Joshua Zirkzee came off the bench to score the matchwinner as the Netherlands clinched a crucial 2-1 victory over Serbia to go top of their Group in their UEFA Nations League fixture in Eindhoven.
Teun Koopmeiners opened the scoring for the Netherlands just past the half-hour mark with a pinpoint free-kick before Mihajlo Cvetkovic drew Serbia level four minutes after going behind with a well-placed header. Zirkzee, who was introduced as a half-time substitute, repaid Xavi Hernandez’s trust with a clutch tap-in to seal the victory for the hosts as they displaced Greece at the summit of the table.
It was a special night for Captain Virgil Van Dijk as he registered his 100th international cap for the Oranje.
Netherlands’s relentless attack
The Netherlands started the match on the front foot as Mexx Meerdink and Noa Lang had chances to give them the lead in the opening minutes. Joey Veerman went in search of his maiden international goal and proved Serbia’s defence, but Vanja Milinković-Savić pulled off an incredible save to deflect his shot for a corner. Serbia’s defence stood tall, but their resistance was broken a minute past the half-hour mark. Crysencio Summerville was fouled by Strahinja Pavlović and the Netherlands were awarded a free kick. Teun Koopmeiners was given set-piece duties. He took aim, picked his spot and smashed the ball into the far corner through the wall of bodies—an inch-perfect free kick.
“You have to put in a hard cross in front of the goal, which makes it very difficult for the goalkeeper if someone touches it. But it’s also almost impossible to save it if nobody touches it, so that was perfect,” said Koopmeiners.
The Netherlands’ joy was short-lived as Serbia responded immediately and drew level four minutes after falling behind. There was a slick exchange of passes between Aleksa Terzić and Dušan Tadić before the former chipped a precise cross for Mihajlo Cvetković, who rose highest ahead of Teun Koopmeiners and planted a bullet header into the net for his first international goal.
Serbia had a golden opportunity to take the lead as the opening half wound to a close as Strahinja Pavlović found himself one-on-one with Bart Verbruggen, but he seemingly lost his footing before misplacing his shot. The visitors came close to grabbing the lead immediately after the restart as goalscorer Cvetković was sent racing into the Dutch penalty area. He skillfully skipped past Teun Koopmeiners but dragged his shot wide of Bart Verbruggen’s post. A massive opportunity went begging.
Milinković-Savić was called into action shortly after, reacting quickly to deny Koopmeiners’ deflected shot before pouncing on the spill to anticipate Netherlands players who were gunning for the rebound. Lazar Vujadin Samardžić had a go for the visitors at goal, but Verbruggen was alert to his shot and kept it out of goal in the 56th minute.
Xavi Hernández introduced Joshua Zirkzee for Mexx Meerdink at the break, and he didn’t take long to justify his manager’s decision. The Netherlands soaked up Serbia’s spell of pressure before regaining control and pinging them back. The Dutch’s total football philosophy was on full display as they picked Serbia apart before Tijjani Reijnders flashed a cross across the face of goal for Zirkzee to tap it into an empty net, capping off a well-worked team move. The goal was his second international goal for the Oranje, who was called up as a replacement for injured Brian Brobbey after the game against Germany on 24 September.
Joey Veerman and Tijjani Reijnders came close to grabbing a third for the hosts but were unsuccessful. Serbia nearly grabbed a late equaliser as Stefan Gudelj tried his luck, but Verbruggen came up clutch once again to tip the shot behind for a corner.
Post-match reactions
Xavi Hernández, Netherlands coach, expressed his delight at the result in a statement to UEFA.
“I’m so happy because of the results. Everybody can see we are at the top of the table, but also with the effort, the values, the attitude of the players. We run a lot. We create chances. Of course, we can play better in many moments, but Serbia did well; they pressed man to man. We suffered in the first half, then the second half was a little bit better. We restructured the team.”
Veljko Paunović, Serbia coach, praised his team’s performance and bemoaned their lack of ruthlessness in front of goal in a statement to UEFA.
“I do think this was our best game, but I also think we didn’t play such a good game in Belgrade against the Netherlands. We were close to getting a draw, and fortunately we created so many chances that we can be happy that our team is producing. We have to convert, we have to work on the efficiency.”
Virgil van Dijk became the latest Netherlands player to reach a century of appearances with the National side, and he was given a special commemorative shirt to mark the milestone.
Xavi has had a commendable start to life with the Dutch national team, registering two wins and two draws across four matches. The win against Serbia allowed the Netherlands to usurp Greece, who drew to Germany at the summit of the table in Group A2.
It was deja vu for Serbia, who lost the reverse fixture to the Netherlands 2:1 on home soil and lost by the same scoreline a week later away from home. Serbia have lost all four matches during this international break and are stuck at the bottom of the group on zero points.
