Koeman's Holland ease to convincing victory over Portugal

Holland got off the the perfect start early on as Depay found space in the area to divert Donny Van de Beek's tame effort past Anthony Lopes and into the back of the net to open the scoring with just 12 minutes gone.

Portugal had plenty of possession in the opening exchanges but looked rattled by the goal and struggled to create and real chances to respond to the setback.

Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a penalty when he tangled with Nathan Ake just inside the box on the half hour and just two minutes later, Holland doubled their lead.

Matthijs De Ligt exchanged passes with Van de Beek down the right before firing in a powerful cross that Babel was on hand to head home from close range.

That prompted Portugal's best spell of the game as Bruno Fernandes squandered two half-chances, before Virgil van Dijk piled the misery on the reigning European champions in added-on time.

Depay's deep free-kick from the right was headed down by de Ligt and the Holland captain duly volleyed the ball past Lopes and into the far corner to give his side a three-goal lead at the break.

- Cancelo's early bath -

Portugal started the second half well, but any hopes they had of a comeback were ended when Joao Cancelo was shown his second yellow card of the game just after the hour mark, sending him for an early bath and Holland to a comfortable victory.

Despite their man disadvantage, Portugal twice went close to a late consolation, first when Jasper Cillessen plunged down to his left to palm away Goncalo Guedes' flicked header from a Joao Moutinho free-kick, before Van de Beek did brilliantly to block Andre Silva's effort on the line after decent play from susbtitute Gelson Martins.

 

March 26, 2018