PLAYER OF THE MATCH – ROMANO SCHMID (AUSTRIA)
He is the epitome of everything that was strong about the Austrian performance and it is a bit unfortunate that his superb header, which put his side 2-1 up, will be overshadowed by Marcelo Sabitzer’s brilliant winner. His work rate was exceptional with and without the ball, closing down the Dutch on the left and then finding space when his team won the ball – and keeping cool in possession.
PLAYER RATINGS
Netherlands: Verbruggen 5; Gertrude 6, De Vrij 5, Van Dijk 6, Ake 6; Schouten 6, Veerman 6; Malen 4, Reinders 6, Gakpo 7; Depai 8.
Substitutions: Simmons 7, van de Ven 6, Wijnaldum 6, Veghorst 7.
Austria: Pentz 7; Posch 7, Lienhart 8, Wober 7, Prass 8; Seivald 7, Grillitsch 7; Schmid 9*, Sabicer 8*, Wimmer 7; Arnautović 7.
Substitutions: Baumgartner 8, Leimer 6, Querfeld 6, Gregoric 6. Wyman.
THE MOST IMPORTANT MATCHES
6′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS 0-1 AUSTRIA (SMALL OG)! You can’t say Austria don’t deserve it, but a very strange goal as Prass looks to cross Arnautovic in the box and the returning Malen steps in and redirects it at the near post.
14′ GREAT CHANCE FOR RANGERS! Depay played in Reijnders and passed it past Gakpo who returned the ball to the penalty area, but the Milanese deflected his effort horribly and it flew wide of the goal.
24′ MALEN MISSED A GREAT CHANCE TO LEVEL UP! Depay with a lovely touch on Reijnders and Mullen, on goal, hits his shot which drifts wide.
47′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS (GAKPO) 1-1 AUSTRIA! Gertruida, who was switched to midfield at half-time, won the ball from Grealich and then played in Simmons. He carried the ball 30 yards before playing in Gakpo, whose finish from the left of the box was perfect.
59′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS 1-2 AUSTRIA (SCHMID)! A Grealich cross from the byline found Schmid eight yards out and he chipped the ball low past Verbruggen, De Vrij unable to clear the ball off the line.
78′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS (DEPAI) 2-2 AUSTRIA! Weghorst rose the most and nodded towards the Atletico Madrid forward who controlled the ball on his thigh (not his hand) and volleyed it home.
80′ GOAL! NETHERLANDS 2-3 AUSTRIA (SABITZER)! A beautiful ball from Baumgartner broke through the midfielder to the goal and from a tight angle he put the ball high into the net above Verbregen.
84′ BALL IN THE NET… BUT OFFSIDE! And again, Verbriegen was beaten at the near post. This time Baumgartner looked like he was going to center the ball before squeezing it into the keeepr’s near post.
86′ WEGHORST NOT FAR FROM AN EQUALIZER! Geertruida and Weghorst’s long, deep cross almost mimicked Robin van Persie’s famous flying header against Spain, but the ball flew a yard too high.