The Netherlands achieved a comprehensive victory, its first at the World Cup, after drawing in the opener against Japan (2-0), beating Sweden 5-1 at the “Houston Stadium” for the second matchday of the 6th group, essentially “locking” the case of qualification.
The “Oranie” with two goals, at the beginning of each half, did not leave room for a reaction to the “cyanos” by taking a four-goal lead with two equal goals from Brombey (5′, 17′) and Hakpo (47′, 54′). The only thing Graham Potter’s side managed to do is keep the score down with Elanga, casting doubt on his blocking function. The final score was made in the 89th minute by Summerville, scoring in the second consecutive match.
With this result, the Dutch went top of the group with four points, leaving the Swedes in 2nd place with three points. In the last matchday, the “Oranie” will face the “tail”, albeit temporarily, Tunisia (pending the game against Japan 21/6, 07:00), while the Scandinavians will face the Japanese.
The evolution of the match
It couldn’t have been a more ideal start to the match for the Netherlands. Ronald Koeman, although he “heard” about his choice to leave out of the lineup the scorer of the first match, Crisencio Somerville, placing in his place the striker of Sunderland, Brian Brombay, was justified in the end for his choice. It wasn’t until the 5th minute that the Oranie took the lead with Hakpo feeding Brombey, and the latter slotted the ball into the net from close range for 1-0.
As if that wasn’t enough, the 24-year-old striker struck again in the 17th minute, doubling his team’s lead as well as his own goals in the game. Mullen found Dumfries who turned in from the right and Brombay found the ball just enough to slot it into the net for 2-0.
The Swedes tried to manage the “shock” of the first quarter, slowly starting to balance the game, gaining meters on the playing field. In fact, in the 37th they reached the opposing area with claims, with Yokeres trying a strong shot outside the area and Verbruggen making an impressive save.
Then the tempo increased sharply, with the “Oranie” responding, missing a unique chance with Mullen (40′), while the “blue and yellow” had another chance with Agiari, whose shot went just over the net of the Dutch goalkeeper.
Shortly before the end of the first half, specifically in the 44th minute, the Swedes went to give new interest to the match, but Lagerbilke’s goal was canceled for offside, so the score remained 2-0.
The last good moment in the first half again belonged to Graham Potter’s side, with Verbruggen saying “no” to Yokeres’ direct free-kick, as well as Agiari’s shot at 45+5′.
As in the first, so in the second half, the start for Sweden was disastrous. The Dutch set the stage for a comfortable and wide victory, making it 3-0, with… good evening, just in the 47th minute. Dumfries made the turn and Hakpo calmly sent the ball into the net, giving the “Oranie” a two-goal lead.
As if that wasn’t enough, Koeman’s side found a fourth goal in the 54th minute again with the Liverpool striker making it 4-0 with an incredible left-hand corner, doubling his personal tally in the encounter.
The “rain” of goals in the second 45 minutes had and… continued. Elanga got in behind the Swedish defence, went one-on-one with Verbruggen, making it 4-1 to his side three minutes after coming on (59′). In the last twenty minutes the pace dropped, with Summerville making the final 5-1 in the 89th minute.
Netherlands (Ronald Koeman): Verbruggen, Van Dijk, Van Hecke, Van De Ven, Dumfries, Gravenberg, Raiders (Till 59′), De Jong (Koopmeiners 59′), Gakpo, Mullen, Brombay
Sweden (Graham Potter): Nordfeldt, Lagerbilke, Lindelof, Hien, Gudmunsson, Bernardson (Elanga 55′), Nygren (Bergvall 56′), Karlstrom (Zenelli 56′), Agiari, Issac, Gyokeres
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