Mbappe and Griezmann quickly finish off naive and naive Orange, Koeman: “No chance after huge mistakes” | soccer

Rumors spread in both camps before the duel. In his second spell under Ronald Koeman, the Orange would break away from Louis van Gals’ defensive 5-3-2 and switch to a more traditional 4-3-3. Frenkie de Jong was injured first, then five other players had to withdraw due to food poisoning – that damn chicken curry. Not the perfect preparation.

Why blues He performed for the first time without Hugo Lloris and Raphael Varane. They went into international retirement and were honored on Friday night at the Stade de France, something Karim Benzema was thankful for. Moreover, the captain’s armband has dominated discussions in France in recent days. That went to Kylian Mbappe and not Antoine Griezmann, who reacted indignantly. “In his situation I had the same reaction,” Houda Mbappe said.

No empty words, because there was no actual falling out between the two stars. Just two minutes later they broke the spell against a sleepwalking Netherlands. Taylor was so easy to get the ball out of Griezmann. After a pass from Mbappe, the Atlético striker left Cillesne without a chance: 1-0. The same Cillessen – Bart Verbruggen is really a better goalkeeper – missed a free kick in the eighth minute. Upamecano was able to capitalize.

And after 20 minutes, Captain Mbappe rounded the ball Himself Fantastic attack. This was the Netherlands’ first 3-0 deficit since August 1919 (against Sweden at the time). Koeman stepped in and after half an hour brought Weghorst in front of hapless starting debutant Taylor. Every now and then the Orange created something – also because the French let it – but conviction and quality were lacking to give something back in the first half.

“What should the Orange do now?” NOS analyst Rafael van der Vaart was asked at halftime. “I would try to play football a little better,” was the ex-Real Madrid player’s dry answer. Didn’t Van Gaal see all this badly in Qatar? Criticism of his character was fierce due to his unadventurous style of play in that World Cup. And although Frenkie de Jong and Cody Jacobus are now missing, Van Gaal is of course not far behind. Perhaps this desperate evening in Paris proved it.

“Whether we play too open? When we get the ball, we play open, yes. But then you can’t lose the ball so easily,” Virgil van Dijk said afterwards. “It’s something we need to look at. You should be better against Gibraltar on Monday.”

Incidentally, the second company didn’t have much improvement in store for Koeman’s team. France played their favorite game: leaning back, waiting for the opponent’s mistakes. The powerful Mbappe cemented his debut as captain by making it 4-0 with two minutes left.

Memphis completed the malaise in overtime with a weak Mingnan penalty kick. Typical of the evening and the dramatic start to the Dutch European Championship campaign. A slight return to Koeman. “We made huge mistakes in places where you should never do that, 20 meters from the goal,” said the national team coach. We have a few moments, but after the 3-0 you know it’s usually over.

Koeman didn’t think he should have been more defensive due to the many absentees. “I don’t think it was because of a system. You simply lose the ball in the places where you do that never repeat. “Five years ago I was angry when we lost 2-1 here, but then we were better than now. We all know where we went wrong. We shouldn’t dwell on this for too long. This can be positive in the sense that everyone knows where we stand – especially If we weren’t perfect. Although I don’t want to use this virus as an excuse. We were out of luck. It could have been worse, but 4-0 is really going up.”