Jong Oranje (Young Oranje) has won its last practice match before the European Championship on Friday in Groningen. Michael Reiziger’s team didn’t play great, but defeated the peers from Ivory Coast in a packed Euroborg: 3-0.
Million Manhoef made the difference in the first half. The winger from Stoke City prepared the 1-0 by Devyne Rensch with a nice pass. He himself shot the 2-0 in after 36 minutes. The dull second half was brightened by the 3-0 of FC Groningen player Luciano Valente.
Reiziger had eighteen field players at his disposal in Groningen and wanted to let them all play at least 45 minutes. At halftime, there were nine substitutions, only Neraysho Kasanwirjo and Ezechiel Banzuzi retained their place.
Third goalkeeper Calvin Raatsie was the only one who didn’t play at all. He did see how colleague Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro was replaced by Robin Roefs. The audience in Groningen already got to see old acquaintances Kasanwirjo and Bjorn Meijer before halftime. In the second half, they were allowed to cheer for local heroes Valente and Thom van Bergen.
Young Oranje escapes, Manhoef shines
At that moment it was already 2-0 for Jong Oranje. Rensch scored after ten minutes with a subtle chip on a pass from Manhoef. He doubled the margin with a treacherous shot in the near corner. But it could just as easily have been 0-2 for the Ivorians.
Exactly eight seconds after the kickoff, Jong Oranje almost gifted a goal against. Abdoulaye Traoré almost profited from a misunderstanding between Owusu-Oduro and Banzuzi, but the ball fell just wrong for the striker in the scramble. The same Traoré hit the crossbar at a 0-0 score, after he was not marked closely enough by Ryan Flamingo.
Anyway, a lot went wrong in the first half. The Ivorians occasionally made the strangest choices in their own penalty area, keeper Aboubaka Dosso cheerfully joined in. It resulted in dangerous situations, but Jong Oranje could not profit from it. Also, chances for Kenneth Taylor and Ruben van Bommel did not lead to a goal.
Valente still makes Euroborg cheer
In the second half, Ernest Poku, one of the nine substitutes, shot just wide. Banzuzi just missed with a venomous distance shot, but otherwise little to nothing happened for a long time.
A quarter of an hour before time, there was still a celebration in the Groningen stands. Valente, only selected when NEC player Dirk Proper dropped out, fumbled the 3-0 in familiar ground a quarter of an hour before time.
On the other side, Roefs escaped a goal against when he wanted to cut out an incoming opponent a little too nonchalantly. The last striking moment was the substitution of the tired Kasanwirjo. The previously substituted Youri Regeer was allowed to enter the field again for a while.
On Thursday, Jong Oranje will play the first pool match of the European Championship against Finland in Kosice. After that, Denmark and Ukraine are waiting. If Reiziger’s team finishes first or second in the pool, the next opponent will come from the pool with France, Portugal, Poland and Georgia.