By: Peterson Pierre-Louis

The European Nations Cup continues on its merry way and the favorites continue to hold their ranks. The Netherlands barely beat Poland (2-1) in Hamburg in the first match series and we were in Group D.

It was a good meeting between Poles and Dutch. But it was Robert Lewandoski’s recovering teammates who opened the scoring very early in the match. A. Buska, who was started in place of the Barcelona striker, headed a corner well kicked by Piotr Zielenski in the 16th minute of play.

Furthermore, the Dutch assaults led in attack by a burning Cody Gakpo. The latter ended up finding the net in the 29th minute of play with a deflected shot but deceiving Roger Sczesny. This first period was very lively on both sides and the score was draw (1-1) at the break.

In the second half, Virgile Van Dijk’s teammates tried several times to find the winning goal but in vain. The returns of Wijnaldum, Jérémy Frimpong, W.Weighorst and Malen changed the course of the match a little. 83rd minute of play on a low cross from Nathan Aké accompanied by a play without the ball from G. Wijnaldum allowed the attacking giant Weighorst to catapult the ball into the back of the Polish net.

Like the Mannschaft, the Squadra Azzurra and Spain, Holland retains its status as favorite and Poland was unable to defy the predictions. While waiting for France and Austria drawn from the same group, the Oranges pocket a good three points.