Denzel Dumfries gave the Netherlands an ideal start to their EURO 2020 campaign by scoring a late goal to seal a dramatic 3-2 victory against Ukraine at the Amsterdam Arena on Sunday.
In what appeared to be the most exciting action-packed game in the competition so far, both sides were surprisingly inseparable for almost an hour after ending the first half goalless.
Although the first half produced an intense exchange between both sides, they took the aggression further into the second half as goals came pouring in with the opposing keepers at the mercy of the strikers.
Frank De Boer’s Orange team took the second half by storm, leaving Andriy Shevchenko’s men stunned as they slot two goals past The Yellow and Blue in the space of six minutes.
New Paris Saint Germain signing, Georginio Wijnaldum gave the home side the lead in the 52nd minute after pouncing on the visitor’s mistake caused by Dumfries who ran down the right flank before sending a low cross into a dangerous area.
Although Ukraine’s keeper Georgi Bushchan managed to push the ball away from Memphis Depay, he sent it straight into the path of the Orange skipper, who made the opportunity count.
Six minutes later, Wout Weghorst doubled the lead for the Dutch team. Dumfries made another run down the right flank and forced a mistake from Mykolenko who failed to clear the ball at the near post.
Weghorst pounces on the loose ball and hammers a right-footed effort on the half-volley past Bushchan. VAR checked for a foul by Dumfries and offside against the wing-back, but the goal stood.
Just as the home team thought they were running away with the 2-0 win, Shevchenko’s men shocked the hosts by scoring two quick goals in the space of four minutes.
West Ham’s Andriy Yarmolenko scored an unstoppable strike from 20 yards after an assist from Roman Yaremchuk to put the visitors back in the game in the 75th minute.
Herts were sent racing four minutes later when Yaremchuk picked up a cross from R. Malinovski with a powerful header to beat Netherlands’ goalkeeper, Maarten Stekelenburg, with about 10 minutes to go.
The Ukrainian were on course for a dramatic comeback win but their hopes were shattered by Dumfries who was denied a goal in the first half by Bushchan.
Manchester City defender, Nathan Ake, sent in a cross that found the header of Dumfries straight into the back of the net for his deserved goal which gave the Netherlands a deserved 3-2 win over the impressive Ukraine side.
