Key events
1 min Peep peep! Poland kick off from left to right as we watch.
The Dutch are wearing their blue change strip due to a clash between their usual orange and Poland’s white kit. White the eff.
“Afternoon Rob,” says Niall Mullen. There’s an argument to say that, in Europe at least, this game is a battle between a country that has the biggest impact on world football relative to its size and one that has really underperformed despite being a populous, football mad nation. Perhaps it’s just because I’m old enough to remember 1982 (and Zbigniew Boniek) but the Poland team are a consistent source of disappointment.”
The Alton Towers of world football.
A reminder of the teams
Poland (possible 3-4-2-1) Szczesny; Salamon, Bednarek, Kiwior; Frankowski, Zielinski, Romanczuk, Zalewski; Urbanski, S Szymanski; Buksa.
Substitutes: Skorupski, Bulka, Dawidowicz, Walukiewicz, Piotrowski, Swiderski, Moder, Lewandowski, Grosicki, Puchacz, D Szymanski, Bereszynski, Slisz, Skoras.
Netherlands (possible 4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Veerman; Simons, Reijnders, Gakpo; Depay.
Substitutes: Bijlow, Flekken, Geertruida, De Ligt, Wijnaldum, Weghorst, Frimpong, Van de Ven, Blind, Malen, Maatsen, Zirkzee, Bergwijn, Gravenberch.
Referee Artur Soares Dias (Portugal).
Here come the players, all with their gamefaces carefully applied. The format – 16 of the 24 teams qualify for the knockout stages – takes a bit of pressure off the first game, but you’d still rather hit the tournament running. Obviously.
The Dutch XI includes players from Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Brighton, Manchester City, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain – but not from Ajax, who had such a desperate domestic season. The only Ajax players in the squad, Brian Brobbey and Steven Bergwijn, are on the bench.
Poland and the Netherlands have never played each other at a major tournament, although they have had plenty of meetings in qualification or the Nations League. Poland haven’t beaten the Netherlands since a Euros qualifier in May 1979.
The Dutch coach Ronald Koeman has happy memories of Hamburg, having been part of the Dutch team that beat West Germany in the semi-final of Euro 88. Here he is celebrating that victory in traditional style.
After the Netherlands’ win in the semi-finals of the 1988 Euros against the Germans, Ronald KOEMAN went on to pretend to wipe his ass with the jersey of German footballer Olaf Thon in front of the German crowd #Class pic.twitter.com/ikc2SWSj7v
— Old School Panini (@OldSchoolPanini) September 5, 2019
Fifty years!
Team news: Lewandowski out
Poland captain Robert Lewandowski misses the game with a muscle injury. Technically he’s among the substitutes but I don’t think he has any chance of getting on. The exciting teenager Kacper Urbanski starts in an attacking line-up.
Ronald Koeman has chosen Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen in goal ahead of Brentford’s Mark Flekken, while Inter’s Stefan de Vrij is preferred to some more celebrated central defenders.
Poland (possible 3-4-2-1) Szczesny; Salamon, Bednarek, Kiwior; Frankowski, Zielinski, Romanczuk, Zalewski; Urbanski, S Szymanski; Buksa.
Substitutes: Skorupski, Bulka, Dawidowicz, Walukiewicz, Piotrowski, Swiderski, Moder, Lewandowski, Grosicki, Puchacz, D Szymanski, Bereszynski, Slisz, Skoras.
Netherlands (possible 4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Veerman; Simons, Reijnders, Gakpo; Depay.
Substitutes: Bijlow, Flekken, Geertruida, De Ligt, Wijnaldum, Weghorst, Frimpong, Van de Ven, Blind, Malen, Maatsen, Zirkzee, Bergwijn, Gravenberch.
Referee Artur Soares Dias (Portugal).
Netherlands team guide
Ronald Koeman is aware his side must play better in Germany to go far. “We really know that we need to improve in a number of areas to compete with the other top countries,” he said after qualification was secured. “It is clear that football can and must be improved.”
Poland team guide
Supporters are not deluding themselves thinking that Poland will qualify from the “group of death” that also features France, the Netherlands and Austria. Expectations are very low but that has often worked well in the past with Polish players. Probierz has repeatedly said that this is no time for a revolution. He has a safety-first approach with a 3-5-2 system and it is not difficult to predict who will start the opener against the Dutch.
Ben Fisher’s preview
Man with axe shot by police
In the past hour there has been a major incident at the Reeperbahn, where Dutch fans were gathering before the game. A man was shot after threatening police with an axe and an “incendiary device”; he has been taken to hospital and the Reeperbahn has been closed to fans.
You can get the latest on our Euro 2024 news blog.
Preamble
When a major tournament takes place in Germany, the Netherlands usually make an impression. They wowed the world with Total Football in 1974, won the European Championship in 1988 and participated lustily in the Battle of Nuremberg in 2006.
This year’s squad isn’t quite on a par with those three, and the Netherlands aren’t among the favourites to win Euro 2024. They still have plenty of quality, and a nice mix of experience and youth, but the absence of Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners through injury has left them light in midfield.
The Netherlands qualified fairly comfortably despite losing home and away to France. Poland went the distance, beating Wales on penalties after a goalless playoff in Cardiff. Apart from Euro 2016, when they were a penalty shootout away from reaching the semi-finals, Poland have tended to disappoint at recent tournaments. But they also have happy historical memories of Germany: they finished third in the 1974 World Cup.
Kick off 2pm.
