Virgil van Dijk, the captain of the Netherlands national team, reflected on his side’s comeback in yesterday’s UEFA Nations League match against Greece, which ended 2-2. The Dutch trailed 0-2 at halftime but managed to claw back a draw in the second half.
“Clearly, the two halves were very different. In the first half, we were outplayed, which is unacceptable. We lost, especially in duels, and that should not have happened.
In the first half, Greece hardly pressed and played with a low block, which left many of our players ahead of the ball. Our game lacked tempo. Every time we tried to play through the center, we lost possession too quickly. We fought poorly for the ball and consistently lost second balls. Ultimately, you lose almost every duel like that.
Fortunately, we had 45 minutes to turn things around. In the second half, they barely created any chances. That’s positive, but we needed to do that from the start. The coach had a plan to improve our play during the break, but it was up to us as players to execute it,” van Dijk told UEFA’s website.
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