Denzel Dumfries’ late header rescued three points for the Netherlands in their Euro 2020 opener with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Ukraine in Amsterdam.
The Netherlands had held a comfortable two-goal lead through strikes from Georginio Wijnaldum and Wout Weghorst within six minutes of one another shortly after half-time, in a chance-laden game at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
But Ukraine, who had impressed early on before fading badly, sprang back into the game through an Andriy Yarmolenko stunner 15 minutes from time, before shocking their hosts as Roman Yaremchuk headed home Ruslan Malinovskyi’s free-kick four minutes later.
That looked like getting Frank De Boer’s tournament off to a disappointing start less than a year into an uncomfortable reign as Netherlands boss, before Dumfries – who should have scored twice in the first half – headed home Nathan Ake’s cross to spare the blushes of both his country and manager.
Netherlands win it, twice, to paper over patchy performance
Chances at either end inside the opening 90 seconds set the tone for a game full of attacking intent with defensive shape often an afterthought. Memphis Depay was denied by Bushchan when he should have scored after a run from his own half.
Dumfries was first denied by the Ukrainian keeper minutes later before Wijnaldum came close, while Ukraine offered glimpses of their own ability with the ball but only once threatened to trouble Stekelenburg when he denied Yarmolenko from a tight angle.
A Wijnaldum volley and an awful missed header from Dumfries wrapped up the hosts’ chances before half-time, before the former made amends when the previously impressive Bushchan pushed a cross into his path, and he emphatically found the top corner from the edge of the box.
Ukraine quickly found themselves two goals behind as Dumfries’ pressure on Vitaliy Mykolenko released a loose ball to Weghorst to beat Bushchan again, but he had to wait for confirmation of his first tournament goal due to a lengthy VAR offside check.
The visitors looked out of ideas until Yarmolenko was given space to turn inside by Patrick van Aanholt and, having opened up space on his left, beat Maarten Stekelenburg with an unstoppable dipping curled effort.
Just as they had been hit by a quick one-two, so would Ukraine reply in kind. Malinovskyi’s free-kick was powerfully met by Yaremchuk ahead of Weghorst, and suddenly the visitors were level with 12 minutes to go.
There was still time for one more twist as Dumfries made amends for his earlier miss with a strong header from Ake’s cross to restore the Netherlands lead in the dying minutes, before finally seeing out victory to get off to a winning – if far from perfect – start in Amsterdam.
What’s next?
Both teams are back in action on Thursday. Ukraine’s second group game comes first, against North Macedonia in Bucharest (kick-off 2pm). The Netherlands are back in front of their own fans later that evening, hosting Austria (kick-off 8pm).