffered from a lack of realism which pushed Ronald Koeman to bring in a real finisher at the end of the match. A gamble paid off because the giant Wout Weghorst took a low cross from Nathan Aké just three minutes after coming into play to score from the left (83rd) and allow the Netherlands to get off to a good start in the competition before challenging the French team on Friday.
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Wout Weghorst has scored in his last three appearances for the Netherlands. He had already scored a goal coming off the bench against Canada (4-0) and Iceland (4-0) in preparation for this Euro 2024.
The player: Cody Gakpo likes to throw the Oranje
Already top scorer for the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup, Cody Gakpo definitely appreciates the scent of major international competitions. Lined up on the left by Ronald Koeman, the Liverpool player did not take long to prove dangerous this Sunday by testing Wojciech Szczsny’s gloves with a powerful strike at the near post (2nd).
In legs against Lensois Przemyslaw Frankowski, the number 11 of Oranje was rewarded by scoring the equalizing goal with a strike from outside the area blocked by Polish defender Bartosz Salamon at the half-hour mark.
Still as dangerous in the second half, the former PSV striker regains confidence after a mixed season with the Reds before facing the Blues this Friday.
