Jong Oranje lose to Germany, falls short of EURO U-21 final

The Netherlands failed to reach the final of the European under-21 football championships after losing to Germany 1-2 in the semifinal game on Thursday.

Jong Oranje found themselves behind after only 30 seconds of the game, with Germany’s Florian Wirtz scoring the fastest goal in the history of the tournament. The 18-year old Wirtz doubled his team’s lead in the 8th minute of the game.

"From that moment on we did everything we could to at least get to the equalizer, but I think we just came up short today over the entire game," Oranje’s captain Dani de Wit told the broadcaster NOS.

Despite Jong Oranje creating a few chances, and even narrowing the deficit with a late goal, the Dutch team was knocked out.

“We didn't feel like it was over after those two goals, but it wasn't a nice start. They were well organized and it was difficult to get through. The disappointment is huge," said Jong Oranje’s Sven Botman.

The Dutch juniors were unable to build on their 2-1 quarter-final victory over tournament favorite France on Monday. Ajax defender Perr Schuurs scored a goal for the Oranje team midway through the second half, but Germany managed to comfortably close out the game.

"After France, we thought it was possible to win this tournament because France was the hardest opponent on paper," said Botman.

"Now it's hard to look back, we came here for the win. We didn't achieve that in the end, so we failed," De Wit concluded.