S2H Team
Fielding six new faces, The Netherlands took the pitch against Belgium, the FIH Pro League defending champions and the holders of the World Cup and Olympic titles, with a view to learning.
At the end of the first double-header, a bonus point from a shootout 3-0 win after a 2-2 draw suggested the young Dutch are learning and learning fast.
It was a bright start by new coach Jeroen Delmee on a rainy Friday at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen where the match was played without spectators owing to the surge in Covid cases in Europe.
Thierry Brinkman whose father Jacques was a teammate of the 400-capped Delmee picked up the Player of the Match award after his team raised the ante in the second half.
Goalkeeper Maurits Visser’s was another standout performance for the Dutch – both in open play and the one-on-one shuffles thereafter.
For all Belgium’s first-half ascendancy, the hosts struck the framework in a barren half-hour’s play.
However, Oranje were not denied the lead in the third quarter when Terrance Pieters rifled home after a huge aerial ball had the Belgian defence at sixes and sevens in the 35th minute.
However, Belgium quickly restored parity when Florent van Aubel put away a penalty corner rebound a mere three minutes later.
Jip Janssen regained the lead for The Netherlands from a penalty stroke in the 49th minute but it was short lived.
Alexander Hendrickx, 14-goal hero at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics equalized with a fearsome drag-flick in the 53rd minute from a penalty corner.
Visser thwarted Florent van Aubel, Arthur de Sloover and Felix Denayer while Thijs van Dam, Thierry Brinkman and Jonas de Geus got the better of Loick van Doren to bring The Netherlands a merited bonus point.
“I think we played pretty good, it was the first official game [since] the Olympics for us’, said Netherlands captain Brinkman. “Against this team [Belgium] as well, it’s not so bad. We trained already for two months now. New guys, a new coach, a new culture – I think it is good.”
Belgium’s Arthur de Sloover said: “I think we could have done better. Holland played a really good game. They tried to put us under pressure, and they did well. I think we didn’t manage to play our own game as we can do, so now it is up to us to come back on Sunday [for the second match] and show another face.”
The teams meet again on Sunday to bring the curtain down on fixtures in 2021.
FACT FILE
Friday 26 November 2021 – Amstelveen (NED)
Netherlands 2-2 Belgium – (3-0 After Shoot-Out) [Match 1 of 2]
Player of the Match: Thierry Brinkman (NED)
Umpires: Christian Blasch (GER), Ben Goentgen (GER) and Bruce Bale (ENG – Video)