Supersub Wout Weghorst Strikes Late as Netherlands Triumph Over Poland in Euro 2024

Due to a thigh injury, Robert Lewandowski was unable to play for the Poles. However, Adam Buksa stood in for him, glancing Michal Probierz’s side in front (16) from Piotr Zielinski’s corner.

Six minutes later, Memphis Depay hoisted his shot over the bar, giving the Netherlands, who had earlier squandered fine chances through Tijjani Reijnders and Xavi Simons, the advantage. However, Wojciech Szczesny (29), who was wrong-footed by a deflected shot from Cody Gakpo, restored parity.

Gakpo wasted a lot of opportunities in the first half of the encounter, making five attempts in all, the joint-most for a Dutch player in the first half of a competition since 1980.

Poland needed the break, but came out firing in the second half. Piotr Zielinski’s attempt from twenty yards out was met by another deft stop by Dutch keeper Bart Verbruggen, after Jakub Kiwior’s shot had taken a nick off Nathan Ake.

Although the Polish team showed determination, Weghorst, a substitute who is still with Burnley, scored the game’s winning goal five minutes after entering the game. He did so by grabbing a deft through pass from Ake and scoring his seventh goal in his last 11 Oranje appearances.

The Netherlands held on to send the tens of thousands of “Oranje” supporters at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion into raptures, but Poland refused to give up as substitute Karol Swiderski nearly leveled the score after meeting Jakub Piotrowski’s cross to fire low towards the near post and have Verbruggen at full stretch. Piotrowski’s follow-up was blazed into the side-netting.

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As a result, the Netherlands top the group, one point ahead of France, who play Austria in the other game from the first gameweek on Monday in Dusseldorf.

Netherlands’ forward Cody Gakpo, stated:

“The opponent was difficult and the contest was challenging. It was a little bit harder because they scored early, but we still produced a number of excellent chances and opportunities. Being more clinical is necessary. All in all, we did fairly well.

“We must evaluate the game to determine where we can inflict more damage on them, then use that knowledge to the next one. Even though several of the younger players were playing for the first time, I believe it was a strength of our team that they played well.”

Netherlands’ Boss Ronald Koeman, stated:

Weghorst has contributed to the squad and was allowed to play; his distinct style of behavior was just what the team needed.

After an hour, we should have had a 4-1 lead since we played excellently but were unable to convert on opportunities. The Polish team almost scored a goal on their own, but we were fortunate to add a second.

“The team did well, and we have good qualities. We ought to have been able to score more after sixty minutes. Cody Gakpo had excellent play. We ought to give the ball to him more frequently since he was dangerous.”