A mistake by Dutch defender and captain Virgil van Dijk was the cause of Austria’s winning goal at Euro 2024.
The Netherlands suffered a dramatic 2-3 defeat to Austria in the final match of Group D Euro 2024 at the Olympia Stadium, Berlin, on Tuesday night.
Austria took the lead in the sixth minute through an own goal by Dutch player Donyell Malen. The goal started when Malen tried to block a cross from Austrian left-back Alexandre Prass. However, Malen’s block went straight into the Dutch goal.
Early in the second half, the Netherlands were able to score a reply goal through Cody Gakpo. From inside the opponent’s penalty box, Gakpo fired a shot into the left corner of the Austrian goal which equalized the score to 1-1.
In the 62nd minute, Austria took the lead again to 2-1 thanks to a goal scored by Romano Schmid after continuing Florian Grilllitsch’s pass.
Then in the 75th minute, the Netherlands were actually able to equalize through Memphis Depay’s shot. Depay’s goal was initially disallowed by the referee, but was later confirmed by VAR, the score became 2-2.
However, in the 80th minute, Austria again stole the lead to 3-2 through Marcel Sabitzer’s goal. Sabitzer received the ball in a free position after Virgil van Dijk was late to withdraw the offside.
Van Dijk was the last player in the Dutch defense zone. Sabitzer took advantage of this situation to escape the Dutch offside trap. Sabitzer, who received a pass from his teammate, immediately fired a shot into the top left corner of the Dutch goal. Sabitzer’s goal made Austria win 3-2 over the Netherlands.
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman was disappointed with his team’s very poor performance against Austria at Euro 2024.
“I can mention several [mistakes by our players]. We started [the match] very badly in many aspects. We didn’t defend well. There were many chances for the opponent,” Koeman said after the match as quoted by France 24.
“We were not aggressive. We also lost the ball, especially at the beginning. We played very badly,” Koeman added.
The defeat saw the Netherlands drop from first to third in Group D with four points. However, the Netherlands still qualified for the last 16 of Euro 2024 as one of the best third-placed teams.
Image source: liverpool.com
