The Netherlands took the lead in the 13th minute via Joshua Zirkzee. After Jusuf Gazibegović deflected a shot from the edge of the box, the ball landed on the Dutch forward's head, who beat goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj. Three minutes later, Gazibegović found himself in a promising position but shot poorly. In the 21st minute, the Dutch had another great opportunity, but Nihad Mujakić was well-positioned and cleared the ball for a corner. The equalizing goal came in the 27th minute when Denis Huseinbašić played a precise pass into space for Ermedin Demirović, who took his time to position himself on his stronger right foot and scored for 1:1. The hosts pressed, but our players managed to intervene several times to keep their net safe. Tiijani Reijnders came closest to scoring in the 42nd minute when his beautifully executed "one-two" struck the crossbar from 15 meters. However, Reijnders scored in the second minute of first-half stoppage time after Zirkzee assisted him, sprinting 25 meters to beat Vasilj.
Right at the start of the second half, Reijnders found himself in another great position, but his shot was deflected for a corner following a nice Dutch move. From that resulting corner, Virgil Van Dijk headed over the goal. In the 56th minute, the Netherlands scored their third goal - Reijnders ran down the right and crossed, and Cody Gakpo sent the ball into the net from a few meters out. In the 73rd minute, Esmir Bajraktarević sent a brilliant long pass over 30 meters to Edin Džeko, who routinely scored for 3:2. Just two minutes later, Džeko made an assist, but Dutch goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen made a crucial intervention in front of Bajraktarević. In the 88th minute, Nikola Vasilj saved a shot from Quinten Timber, but Wout Weghorst scored on the rebound to make it 4:2. Xavi Simons set the final score at 5:2 in the second minute of stoppage time, assisted by Donyell Malen.
In the other Group A3 match, Germany beat Hungary 5:0 in Düsseldorf with goals from Niclas Füllkrug (27'), Jamal Musiala (58'), Florian Wirtz (66'), Aleksandar Pavlović (77'), and Kai Havertz (81'). In the next round on Tuesday, September 10, our team visits Hungary, with the match scheduled for 20:45 at the Puskás Arena in Budapest.
