The Dutch men’s football team drew 2-2 at home to Germany in Group A3 of the Nations League on Tuesday, while Georgia won 1-0 in their visit to Albania in Group B1 and England beat Finland 2-0 in Group B2 thanks to a double from Harry Kane.
At the Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam, it took the home side just a minute and a half to open the scoring. With Germany centre-back Jonathan Tah out of position, a long pass from the Netherlands goalkeeper was met by Brian Brobbey with his chest and Ryan Gravenberch threaded the ball through on the run for Tijjani Reijnders to exploit in the space.
The AC Milan midfielder quickly reached the opposition box and beat Marc-André ter Stegen with a low shot. However, Germany recovered and created danger until they made it 1-1 in the 38th minute, thanks to Deniz Undav after a mistake by the ‘Orange’ defender Matthijs de Ligt when passing the ball out.
Jamal Musiala stole the ball and passed it to Undav, who then passed it to Florian Wirtz, whose right-footed shot was saved by goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen; Undav was alert to the rebound and scored with his left foot. Just before the break, the Mannschaft made it 2-1 after Robert Andrich sent a cross into the left-back area.
David Raum crossed from the corner and, although Undav did not get to the end, Joshua Kimmich pushed it into the net behind him. After the break, the Netherlands improved with the changes and soon made it 2-2; Xavi Simons slipped a pass to Brobbey, who in the area got away from Nico Schlotterbeck and passed back for Denzel Dumfries to score from close range.
Ronald Koeman’s and Julian Nagelsmann’s men had more chances, but they failed to score and the draw left both teams with four points in their group. The Germans lead due to a better goal difference than the Dutch (+5 vs +3); in the other match, Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina drew 0-0.
In the B division, Kane scored two second-half goals on Wembley to secure victory for the hosts over Finland. It was the Bayern Munich striker’s 100th game for the ‘Three Lions’ and he celebrated by scoring his brace in golden boots.
With six points out of six possible, the English team is in second place in its group. Greece is in the lead with a better goal difference, after beating Ireland 0-2 thanks to a goal from Fotis Ioannidis (min. 50) and another from Christos Tzolis (min. 87).
Meanwhile, in Tirana, a solitary goal from midfielder Giorgi Kochorashvili (71′) gave Georgia the victory. This result put the Georgians on six points at the top; they are followed by Albania and the Czech Republic, both teams with three points after the Czech Republic’s 3-2 victory over Ukraine.
In Division C, North Macedonia defeated Armenia 2-0 and moved up to the top of Group C4, with four points. Armenia and Latvia are also on three points, having beaten Faroe Islands 1-0 thanks to a goal from Renars Varslavans (min.64).
Finally, in Division D, only one match was played and it was in Group D2. Midfielder Ryan Camenzuli scored the only goal just before half-time as Malta beat Andorra. However, Moldova remains top thanks to a better goal difference.