BLOG - 2014 European Under-17 Championship: England 0-2 Netherlands - Match Report
England 0-2 Netherlands - Group A, Matchday Three
The Netherlands beat England 2-0 to confirm their place at the top of Group A and end England's 100% record in this competition. Both teams made changes from the previous matchday, with England adopting a 4-3-3 formation and experimenting with tactical options with seven changes in personnel, while the Dutch made four changes from the side that beat Malta.
It was one of England's four first team regulars in Ryan Ledson who began a sloppy English first half performance by giving the ball away twice in a few seconds, allowing Owobowale and Nouri to neatly work an opportunity for the former to volley over in the first minute. The English continued to be careless on the ball, with the midfield not creating passing lanes for the defenders, who too often resorted to going long to Isaiah Brown, while the midfield neither pressed the Dutch in possession of the ball or supported Brown when he had it with moves too often breaking down at the feet of wide men Demetri Mitchell and Josh Sims.
In contrast, the Dutch put in a more assured performance than they had in either of their two previous matches with the skilful running of Bilal Ould-Chikh a constant problem and the passing of centre backs Verdonk and Veendorp functioning as an excellent supply to the midfield and forwards. Kenneth Paal had the best of the chances created with a drive at the bottom corner from 20 yards well saved by Sam Howes while Nouri had a scuffed volley blocked in the box.
The English did improve after the water break on 20 minutes, with their midfield providing a better quality of ball retention but Brown was too often isolated up front and the only real chance came when Mitchell's pull-back was left by Brown for Sims to come onto and curl over the bar from 20 yards. The Dutch continued their strong first half showing with a goal four minutes after the break. Centre-back Calvin Verdonk came forward with the ball and, without an English midfielder within 10 yards of him, he cut across the ball swerving it past Howes into the top right corner to score the best goal seen at the tournament so far.
The English performance continued to lack offensive cohesion and Ould-Chikh was enjoying himself on the right against their defence who struggled to get him off the ball. Jonjoe Kenny, playing out of position at left-back, particularly suffered and he picked up a yellow card for a wild tackle with his wrong foot. The Dutch had further chances with Nouri chipping over the bar at the end of a counter and, despite the introduction from the bench of Adam Armstong and then Patrick Roberts, England were still too poor in the midfield to supply them with any quality against a strong Dutch side. The Netherlands then deservedly got the second goal from a short corner routine which substitute striker Dani van der Moot headed expertly into the top corner with his first touch of the game.
The remainder of the match was a rather slow-tempo affair (as was the majority of England's performance) with only a few neat touches from Ould-Chikh and the clearly frustrated Roberts to enliven events. The Dutch were deserved winners against a poor England team, while John Peacock may come to rue this failed experiment if they are knocked out in the next round by Portugal, who they will likely now face.
With thanks to Samuel King, who you can follow on twitter @KingSRV
