Football: England must learn lessons from Dutch defeat in Nations League semi-finals, says Southgate, Football News & Top Stories



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GUIMARAES, Portugal (AFP) – English coach Gareth Southgate has vowed his team would learn from a faulty performance as the Netherlands advance to the League of Nations final by beating the Three Lions 3-1 Thursday, June 6).

Defeat means England's long wait for a trophy since 1966 and the Dutch deserved their place in Sunday's final against Portugal.

Marcus Rashford's penalty kick gave England a first-half lead against the race, but Matthijs de Ligt made amends for his mistake by giving the advantage to a tied shot at 17 minutes from the end .

England contributed to its own fall in overtime with a comedy of errors for both goals. John Stones and Ross Barkley were responsible for Kyle Walker's goal and the mere addition of Quincy Promes propelled Holland into the final.

The men of Southgate were trying to build on the success of the first semi-final of the World Cup in 28 years, but they showed that there was still a lot of work to be done to put an end to the drought of their trophy. next season, at Euro 2020. – Finals and finals will be played at home at Wembley.

"I think it's a very important game that we need to think about," Southgate said. "The next few days will be painful, but we will be stronger for the experience."

He defended his decision to skip the seven Champions League finalists in his Tottenham and Liverpool squads, while captain Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson remained on the bench.

And the boss of England also insisted that his team had to persist by pbading the ball through the back, despite criticism that will surely come to meet Stones and Barkley.

"If we had not played this way, we would never be among the best teams," Southgate said.

"That's how I think they can play and should play.

"The mistakes were not characteristic, it was just poor execution and fatigue, I do not have to overreact to these things and endure them in a difficult time for everyone."

The Netherlands have not even managed to qualify for the last two major tournaments. However, the young talent who has experienced a dramatic turnaround has been highlighted by the excellent Frenkie de Jong, originally from Barcelona, ​​in the middle of the field.

"I heard that he was the player of the game tonight, well deserved," said Dutch manager Ronald Koeman. "Most people are always looking for what he's doing with the ball, his calm, but if you see how defensively he wins in the middle of the field. is not it. "

After his signing, De Ligt is expected to leave Ajax with a host of European clubs, but he had a moment to forget just after half an hour. At 19, Rashford was not controlled by a single pbad and then scooped Rashford.

However, De Ligt has shown a lot of character to make amends by giving a header to corner, as finally told the pressure from the Netherlands.

"We fell too low and it took them an equal effort so that we could intensify it again," Kane lamented.

At the time when there seemed to be only one winner, England was producing its best match performance while Stones, Ben Chilwell, Barkley and Raheem Sterling were moving the ball to one end to each other before Jesse Lingard comes home.

However, the celebrations were cut short when the Manchester United midfielder was declared offside by the best margin after a VAR revision.

Memphis Depay and Donny van de Beek missed their chances in the Netherlands to win the match before the overtime, but the Netherlands finally took full control in another 30 minutes.

England inflicted much of the damage itself when Stones missed the ball and after Jordan Pickford made a big stop to deny Depay, the Promes follow-up was diverted off Walker.

Barkley's back pbad was then completed by a third for the Dutch, while Depay was about to allow Promes to sit in an empty goal.

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