Ronald Koeman, the coach of the Netherlands national team, claimed that Croatia taught his team an important lesson by advancing to the final of the Nations League with a 4-2 win in extra time on Wednesday.
The Netherlands secured an equalizer in the last seconds of regulation to force extra time, but the crafty Croats, who placed third in the World Cup the previous year, scored twice in the additional 30 minutes to set up a championship match against either Italy or Spain.
“There were clear moments that showed where we need to improve,” Koeman told the press after the game. “I’m confident that we will.”
“They were just a little bit smarter, a little bit more secure in possession, and overall, they deserved the win.”
at taking over for Louis van Gaal as head coach of the Netherlands national team at the conclusion of the Qatar World Cup, Ronald Koeman has not gotten off to a strong start in his second stint in that role.
Koeman’s team was defeated by France by a score of 4-0 in their first game back in March, and they just edged out a victory against a lower-tier team like Gibraltar by a score of 3-1.
Koeman said that his squad had unquestionably advanced as a result of those contests, but that they were not yet at the level that they hoped to achieve.
“It was very evident that we now had a squad that had the appropriate amount of energy and that put up a fight. Koeman acknowledged that there was room for improvement in that regard.
However, we faced a Croatian squad that demonstrated why it finished in second and third place in the most recent World Cup. We have a lot to pick up from it.”
In September, the Netherlands will pick up where they left off in their quest to qualify for the Euro 2024 tournament with matches against Greece and Ireland.