GROUP C
Netherlands 3-0 Austria
Van De Beek 23’
Wijnaldum 62’
Promes 87’
Sean Kelly
Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Thursday 18th June
The Netherlands continued their irrepressible march through Group C tonight thanks to a dominant performance over a disappointing Austrian side.
The Austrians, without their suspended talisman Marko Arnautovic after his idiotic late red card against Belarus, toiled for much of the game and Arnautovic’s replacement Michael Gregoritsch got little change out of the imposing partnership of Virgil Van Dijk and Matthijs De Ligt.
The Dutch, in contrast, were brimming with confidence after their opening game win over Ukraine and started brightly, with Memphis Depay having an early effort easily saved by Heinz Lindner in the Austrian goal. Donny Van De Beek glanced a header just wide from a Georginio Wijnaldum cross as Austria struggled to get a foothold in the game.
They did however come closest to opening the scoring. A silly foul by Maarten De Roon on Louis Schaub allowed David Alaba to take aim around 25 yards from Jasper Cillessen’s goal. The Bayern man’s left footed effort flew inches over the crossbar with Cillessen looking beaten. Minutes later Valentino Lazaro broke down the right and pulled the ball back for Julian Baumgartlinger, whose shot stung the palms of the Dutch goalkeeper.
That proved to be as good as it would get for Franco Foda’s men as the hosts took control after the early scare. Frenkie De Jong began to assert his authority in midfield and the Dutch were dominating possession before taking the lead in the 23rd minute. Depay fed the overlapping Daley Blind whose cross found Van De Beek. The Ajax player’s turn bamboozled Martin Hinteregger in the Austrian defence, allowing him to slot home left footed and run off to celebrate in his home stadium.
Ronald Koeman’s side didn’t rest on their lead and pushed for a second before half time. Ryan Babel and again Van De Beek forced Lindner into good saves before Van Dijk crashed a header against the crossbar from De Jong’s corner.
Austria looked glad to get in at half time only a goal down and in truth they did improve slightly at the beginning of the second half. While they posed little threat to the Dutch goal, they at least tightened up at the back and the hosts found chances much harder to come by against a more stubborn defence. Depay had their only real opening as he raced past Stefan Lainer but there was nobody on the end of his devilish ball across the box.
The Austrian defensive effort would only last so long though and seventeen minutes into the second half, the second Netherlands goal arrived. Neat interplay between De Jong and Van De Beek saw the Barcelona midfielder slide the ball across to Wijnaldum just outside the box. The Liverpool man shaped to shoot before selling Baumgartlinger a dummy and shifting the ball onto his left foot and rifling into the bottom corner, much to the visible delight of his manager Koeman, who leapt into the air in celebration.
The relief that the second goal brought was palpable whilst the body language of the Austrian players told everyone that the result was now a done deal. Austria had played quite well in their opening win over Belarus but the step up in quality coupled with the loss of Arnautovic proved far too much here. They huffed and puffed for the final 25 minutes but the Netherlands never looked too flustered and were able to coast home.
The icing on the cake arrived in the 87th minute when substitute Steven Bergwijn played in fellow replacement Quincy Promes. The Ajax forward raced away from a tired looking Austrian defence and rounded ‘keeper Lindner and rolled the ball into an empty net. It was now full on party mode in the ground as Promes danced by the corner flag in front of a jubilant home crowd.
The final whistle brought some mercy for Austria and ended yet another night to forget for them at the European Championship. They must regroup for their final group game against Ukraine where they know a repeat performance could see them crashing out of the tournament. They will however have Arnautovic back and based on the evidence here, they desperately need him to fire.
For the Dutch they can surely now look towards the knockout stage. Two comfortable opening wins will likely allow them to make a few changes for the clash against the unfancied Belarus and recharge the batteries ahead of the last 16. Keeping up this level of performance would mean we should very much expect them in the latter stages of this very open championship.
Man of the match: Frenkie De Jong