Euro 2020 Qualifying – Group C: Germany 2-4 Netherlands (Gnabry 9, Kroos pen 73; De Jong 59 Tah OG 66, Malen 79, Wijnaldum 90+1)
Germany needed to win against the Netherlands in order to keep up with Northern Ireland on four wins from four in Group C.
It was a decent showing from the Dutch, and they deserve praise for picking a side that has put the focus off their best players and allowed the others to become more than the sum of their parts. However, they were aided by a Germany side that struggled to stay organized defensively.
The away side started brighter, but it was Serge Gnabry who opened the scoring for Germany as he seized on a defensive lapse of concentration by the Dutch to fire home a rebound past Jasper Cillessen – a minute after Memphis Depay had brought out a smart stop from Manuel Neuer at the other end.
In the second half, just before the hour mark, Frenkie de Jong leveled to give Ronald Koeman’s side hope, and they went ahead when Jonathan Tah turned the ball into his own net from a corner.
The Dutch then had the leader Van Dijk’s bullet header was beaten away by Neuer, but Depay managed to get the ball back into the danger area, where it found the net courtesy of a deflection from German defender Jonathan Tah.
The game took yet another dramatic twist when De Ligt was penalized for blocking a cross, inadvertently seeing the ball loop down onto his arm – and Toni Kroos confidently slotted home an equalizer to bring the game level with two goals each.
And there was more to come, as Donyell Malen finished coolly on 79 minutes trying to rescue three points for the Netherlands, and see them close in on Germany in third place.
A famous Dutch win was completed in stoppage time as Memphis Depay found Georginio Wijnaldum to turn home at the far post.