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Dutch claim 1-1 draw in Belgium

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BRUSSELS: The Netherlands continued their resurgence under Ronald Koeman as youngster Arnaut Groeneveld’s first international goal secured a 1-1 friendly draw with Belgium in Brussels on Tuesday. Dries Mertens fired the World Cup semifinalists into a sixth-minute lead, but Groeneveld marked his full debut for the Dutch by equalising before the half-hour mark. This was another strong performance for the Oranje after Saturday’s stunning 3-0 Nations League victory over Germany, while Roberto Martinez’s Belgium remain unbeaten at home since a loss to Spain in September 2016.


“I think there is still a lot of work to do, but we’ve shown that we’ve made good progress lately and at the end of the match we tried to play more offensively to try to win,” said Koeman. “We had the best chances and overall we can be very happy with the last 10 days.” The hosts struck early through a fantastic goal from Mertens, as the Napoli winger pounced after some slack Dutch defending, curling the ball past goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and two men on the line, and into the top corner.


The Dutch almost levelled after a quick counter-attack, but Memphis Depay failed to get a clean connection on his shot and was denied by the legs of Simon Mignolet, making his first appearance in the Belgian goal since March. But the Lyon forward cut open the home defence in the 27th minute, sending through a perfect pass for Nigerian-born winger Groeneveld to slide home on just his second international appearance after coming on as a substitute against Germany. — AFP


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