Nations League: Holland was a penalty away from the comeback against Poland, in a day full of draws

A missed Memphis Depay penalty at the end of the match prevented the Netherlands from chaining their third consecutive League of Nations victory, after drawing 2-2 this Saturday with Poland in Rotterdam, in a match in which the “oranje” are managed to overcome a negative 0-2.

But when everything seemed ready for the Dutch victory, the Barcelona striker slammed the ball into the post, the maximum penalty he himself had been responsible for.

A bitter outcome that cannot hide the dose of character and competitiveness it has endowed louis van gaal to the Dutch national team, since his return to the “oranje” bench in September 2021.

In fact, since the return of the former Barcelona manager, who had already led the Dutch to the semifinals at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the orange team has not suffered a single defeat – eight wins and four draws – in the twelve games played under The orders from Van Gaal.

A series that seemed in serious danger when on 5 ‘of the second half the Poles took the lead by 0-2 on the scoreboard, thanks to the goal of the Neapolitan Piote Zielinski.

But as was shown last Wednesday when the Netherlands won 2-1 at Wales with a goal from Wout Weghorst in injury time, this selection by Van Gaal not a team that gives up so easily.

So, just a minute after having conceded 0-2, the Dutch returned to the field (1-2) with a goal from Davy Klaassen, who had already taken a good chance in the first half, after having sent a Daley center into the net. Blind.

A goal that seemed to definitely encourage the locals who three minutes later, in the 54th minute, drew (2-2) with a goal from Inter winger Denzel Dumfries.

A draw with which the Netherlands finally had to settle after seeing how Memphis Depay missed a maximum penalty in the 91 ‘that he himself had been instructed to provoke with a shot in the area that after being rejected in the first instance by the goalkeeper Pole ended up crashing into Matty Cash’s arm.

However, Depay’s very hard shot, which had completely deceived the Polish goalkeeper, crashed into the post, condemning the Netherlands to a bitter final draw (2-2), which will not prevent Louis van Gaal’s men from staying in. head to the group. 4.

draw everywhere

Absolutely unmatched in glory, expectation, pressure, stage or importance, behind closed doors due to a sanction against the English team following the incidents of 11 July 2021 at Wembley, the reissue of the latest final of the Nobody won the Eurocup in the League of Nations neither the “new” Italy nor the British team (0-0), nor Germany beat Hungary (1-1) nor the Netherlands beat Poland (2-2), with a penalty wrong at the last minute from Memphis Depay, nor Belgium to Wales (1-1).

None of the reference teams, of the eight teams that competed this Saturday in the top category of this modern continental competition, managed to overtake the opponent; not even Belgium, who seemed to win in Wales until the final stretch, thanks to the arrival and the right with which Youri Tielemans had given them the advantage, until Brennan Johnson thwarted the 1-1 victory by completing the sequence of draws for all day in the League of Nations A. Italy and Holland remain in the lead.

No winner in group 3. Not even the rematch of the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy, faced goalless, because they were not very efficient, but also because their respective rival goalkeepers, Aaron Ramsdale and Gianluigi Donnaruma, were right. nor in Germany’s trip to Hungary, which ended with a draw that keeps the German team without a single defeat, but also without a single victory in three days.

Hansi Flick’s entire wall equalized in this League of Nations A, without leaving that dynamic even in Hungary, with the two goals of the duel compressed in the first quarter of an hour. He hit the home team first, when Nagy controlled with his left foot and flew with his right into the box after a few previous blocks; then the host responded, with a formidable long pass from central defender Nico Schlotterbeck controlled by Jonas Hofmann and who ended up equalizing in just 8 minutes played.

Nor have England yet won this edition of the tournament, at the bottom of the group with just two points (behind Germany, third with three; Hungary, second with four, and Italy, first with five), 0-0 on Saturday. in the cold atmosphere of the Wolwerhampton stadium, practically empty (only about 3,000 children were admitted) due to the punishment imposed by UEFA for the ailments of the Wembley European final won by the Azzurri, although today, in a promising renewal, that success is almost forgotten due to the disappointment of his boisterous World Cup fiasco, even though he is the leader of his tremendous group.

Meanwhile, in the difficulty of the moment that Ukraine is suffering, when Russia maintains the invasion on its territory, captains of its group 1 football team of the Nations League B. Next to the World Cup, bent in the ‘final’ by Wales, won both of his games: he won his first game in Ireland (0-1) and repeated it this Saturday against Armenia, 3-0.

Goals from Ruslan Malinovskyi, Oleksandr Karavaev and Vitaliy Mykolenko made all the difference for Ukraine, who played at home in the Polish city of Lodz in the last half hour of the clash to keep the goal full and clean, as well as strengthen the first position, after Scotland’s 3-0 defeat against Ireland, which scored its first victory in this edition of the tournament with goals from Browne, Parrot and Obafemi in 51 minutes.

In the 3 Bosnia is in the lead, because they drew against Montenegro (1-1), who were in the lead with Luka Menalo’s 0-1 equalized in the final by Adam Marusic, and because Romania beat Finland 1-0. to add up your first points.

In this Saturday’s session in League of Nations C, with the competition in group 1, Turkey is the undisputed dominator, reaffirmed with the goals of Hakan Calhanoglu and Serdar Dursun with whom he beat Luxembourg (0-2), the only one who had kept his pace so far in their quartet, where the Faroe Islands added the first three points at the expense of Lithuania (2-1).

Source: EFE