Oranje beat Hungary 4-0 to advance to Quarter Final of the Nations League

The Netherlands national football team confirmed its spot in the UEFA Nations League quarter-final on Saturday with a convincing 4-0 victory over Hungary in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. The quarter-finals of the Nations League will be played in March.

The victory can be seen as Oranje avenging themselves for their poor performances in their last two matches. They lost convincingly to Germany despite the 1-0 scoreline and drew 1-1 with Hungary.

But there was still plenty of room for improvement in the match against Hungary. The Dutch side gave away a lot of space, and the away team had chances to score, especially in the first half of the match.

Koeman welcomed Frankie de Jong back to the starting lineup for the first time in a year. The FC Barcelona midfielder shaped the midfield with Tijjani Reijnders and Ryan Gravenberch.

The Dutch national team manager made two surprising decisions in the team. Wout Weghorst was chosen above Joshua Zirkzee, and Brian Brobbey in the striker position.

Jan Paul van Hecke was chosen above Stefan de Vrij to play next to Virgil van Dijk in the center of defense due to his superior qualities with the ball. And it was Van Hecke whose mistake nearly led to the first goal for Hungary in the third minute. Andras Schäfer just about headed over.

The match was halted a few minutes later because the Hungarian assistant manager Adam Szalai had become unwell. After receiving first aid, he was found to be "stable and conscious" shortly afterward and was sent to the hospital for further examination.

Oranje opened the score immediately after the restart due to a penalty which was converted by Weghorst after Tamás Nikitscher had handled the ball (1-0). The Netherlands were awarded another penalty shortly before half-time, this time for a minor foul on Donyell Malen. Cody Gakpo took the penalty this time and shot it hard into the goal to make it 2-0.

Hungary created a few chances after the break, but it was mainly Koeman's team that went hunting for more goals. Denzel Dumfries scored the 3-0 after a beautiful diagonal shot in the 64th minute.

Koeman replaced De Jong halfway through the second half with Teun Koopmeiners, who also made his comeback with Oranje after a long absence. Koopmeiners scored the 4-0 quickly after coming onto the pitch. PSV player Noa Lang also returned as an international as a substitute.