Germany 2-4 Netherlands: The Dutch Revenge

Germany welcomed Netherlands to the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, home of the Hamburger SV, on Friday evening in what was the fourth and third game for these teams, respectively, in the Euro 2020 qualifications’ group C.

Germany entered the clash with a maximum of nine points from three games, having already beaten Netherlands away, followed by a win away to Belarus and a home thrashing of Estonia. Netherlands, on the other hand, beat Belarus before that home defeat to Germany, and they came to Germany with three points from two games to their name.

Team News

There were no real surprises in the two lineups.

For Germany, coach Joachim Low picked Manuel Neuer in goal, Matthias Ginter, Niklas Sule and Jonathan Tah as the three-man defence, Lukas Klostermann (right) and Nico Schulz (left) as the wing-backs, Toni Kroos and Joshua Kimmich as the central part of the team, Serge Gnabry and Marco Reus on the wings, and Timo Werner as the man furthest up.

Ronald Koeman chose to defy them like this. Jasper Cillessen stood between the posts. Virgil van Dijk and Matthijs de Ligt were the heart of defence, flanked by Daley Blind and Denzel Dumfries. Frenkie de Jong and Marten de Roon played in the middle of the park, with Georginio Wijnaldum slightly more advanced. Memphis Depay led the line upfront, with Ryan Babel and Quincy Promes on either side.

The First Half

Both teams seemed to be feeling each other out for the opening five minutes, and then Kroos tried one from range but missed the target. Depay responded two minutes later by finishing a swift move with a decent effort from just outside the box, which Neuer saved.

But in the ninth minute, Germany suddenly broke down the right and Klostermann found himself one-on-one with Cillessen. His shot went straight into the Dutch ‘keeper, but Gnabry followed it up by scoring on the rebound.

1-0.

The Germans broke quickly again after just four minutes and Gnabry was brought down by de Jong around 25 yards away from the goal, in a position favorable for a left-footed shooter. Kroos, however, took it with his right and missed the top corner by a foot.

The home side seemed happy to drop back and defend after taking the lead. The Dutch were now mostly in possession, circling the German box in a wide berth, but they found it very hard to even remotely threaten. Babel, Depay and Promes worked hard, but the sheer number of white (German) shirts on the edge of their own box made it very difficult for them to do anything. On the other hand, Germany played very directly whenever they won the ball, always looking to exploit the pace of Gnabry or Werner, or the creativity of Reus.

But the visitors came close in the 22nd minute from a set-piece, as Blind whipped a good cross from the left and de Ligt jumped the highest, but the Juventus defender’s header failed to find its mark. Four minutes later, Kroos found the run of Gnabry with a lovely through pass, but Gnabry’s attempt at lobbing it over Cillessen didn’t go well.

After a while, the initiative from Netherlands seemed to be wavering a little, or it was perhaps their intention in order to draw the Germans out a bit, but Germany slowly got hold of more possession and moved their lines away from Neuer and even occasionally pressed high.

But Netherlands now started looking more capable of causing problems for Low’s team. The ball was spending more time on the edge of Neuer’s box and was being flung in with increased frequency.

In the 35th minute, tempers grew hot as Kimmich obviously deliberately hit de Ligt, and both he and Depay who responded strongly, found their names in the book of referee Artur Dias from Portugal.

The provocation seemed to have done its trick. Netherlands players now looked nervous, occasionally misplacing what should have been easy passes and even reacting with contempt towards each other. This helped Germany greatly in taking control of the proceedings, and they slowly advanced. In the 42nd minute, a mistake by Blind left Reus in a position from which he really should have scored, but Cillessen produced a fantastic save.

The Second Half

The second half didn’t start very well for Matthias Ginter who fell awkwardly having contested the ball with Babel, but he recovered and played on.

It was clear from the start that Germany wouldn’t be allowing their opponents to get into any kind of stride. They didn’t hesitate to commit fouls in order to break the play. Nonetheless, it was de Roon of Netherlands who found himself booked in the 50th minute for a poor tackle on Kroos in the middle of the park.

Kroos took the free-kick himself and sent Klostermann running up the right flank, Klostermann involved Gnabry who whipped a sharp low ball across the six yards, and de Ligt was forced to take extra care not to divert it into his own net. Gnabry threatened again as this time Schulz almost found him with a good cross from the left, but the Bayern winger failed to make sufficient contact with the ball.

Germany were now tightening the grip and went with much more determination in search of a second goal. This change in pace surprised Koeman’s men and they seemed to have lost their focus for a while. But they suddenly picked it up in the 56th minute and worked out a good moment for Wijnaldum to shoot from around 12 yards, prompting a great save from Neuer.

With just under an hour gone, Koeman replaced de Roon and Dumfries with Donyell Malen and Davy Propper.

The two newcomers hadn’t even entered the game properly when Babel sent in a cross from the left, Tah made a mess of his attempt to reach it, and de Jong showed real composure as he picked it up, skipped around Schulz, wrong-footed Neuer and placed it into the net.

1-1.

The two substitutions Koeman had made meant a change in formation. Blind now played alongside van Dijk and de Ligt in a three-man back line, Promes acted as a wing back, Propper took the anchor position in the middle, which meant that de Jong now joined Wijnaldum further up. Malen joined Babel and Depay in attack.

Low responded straight after the equalizer. He sent in Kai Havertz and Ilkay Gundogan instead of Werner and Reus, but in the 65th minute, Netherlands suddenly took the lead. Blind swung in a corner from the left, van Dijk jumped highest and forced Neuer into a reflex save. Depay sent it back into the six yards, and a most unfortunate Tah ran onto it and hit his own net.

1-2.

The visitors’ happiness lasted only five minutes. Gundogan slipped the ball through for Schulz who was coming into the box, and in his duel with de Ligt, the ball hit the Dutch defender in the arm and the referee pointed to the spot. Kroos stepped up and made no mistake.

2-2.

But it was German joy next destined not to last. Minute 79 was passing when the Dutch conducted a brilliant move. Depay slipped around his marker just outside the box, turned and released a good through ball for Wijnaldum. The Liverpool midfielder drew Sule out and forced Neuer to close down the angle, and then he simply squared it for the incoming Malen for a clean tap-in.

2-3.

Low’s last throw of the dice was of kind expected: winger Julian Brandt came on for Ginter, right before Neuer’s calm reaction spared Sule huge embarrassment as the defender stopped Wijnaldum inside the box and then clumsily sent the ball towards his own goal.

Netherlands controlled the final 10 minutes of the game well. They absorbed all the pressure with ease, and as the game entered the four-minute stoppage time, Nathan Ake (came on for Babel in the 81st minute) won the ball in his own half, Wijnaldum picked it up and whipped it towards Depay upfront. Depay carefully watched Wijnaldum make his run down his right before sending it back across. Wijnaldum beat Sule to the ball and slammed past Neuer from close range.

2-4.

There was still time for Germany to waste one more good chance. It was Gnabry this time who failed to hit the target unmarked from close range, after Havertz displayed fine vision to send him in behind.

The Afterthought

So Netherlands managed to fully get their revenge on Germany for that defeat earlier, and they even added another goal for good measure. It was well deserved.

The home side seemed to be making too many calculations, tried to be smart rather than play football, and the visitors simply proved too good to be denied like that. Frenkie de Jong and Georginio Wijnaldum particularly had a good game, especially after the introduction of Propper, a classic defensive midfielder, which gave them more freedom to roam further up.

Low will not be happy with this result, naturally, but apart from having a few words with some of his players, he’ll also need to look into the mirror for another guilty party here. Too much space in the middle was surrendered to the visitors and they exploited it well whenever opportunity arose.

Germany are, however, still ahead of Netherlands in the group C table, but the situation is now far more acceptable for the Dutch than it was before the game. Both teams play away on Monday, Netherlands in Estonia, Germany in Northern Ireland.

Match Report

GERMANY: Neuer 7.5, Sule 6.5, Tah 6, Klostermann 7, Ginter 6.5 (84′ Brandt N/A), Kroos 7.5, Kimmich 7, Schulz 7, Reus 6 (61′ Gundogan 6), Gnabry 7.5, Werner 6.5 (61′ Havertz 6.5).

NETHERLANDS: Cillessen 7, van Dijk 7.5, de Ligt 6.5, Dumfries 6.5 (58′ Propper 7), Blind 7, Wijnaldum 7.5, de Jong 7.5, de Roon 7 (58′ Malen 7.5), Babel 7.5 (81′ Ake 7), Promes 6, Depay 7.

GOALS: Gnabry 9′, de Jong 59′, Tah (OG) 66′, Kroos (P) 73′, Malen 79′, Wijnaldum 90’+1.

YELLOW CARDS: Kimmich 35′, Depay 35′, de Roon 49′, de Jong 72′.

REFEREE: Artur Dias (Portugal).

DATE & VENUE: September 9, 2019, Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany.