Oranje beats Canada 4-0 in a friendly in Rotterdam

The Dutch national football team won the first of their two friendlies in preparation for the European Championships this summer on Thursday. Oranje beat Canada, with all their goals coming in the second half in the Kuip in Rotterdam.

The stadium was not completely full ten days before the team played their first game at the Euros. But Ronald Koeman's side brought the crowd some joy in the second half.

Jeremie Frimpong, a right winger, was the main man for the Netherlands. He assisted Memphis Depay's opening goal in the 50th minute and then scored the second goal of the match. Substitutes Wout Weghorst and Virgil van Dijk scored the third and fourth goals for the home side.

The wave rolled over the stands after the loudly applauded goals. The fans in attendance had quickly forgotten a dull first half. Yet, there are not many conclusions to be drawn from Oranje's showing. Manager Ronald Koeman wants to see as many players as possible on the pitch during the last friendlies before the tournament. The starting lineup in the first Euros match against Poland will look vastly different.

Frenkie de Jong, who is injured, will also not recover in time for the last friendly against Iceland on Monday, which will also be too soon. Tijjani Reinders and Teun Koopmeiners will report to the training camp in Zeist on Friday.

Potential starters like Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Aké, Denzel Dumfries, Cody Gakpo, Xavi Simons, and Joey Veerman were also not picked in the starting 11. They will probably start the match against Iceland on Monday.

It was not just the pacey Frimpong who took the chance to show his qualities. The physically strong Mickey van de Ven played well at left back, just like Matthijs de Ligt, who has played for Oranje for a while.

Depay, looking for a match rhythm, had a few moments that showed what he could bring to Oranje at the Euros in the group with Poland, France, and Austria. The same could not be said about Georginio Wijnaldum, who saw many of his actions fail to come off.

Canada, which was present at the last World Cup and is now preparing for the Copa America, was able to keep up with Oranje for the first half. But the visitors dropped back far in the second half and, in the end, could count themselves lucky that the score stayed at 4-0 and not higher.