Virgil van Dijk on Monday hailed the Netherlands’ belief as his 91st-minute equalizer fired them into the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League after a dramatic 2-2 draw with Germany.
The point in Gelsenkirchen was enough for the Netherlands to advance to the last four at the expense of world champions France after scoring twice in the final six minutes in a dramatic finish.
Liverpool defender Van Dijk volleyed home a cross in stoppage-time to complete the fight back after Quincy Promes had scored the first on 85 minutes.
Photo: AP
Germany, who led 2-0 after only 20 minutes through goals by Timo Werner and Leroy Sane, were punished for not being clinical enough in the second half.
Van Dijk said it was “a fantastic feeling” to finish top of League A Group 1 ahead of European powerhouses France and Germany.
“We should all be proud of ourselves. I know I am,” he said after his side joined England, Switzerland and Portugal in the Nations League semi-finals. “We worked so hard every game and to get rewards for that is fantastic.”
After missing out on qualifying for the finals of both Euro 2016 and this year’s FIFA World Cup, Van Dijk said the priority is to get the Netherlands to the Euro 2020 finals.
“If we can win the Nations League, fantastic, but we all want to make sure we’re at the European Championships and do very well there to make our country proud,” he said.
Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman praised his team for turning two of their three late chances into goals.
“It was very difficult for us, the Germans were sharper and faster in the first half,” Koeman said. “We fought to come back in the second half and pressed. They had their chances to finish it off, but the fight and belief we showed was enough for the point.”
After Germany missed several second-half chances, head coach Joachim Loew rued the victory that got away from his inexperienced side.
“That’s the price you pay for having a young side, we have to learn to close a game down,” said Loew, who started only three 2014 World Cup winners in Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer. “They risked everything and were rewarded. This is a learning experience for us and we will have to analyze our performance in the last 10 minutes.”
Thomas Mueller reached the milestone of 100 Germany appearances as a second-half substitute, but the future belongs to the likes of Manchester City winger Sane, who was outstanding.
“The result is annoying,” Sane said. “We went ahead and then let them off the hook. We should have scored the third goal, then you run the game down, but it didn’t work out like that.”
Fellow goalscorer Werner, who ended his eight-game goal drought, agreed.
“It’s a pity, we had everything under control until the 85th minute and could have gone 3-0 up,” Werner said. “At the end, we weren’t rewarded and everything fell apart again.”
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