Euro 2020: Netherlands vs Ukraine Match Recap
The Netherlands narrowly avoided a memorable collapse against Ukraine in their opening Euro 2020 game as they were able to eventually come through as 3-2 winners.
The Netherlands have the squad to be serious Euro 2020 contenders and nearly demonstrated that in just the second minute when Memphis Depay raced away on the counter-attack before having his shot saved.
They threatened once again inside five minutes when Denzel Dumfries saw his shot saved by Ukraine's George Buschan following some nice link-up play inside the box.
Buschan had to be at his best again later in the half as he turned away a blistering volley from Georginio Wijnaldum. This was the last big moment of the half as Ukraine survived the first 45 minutes with the scores still level.
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Goal-laden second half kickstarts Netherlands' Euro 2020 campaign
With the second half underway, the Ukrainian defense finally wilted. After Dumfries' cross was deflected into his path, Wijnaldum made no mistake, firing his side into the lead.
A second quickly followed for the Netherlands when some uncertain defending from Ukraine's Mykola Matviyenko allowed Wout Weghorst to blast the ball home and double his nation's advantage in their opening Euro 2020 encounter.
Inexplicably, the Netherlands then took their foot of the gas and found their lead cut in half in the 75th minute. West Ham's Andriy Yarmolenko cut inside on to his left foot before unleashing a beautiful curling strike into the top corner.
Less than five minutes later, Ukraine were unexpectedly level after Ruslan Malinovsky's free-kick was powerfully headed home by Roman Yaremchuk.
However, Ukrainian hearts were broken in the 85th minute when Nathan Ake's looping cross was headed home by Dumfries to hand the Netherlands all three points, starting their Euro 2020 campaign on a high.
Next up for the Netherlands at Euro 2020 will be Austria whilst Ukraine will look to get back on track against North Macedonia.
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