Almost stumbled against Poland
Bundesliga professional relieves desperate Oranje with winning goal
16.06.2024, 16:53
Hoffenheim’s Wout Weghorst comes on as a substitute for the Netherlands against Poland – and with his first touch of the ball he shoots the Oranje to victory. His team dominated their opponents beforehand, but Poland’s early lead puts the Netherlands under pressure for a long time.
Bundesliga striker Wout Weghorst has given the Netherlands a perfect start to the European Championship tournament. The attacker from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim scored in the 83rd minute of the opening match against Poland to give the 1988 European champions a well-deserved 2-1 (1-1) win. Before that, Cody Gakpo (29th) had equalized the surprising lead of Poland through Adam Buksa (16th) for the clearly superior Oranje team in Hamburg.
“I am very happy. It is indescribable, especially at a final tournament. This is a dream scenario for me personally,” said Weghorst: “It is so important to keep the good feeling. It is just very nice for all of us. The absolute goal is to win the trophy together.”
The Poles, who are playing without their injured superstar Robert Lewandowski, are already under pressure in the difficult Group D. Other opponents in the preliminary round are top favorite France and Austria with coach Ralf Rangnick.
Driven by well over 20,000 Oranje fans among the approximately 50,000 spectators in the packed Volksparkstadion, the Dutch were clearly the dominant team. The orange supporters had dominated the scene in the Hanseatic city all day and got in the mood for their team’s first appearance with an atmospheric fan march.
Poor utilization of opportunities
The Dutch have fond memories of Hamburg. In 1988, they beat arch-rivals Germany 2-1 in the semi-finals of the European Championship. A short time later, Holland celebrated its only major title to date with a 2-0 win against the Soviet Union in Munich. Today’s national coach Ronald Koeman was a pillar of the team at the time. Despite later apologies, Koeman is still remembered for his inglorious scene after the semi-final, when he pretended to wipe his backside with Olaf Thon’s shirt, which he had previously swapped.
The Dutch party mood was not greatly affected by an incident near Hamburg’s Reeperbahn and the European Championship fan festival, in which a man was shot by the police. A connection with the European Championship was initially ruled out.
The only shortcoming of Koeman’s team was the utilization of opportunities. Gakpo had the first chance to take the lead in the second minute, and Tijjani Reijnders and Memphis Depay missed further good opportunities in the following period. The carelessness took its toll after just over a quarter of an hour. After a corner, Buksa took advantage of a misunderstanding between Virgel van Dijk and Denzel Dumfries and headed in the unexpected lead for Poland.
Poland only with pinpricks
But the Dutch did not seem shocked and continued to push the pace. And after just under half an hour, the Elftal’s attacking momentum was rewarded. The strong Nathan Aké intercepted a ball from Poland and passed it directly to Gakpo, who moved into the middle and shot powerfully. Deflected by the Polish defender Bartosz Salamon, the ball found its way into the goal for a well-deserved equaliser.
Before half-time, the Liverpool striker and Memphis Depay could have put the Dutch team in the lead, but both missed the best chances. The 1:1 score at half-time was extremely flattering for the Poles.
Even after the break, it was almost only the Netherlands that played. But the Oranje team lacked the necessary determination in front of goal. The Poles occasionally managed to get a few pinpricks on the counterattack against the always solid Dutch defense, and Jakub Kiwior missed the best chance for the underdog in the 57th minute. Weghorst came on in the 81st minute and two minutes later he was the Oranje’s savior.