The Men’s National Team lost the second match of the duel with France on Thursday afternoon. After the 2-2 draw last Tuesday, national coach Jeroen Delmée’s team went down 1-0 in Den Bosch.
The last official match before the start of the European Championship took place under the same circumstances as Tuesday. A dozen spectators, no national anthems and the scoreboard remained black. A totally different ambiance than next week in Mönchengladbach, where the Orange Men will defend their European title.
Compared to the first mutual game against the French, Delmée made two changes. Joep de Mol took the place of Luke Dommershuijzen and Derk Meijer replaced Maurits Visser under the crossbar. In Mönchengladbach, both Meijer and Visser will get the chance to goalkeep.
Pressure in French circle
Meijer got little to do against France. Rotterdam’s goalkeeper did not get a shot on goal until the second quarter. Corentin Sellier’s effort from the left went wide.
Meijer’s colleague on the other side, Corentin Saunier, was considerably busier. The Netherlands got three penalty corners, two of which were turned away by Saunier. The French goalkeeper also had an answer to shots by Steijn van Heijningen and Koen Bijen.
Olivier Hortensius sees his shot sail over the French goal. Photo: Willem Vernes
The best chance was for Thierry Brinkman. After Saunier had turned away a shot, the captain seemed to be able to push the ball into the goal on the rebound. However, Saunier managed to get his glove to the ball with an extreme effort.
Plenty of chances
The French came out of their shell a little more after the break. It resulted in their first penalty corner. At that moment, the Netherlands was down to ten men, after a green card for Jorrit Croon. Victor Charlet did not capitalize on the opportunity. His push went wide of Meijer’s goal.
The Netherlands also got chances. Van Heijningen countered with goalkeeper Saunier and Olivier Hortensius saw his effort disappear just over the French goal. In overtime, after a green card for Mattéo Desgouillions, the Netherlands got two more penalty corners, but the French defense did not budge.
Louis Haertelmeyer scores the winning goal of the game between the Dutch Men and France. Photo: Willem Vernes
The game seemed to end 0-0, but in the closing stages France took the win. Goalkeeper Meijer had no chance on a diagonal shot into the top corner by Louis Haertelmeyer. The Netherlands had another chance to equalize, but Janssen’s corner went over via a defensive stick. As a result, the Dutch lost their last international match before the start of the European Championship.
Netherlands – France 0-1 (0-0)
56. Louis Haertelmeyer 0-1
by Hockey.nl
