Austria slumped to a 2-0 loss to the Netherlands on Saturday in their final warm-up match before Euro 2016.
Poor defending by the hosts allowed striker Vincent Janssen to open the scoring in the ninth minute and Georginio Wijnaldum doubled the lead in the 66th after being set up by Luuk de Jong, who replaced Janssen a minute earlier.
Since comfortably qualifying for Euro 2016 with 28 from a possible 30 points, Austria have struggled to maintain their rhythm. They lost friendlies against Switzerland and Turkey, before edging Malta 2-1 last week.
Photo: AFP
“We should not become down from this defeat,” Austria coach Marcel Koller said. “We started well, but it was an unlucky goal and they benefited from it. We didn’t give away much in the first half. It was a very good test against a very good team.”
Austria open Euro 2016 against Hungary on Tuesday next week, before taking on Portugal and Iceland in Group F.
Koller started with almost the same team that impressed during qualifying, except for Marcel Sabitzer instead of Martin Harnik on the right wing.
Photo: Reuters
Austria dominated the opening half hour in front of 48,000 spectators, looking versatile in attack with lots of movement and quick passing, but the hosts’ defensive weaknesses were exposed by Netherlands counterattacks.
“If you win matches like those, you start thinking that we could have done well at the European Championships,” Netherlands coach Danny Blind said. “It’s been great team work. We had our difficulties in the opening phase, but we had everything under control afterward.”
It was the third win for the Netherlands in their past four friendlies against Euro 2016 contenders, after beating England and Poland 2-1, before drawing 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland.
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