Netherlands vs Serbia 2-1

Netherlands beat Serbia 2-1 at Philips Stadion after Joshua Zirkzee came off the bench to score the winner in the 72nd minute. Teun Koopmeiners had put the hosts in front before Serbia levelled, and the home side held on from there.

The opening goal came in the 31st minute when Koopmeiners scored to make it 1-0. Serbia hit back four minutes later through Mihajlo Cvetkovic, who was set up by Aleksa Terzić, and the match was level at 1-1 by half-time.

Netherlands moved ahead again in the 72nd minute when Zirkzee, who came on in the 45th minute, finished from Tijjani Reijnders. The goal came after Netherlands had made three changes across the second half, including a double switch in the 58th minute and another in the 82nd minute, while Serbia also made two changes in the 66th minute and two more in the 72nd minute as they chased the game.

The numbers backed the home win. Netherlands had 66% of the ball, 618 passes and 22 shots to Serbia’s 34%, 324 passes and 12 attempts. They also finished with 7 shots on target to 4, won 6 corners to 3 and had 4 saves compared with Serbia’s 3, while the fouls total was close at 14-13.

Serbia picked up four yellow cards, with Stefan Gudelj booked in the 14th minute, Strahinja Pavlović in the 30th minute, Saša Lukić in the 49th minute and Nemanja Maksimović in the 74th minute. Netherlands had one booking, Tijjani Reijnders in the 45th minute.