Orange under 17 loses first European Championship game to Switzerland with remarkable ending
NOS Soccer–
The Dutch under-17 team has lost its first group match at the European Championships in Hungary. The team of national coach Pieter Schrassert Bert went down 2-0 against the peers of Switzerland, who also missed two penalties.
The Netherlands often comes out on top at European Under-17 Championships, capturing the European title in 2011, 2012, 2018 and 2019. Last year, the Dutch stranded in the final, in which France was too strong.
Not sharp out of locker room
Mainly due to a poor start to the second half, the road to new European Championship success is long. The Netherlands did not come out of the locker room sharp after halftime, and within ten minutes they cashed in two Swiss goals.
First, Winsley Boteli was given plenty of time on the edge of the penalty area to lay on. The Borussia Mönchengladbach striker took a hard shot and left AZ goalkeeper Kiyani Zeggen defenseless.
A short time later, Boteli was behind the 2-0, which was shot in by Arlet Junior Zé.
Bizarre ending
While the Netherlands still created some chances in the first half, the team hardly became dangerous after the setback. Instead, the Dutch escaped a bigger defeat.
A few minutes before the end of the match, Avery Appiah brought down his broken opponent, giving the Ajax midfielder a red card and allowing Switzerland to take a penalty. Junior Zé’s weak shot was easy prey for Zeggen.
Three minutes later, Switzerland had another chance from 11 meters, after a foul by Rayan Atikallah. The AZ defender was lucky not to receive his second yellow card for that action.
Junior Zé took responsibility again, but this time shot the ball high over the Dutch goal.
