Very bitter derby for the Red Devils. Despite the preponderance against the Orange, Belgium left Amsterdam with a bad feeling. Virgil van Dijk scored the only goal, our national team did not score for the first time in 50 matches. The young Zeno Debast certainly paid tuition after the break.
All eyes on Amsterdam. 59 days before the Devils’ opening match at the World Cup, a confrontation with the Netherlands is even more exciting – even if only for the Nations League.
Interesting information starts with the basic team. Again Zeno Debast at the kick-off. In midfield, Onana had his chance and Castagne was allowed to trot off the wing. Good listeners learn who emphatically has (no) chance of a basic place, right?
The derby was also important mentally. More than three months after that dramatic 1-4 at the Heysel, you would rather not take a second blow from the same opponent.
Idealess Netherlands
It wouldn’t run as fast as it did then. The beats in the ArenA were so exhilarating before kick-off, the Orange presented itself so easily before the break. Could the lack of key pawns Depay and De Jong have something to do with it? The home team left the initiative to the Belgians and that resulted in a handful of opportunities.
After just four minutes, Hazard was given an opportunity on a pass from Onana, which he would have done more with in his best form. Batshuayi and especially Witsel – after a great assist from De Bruyne – also missed opportunities on the opening goal.
Defensively, the Devils would hold out relatively easily against an idealess Netherlands. Only a few moments of despair from Debast would sometimes cause some panic.
Standout Onana
National coach-for-one-day Thierry Henry started the second half with two substitutions. Enter Carrasco and De Ketelaere. They replaced Meunier and an invisible Batshuayi. The latter’s alibi performance proved that we should pray for a fit Lukaku in Qatar.
Compatriots who still dreamed of a miracle towards the Final Four were there for the effort. Three goals would not fall in Amsterdam after the break. Before that, both countries lacked sharpness and eagerness.
By the way, who didn’t miss that: Amadou Onana. The midfielder certainly showed himself in the last half hour with some strong tackles and sometimes a smart infiltration.
One such followed shortly after the hour. Onana continued excellently on a long ball from KDB, broke free from De Roon, but saw his fine effort saved by Pasveer.
Until then it was the best chance in a dull match without any real highlights. Everything pointed in the direction of a bloodless zero-zero…
Debast pays tuition
But it is at such moments that world champions strike. About fifteen minutes before the end, the Netherlands received a corner. Captain Van Dijk, covered by Debast, got rid of his young attacker and headed in unstoppably. 1-0, against the flow of the game.
Especially Debast will have cursed. The Anderlecht talent paid a lot of money in Amsterdam after all. Because a few minutes after the opening goal, Debast unluckily lifted the offside, so that Bergwijn almost scored the 2-0. Courtois later prevented it twice. Lukebakio saw a spectacular bicycle kick in the final seconds explode at the intersection.
And so the Devils were left with a particularly bitter feeling in the ArenA. For the first time since that semi-final against France at the World Cup – no less than 50 matches – our national team did not score.
That’s a statistic you would rather have kept two months before Qatar.
59 days left…
Van Dijk: “It soon became apparent that it was going to be difficult”
- Remko Pasveer: Glad we can win again. We had some problems in defense, but we can solve them by the World Cup. Unbelievable, hey, that I already have 2 clean sheets, I thank the guys for that. Today it was not much with incredible bicycle kick from Lukebakio, I wiped the post because I was glad it was there.
- Virgil Van Dijk: It wasn’t a good game, but the feeling of winning is nice. It should have been better. We will play against Belgium of course. They tried to pull us apart with a lot of initiative from quality players like De Bruyne and Hazard. It soon became apparent that it was going to be difficult. We will go to Qatar with confidence, we will give everything for it!
