{"id":641448,"date":"2024-06-16T17:57:55","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T21:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=641448"},"modified":"2024-06-16T17:57:55","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T21:57:55","slug":"key-netherlands-takeaways-wout-weghorst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2024\/06\/16\/key-netherlands-takeaways-wout-weghorst\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Key Takeaways as Wout Weghorst Is the Hero for Netherlands Against Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands started their Euro 2024 campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Poland. An early Adam Buksa goal against the run of play put the underdogs in front before Cody <\/span>Gakpo\u2019s<\/span> deflected shot drew Oranje level 15 minutes before half-time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second half was frustrating for Ronald <\/span>Koeman\u2019s<\/span> side <\/span>but<\/span> Wout <\/span>Weghorst\u2019s<\/span> 81st-minute goal earned all three points.<\/span>Last Word on Football examines the key talking points from The <\/span>Netherlands\u2019<\/span> Euro 2024 opener.<\/span><\/p>\n

Key<\/span> Takeaways as Wout Weghorst Saves the Netherlands Against Poland<\/span><\/h2>\n

Weghorst Saves the Netherlands Once Again<\/span><\/h3>\n

Despite <\/span>having<\/span> a collection of chances to take the lead, the Netherlands <\/span>were struggling<\/span> to a 1-1 draw with Poland.<\/span>Koeman\u2019s<\/span> first two substitutions, Georginio Wijnaldum and Donyell <\/span>Malen<\/span> had not had the desired effect. However, the former Barcelona manager had one last trick up his sleeve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Top Five Greatest European Championships Upsets<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Wout Weghorst – the man who dragged his country to penalties against Argentina at the World Cup, was introduced in the 81st minute. The former Manchester United striker pounced on Nathan <\/span>Ake\u2019s<\/span> deflected cross to score his eleventh international goal. The Hoffenheim <\/span>striker\u2019s<\/span> clinical edge means he is in contention to start the June 21 clash with France. Memphis Depay was wasteful against Poland and looked frustrated when taken off.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gakpo Continues Fine End to the Season<\/span><\/h3>\n

After a <\/span>difficult<\/span> March, Gakpo ended the season on a high for Liverpool with goals against Tottenham and Aston Villa. The forward started Euro <\/span>2024<\/span> determined to continue his form. The 25-year-old was the <\/span>Netherlands’<\/span> main<\/span> source of attacks on the left.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Reliving Three Lions On The Shirt, But Germany Wins Euro 1996<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The Liverpool forward caused problems when cutting in from the wing and played through Tijjani Reijnders for a chance the AC Milan midfielder <\/span>should\u2019ve<\/span> scored. Gakpo will feel like he <\/span>should\u2019ve<\/span> scored more than once, but he will have more chances to add to his crucial equaliser as the tournament progresses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Injury-Hit Midfield Struggles to Dominate<\/span><\/h3>\n

Frankie De <\/span>Jong<\/span><\/a>\u2019s<\/span> and Teun <\/span>Koopmeiners\u2019<\/span> injuries have left the Netherlands short in midfield. Koeman tried PSV pairing Joey Veerman and Jerdy Schouten <\/span>but<\/span> they struggled to help create much for their team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Netherlands Euro 2024 Replacement: In Demand Chelsea Star Called Up<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

When Rejinders dropped into a <\/span>deeper<\/span> role late on <\/span>the<\/span> Netherlands improved and found a late winner. Koeman will likely stick with the PSV pair against France, where Oranje will likely have less possession. The Dutch manager will have a decision to make against Austria, where his side will <\/span>be expected<\/span> to dominate the ball once again.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands started their Euro 2024 campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Poland. An early Adam Buksa goal against the run of play put the underdogs in front before Cody Gakpo\u2019s deflected shot drew Oranje level 15 minutes before half-time. The second half was frustrating for Ronald Koeman\u2019s side but Wout Weghorst\u2019s 81st-minute goal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5054,"featured_media":640929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[9374,1987,423,31848,3122],"class_list":["post-641448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-football","tag-cody-gakpo","tag-frenkie-de-jong","tag-netherlands","tag-uefa-euro-2024","tag-wout-weghorst"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5054"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}