Netherlands hammer Germany, first time in 16 years
News & Trends •
earlier saturday munich-based newspaper the sueddeutsche zeitung revealed there is a release clause in loews contract which runs until 2022 allowing either party to end the agreement prematurely1 liverpool defender virgil van dijk led the netherlands to a crushing 3-0 win over germany on saturday in the nations league to ramp up the pressure on german coach joachim loew1 these are dark days for the germans still reeling from their woeful world cup display when they crashed out early after finishing bottom of their group1 a first-half header by dutch skipper van dijk gave the hosts the lead in amsterdam1 with the german defence in disarray late goals from memphis depay and liverpools georginio wijnaldum sealed the win on a golden night for the oranje at amsterdams johan cruyff arena1 defeat in loews 168th international means germany are once again last this time bottom of group one in the nations league1 van dijk opened the scoring with a well-taken header after ryan babel had headed against the crossbar on 30 minutes1 depay then compounded germanys misery by stroking home a pass from quincy promes three minutes from time after the pair got in behind the defence1 depay then hit the germany crossbar moments before wijnaldum netted hollands third goal just before the final whistle1 germany now face world champions france in paris on tuesday and loew can ill afford another heavy defeat1 this is the first time the dutch have beaten germany for 16 years and the comprehensive defeat leaves loew under increasing pressure to resign after 12 years in charge1 loew had promised an improved performance from the germans1 yet again his senior players let him down as the bayern munich axis of manuel neuer jerome boateng mats hummels and thomas mueller struggled1 loew pulled a surprise before kick-off by starting manchester city starlet leroy sane on the bench1 schalke striker mark uth made his debut up front with rb leipzig winger timo werner and mueller on the flanks1 loew opted for a 4-3-3 formation just like his opposite number ronald koeman who started with besiktas babel lyons depay and eindhoven striker steven bergwijn up front1 uth and werner both forced chances early on to keep jasper cillessen hollands barcelona goalkeeper busy1 the dutch went ahead after 30 minutes when babel out-jumped germany midfielder joshua kimmich to the ball headed onto the post and van dijk pounced on the rebound1 germany had their chances as mueller and then his replacement sane who came on for the last half an hour both fired wide with the goal at their mercy1 having broken the german defence in the final 10 minutes depay hit the net then the crossbar before wijnaldum swept in their third goal just before the final whistle1