- The Netherlands beat Poland 2-1 in their Euro 2024 Group D opener on Sunday
- Wout Weghorst scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute in Hamburg
- Click here to follow Mail Sport’s Euro 2024 WhatsApp Channel for all the latest breaking news and updates from Germany
When the Dutch won the European Championship in this country 36 years ago, they were practitioners of total football; a nation for whom the game had to be beautiful. But these are more modest times for them and when in need, a target man who didn’t suffice for Manchester United just had to do.
After scoring the two goals at the last World Cup which gave the Netherlands a lifeline in the extraordinary Argentina quarter-final, Wout Weghorst was unhappy to be told that he would not feature in the starting team here. His present and former teammates will attest to the fact that he is not short of ego.
There was sweet vindication for the 31-year-old, currently on loan from Burnley at Hoffenheim, when he arrived seven minutes from the end, with time running out on the Dutch’s desperate search for a winner. He took only two minutes to deliver – taking on a ball from Nathan Ake and driving it into the net to score.
Manager Ronald Koeman betrayed a faint hint of irritation with the striker’s insistence that he should be in the starting XI. ‘We will see what the best is for the team and not the best for the player,’ he said of his possible selection for the game against France next weekend.
But the Dutch were barren of a fundamental ability to shoot on goal and the Poles are likely to be the weakest side in the group.
The surroundings were a reminder of days of greater certainty for Holland. This is a city and a stadium which holds so much for the Dutch, whose semi-final win over West Germany here in 1988 was in many more significant and poignant than beating Russia in the final. Memories of the German of occupation of the Netherlands during the war were still fresh and Koeman, who had scored the equalizing penalty before Marco van Basten slid home the winner, stood in front of the Dutch fans at the end and pretended to wipe his backside with the German shirt he’d swapped with Olaf Thon. ‘Revenge’, declared the Dutch paper De Telegraaf the next day.
Different days, of course, though the tens of thousands who had turned the Reeperbahn into a sea of orange on Saturday night demonstrated the yearning for success. That 1988 tournament, remembered for Marco van Basten’s performance in the final, remains the only one they have won. What wouldn’t they give for a van Basten now.
Their dominance in the first half here suggested that there is good reason to view them as dark horses. Their 13 shots was the most by any team in the tournament so far. But they managed only three on target in that time. The spearhead of the team on paper was the head-banded Memphis Depay – a player very busy with his flicks and tricks, rolling the ball under his studs and trying to beat the same player twice – but providing no threat whatsoever.
Cody Gakpo was the more clinical one. A near-post shot, forcing a sharp Wojciech Szczesny save a few minutes in, was a taste of the danger he posed down the left where he played with his head up, running at defenders; seeing the possibilities. Denzel Dumphries offered width on the other flank, bombing forward down the right.
But as four clear scoring chances flew wide – the best of them falling to Depay from ten yards – the Dutch were clearly desperate for a finisher, standing in the six-yard box to bury the ball.
Somehow, in the face of overwhelming Dutch dominance, the Poles found themselves ahead. Adam Buksa, filling the boots of Robert Lewandowski, who has been injured and was on the bench, had previously only scored international goals against Albania, San Marino and the Faroe Islands. But, with good movement, he got himself in between Dumfries and Virgil van Dijk to angle his header in and score.
The Dutch defence has looked as strong as any, coming into this tournament. Its balance and structure out of possession frequently allowed them to win the ball back in the Polish half. They did so decisively, through Nathan Ake seizing on a weak clearance from Nicola Zalewski, to score a deflected equaliser just before half-time.
It left an hour of football to secure the winner. From the 29th minute to the time the winner went in, there was not a single shot on target from the Netherlands. The team’s energy levels dropped in the second half. But the substitutes won the game.
Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen, on for Simons, had made an impact before Gigi Wijnaldum, who arrived on the hour, helped create space which Nathan Ake drove into, delivering the ball for Weghorst, who swept it home. You could feel the relief as the Dutch bench streamed onto the pitch to mob him.
Weghorst looked the picture of self-confidence as he left the stadium last night, wearing a St Christopher earing and necklace. He told Dutch reporters that he knew he’d score. The Dutch don’t have an easy group. They will need more of the Weghorst effect if they are to prosper here.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
