The Wout Factor

6'6" substitute Wout Weghorst did it again; scoring with his first touch to send Holland into delirium; eking out a tight 2-1 victory over Poland in an exciting group game. Weghorst, who plays for Championship club Burnley and had a loan spell with Manchester United; has a taste for the big occasion; and he seemed destined to score as Nathan Ake's incisive pass went fortuitously in his direction. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame came in a bizarre spat with Lionel Messi; when they exchanged some choice words in the post-match interview after the 'Battle of Lusail' at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

That Holland didn't have it easy in this one is also credit to Poland. Even without their star striker Robert Lewandowski; Poland were well up for it; taking the lead through his replacement Adam Buksa and showing some nice technical touches throughout. They were though; guilty of some lackadaisical defending; such as when left-back Nicola Zalewski did an errant clearance into no-man's land that led to Cody Gakpo's equalizer.

For the Dutch; it was Gakpo who was in fine form; with the 6'4" winger twisting and turning his way through the Polish defence. Even without two of their starting midfielders in Frankie de Jong & Teun Koopmeiners; the replacements of Tijjani Reijnders and Jerdy Schouten did well; though Schouten's PSV club-mate Joey Veerman had a bit of an off-game.