Oranje’s international week ends with a loss against Germany
Oranje lost to Germany on Tuesday in a friendly at the Deutsche Bank Park stadium in Frankfurt. A late winning goal from Niclas Fullkrug canceled out the two early goals from Joey Veerman and Maximilian Mittelstadt to set the final score at 2-1.
The match was a big one for Germany as they can not play any games other than friendlies before the European Championships this summer because they are the tournament hosts and, therefore, qualify automatically. This led to the match being more competitive than most friendly matches. It was both sides last match of the international week. Oranje beat Scotland 4-0 on Friday.
Manager Ronald Koeman went with a five-man defence. He claimed he decided on this system after watching Germany beat France 2-0 in their last match. He made seven changes to his lineup compared to the win against Scotland.
And one of those changes made the difference instantly. Maximilian Mittelstadt played a wayward pass in just his second start for the German national team, which Memphis Depay picked up before he chipped a brilliant pass to Joey Veerman, who used the instep of his foot to volley it home convincingly.
But Mittelstadt made up for his mistake just six minutes later. A short corner eventually found its way to the full-back, who scored his first goal for his national side in brilliant fashion—a curled effort from the edge of the area that went in off the crossbar.
The goal galvanized Julian Nagelsmann’s side. They almost scored five minutes later when a great move cut through the Netherlands midfield, finding Ilkay Gündogan in the box, but his effort was straight at Bart Verbruggen in the Netherlands goal.
Gündogan proved his worth defensively in the 33rd minute. A free kick found Matthijs de Ligt unmarked at the far post, who headed it across goal. It was about to be a tap-in for Donyell Malen before Gundogan’s outstretched leg knocked it away for a corner.
Two ex-PSV forwards almost combined to give Oranje the lead on the hour mark. Malen showed his pace to get to the ball before Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen before finding Depay in the box, but the Atletico Madrid striker hit his shot over from close range.
Netherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen had a fantastic game and continued it by saving well to stop veteran midfielder Thomas Muller from scoring after Fullkrug had found him with a pass.
Fullkrug got the winning goal in the 85th minute. A Toni Kroos corner hit the striker’s shoulder before just about going far enough over the line for a goal. Verbruggen thought he had clawed it away, but the referee got the signal on his watch to say that the goal line technology had confirmed the goal.
Koeman’s side have two matches left before the European Championships start in June. They will face Canada and Iceland in friendlies prior to the tournament.
