Euro 2020 Highlights, North Macedonia vs Netherlands: Wijnaldum brace, Depay take Dutch to a 3-0 win

Netherlands go through to the next round with Austria, who beat Ukraine 1-0. Ukraine will wait to see if they finish as one of the best third-placed teams. North Macedonia’s tournament is over. That’s all we have from this game. But don’t go anywhere as we will bring the next round of matches in about an hour’s time (12:30 AM IST). See you there!

PEEEP! PEEEP! PEEEP! This is it. Full-time as Netherlands beat North Macedonia 3-0

90+1′ FOUR MINUTES OFF ADDED TIME

88′ DE LIGT OR KOEMAN? De Ligt lets it fly from long range and forces a good save from the MKD keeper, who parries it away for a corner. But nothing comes off it

AS THINGS STAND! NETHERLANDS AND AUSTRIA WILL GO THROUGH as Austria lead Ukraine 1-0

84′ YELLOW! WHAT WAS HE THINKING? Kostadinov with a harsh challenge on Berghuis

80′ CHANCE’ Alioski’s delivery off the left foot finds Velkovski who hits it wide from a comfortable position.

78: A host of subs. MKD: Stojanovski is coming on, alongside Nikolov, replacing Ademi and Bardhi.

NED: De Jong is replaced by Gakpo, who makes his debut

72′ GOOALLL AND NO GOAL AGAIN! The flag is up and Churlinov knew it as his celebrations were muted after he beat the Dutch keeper from close range.

68′ SUBS FOR NM– Pandev is subbed off and he gets a guard of honour. A 20-year-old international career comes to an end.

ALSO, Hasani comes on for Trajkovski

66′ WEGHORST ALMOST SCORES OFF HIS FIRST TOUCH! His effort from close range hits the crossbar.

66′ subs for Dutch. Depay is replaced by Weghorst, while Promes comes on for Malen

61′ JUST OVER! Wijnaldum is inches away from scoring his hattrick. Depay bursts down the left before squaring it to Wijnaldum, whose outer foot effort drifts over the bar

58′ GOOOOALLL!! WIJNALDUM SCORES AGAIN AND IT’S ALMOST TOO EASY FOR THEM NOW. Coming to the goal, Gravenberch slips the ball to Malen, who further plays it to Depay. Depay’s ball is saved by the NM keeper but the rebound rolls to Wijnaldum, who slots it home

56′ SAVE! STEKELENBURG makes a diving safe to deny NM the goal. First Van Aanholt conceded a free-kick just outside the Dutch box. Bardhi goes for goal but is denied by the Dutch Keeper.

51′ GOOOALLLL! Wijnaldum rolls it home, set up by Depay and the Netherlands score twice for the 10th match in a row! They lead 2-0.

Coming to the goal, Gravenberch plays through to Depay, who manages to get to the box through a forest of bodies. He then squares the ball to his skipper off his left foot who does the rest

50′ OFF THE LINE! De Ligt’s header from the corner is headed off the line by Trajkovski. What a block

47′ YELLOW CARD FOR Musliu for pulling back Depay in an undesired manner

At halftime, Netherlands make two changes. Berghuis comes on for Dumfires

De Vrij replaces Timber

HALFTIME! An entertaining first half comes to an end

43′ SAVE! Macedonia survive. Brilliant footwork from Depay near the Macedonia byline. Skips past the defender before squaring it. However, he can’t find the way past the NM keeper.

41′ WIDE! MUSLIU COMES SO CLOSE TO SCORING! The inswinger from the corner post on the right towers over his marker to get contact but fails to keep his header on target

39′ PANDEV DRAGS THE BALL THROUGH DE LIGT WITH A BACKHEEL TO RISTOVSKI, WHO SQUARES THE BALL IN FROM THE RIGHT ONLY FOR THE BALL TO BLOCKED. NOTHING COMES OFF THE CORNER

30′ MASSIVE SAVE! Malen receives the ball in between Ristovski and Velkovski and he plays the ball back to the post to Dumfries, who looks to net the ball from close range. But the NM keeper Dimitrievski cuts the angle by charging forward and to make the save.

29′ WAY OVER! Trickovski once again in the thick of action as he rifles the ball into the stands from long way out

In the other match, Christoph Baumgartner has scored for Austria, they lead 1-0 over Ukraine

24′ GOOOALLL! The opening goal comes but from a Dutch player as Memphis Depay scores on the counter-attack to give Netherland a 1-0 lead over Macedonia.

There is a delay in confirmation as VAR is checking whether Blind had fouled

21’POST! Trickovski comes close to scoring and giving NM the lead again. In space and with time, his shot ricochets off the post. Agonizingly close!

20′ WHAT A CRUCIAL HEADER! Wijnaldum floats in a gorgous ball into the box, seeking Malen, from the left flank. But Musliu intercepts off his head to ward off the danger

17′ CORNER FOR NETHERLAND AFTER A SLIGHT STOPPAGE. WIjnaldum brings down Ademi and the replay shows that it was just a light clip. Dutch move the ball to the other end of the pitch where Malen wins a corner from Ristovski. Ristovski then receives a yellow for speaking out of turn. Ademi walks off and he is back on.

Nothing comes off the corner

HEARTBREAKING. ALMOST UNFAIR! The replay shows that Trickovski was off-side probably by the length of a few MMs. THat’s how close it was. Boy, did they deserve the goal on their Euro 2020 debut campaign

11′ CLOSE! Malen sets Depay free. who looks for his captain Wijnaldum in the middle. An important challenge from Musliu clears the danger.

10′ GOOAAALL BUT OFF-SIDE! North Macedonia will not go down without a fight. Pandev receives the ball in the Dutch half, turns and plays a lovely through to Trickovski, who is one on one with the keeper. He goes for the far post off his left foot and beats the keeper easily. But the flag is up.

8′ CORNER! WHAT A BLOCK. Macedonia lose the ball in the midfield and the ball rolls to Wijnaldum, who sets free on the left. He looks to square the ball back to his skipper Wijnaldum but the ball is blocked.

3′ North Macedonia get forward, with Ivan Trickovski, who looks to play the ball through to Aleksander Trajkovsiki in the Dutch penalty area but his delivery is intercepted and cleared.

2′ OVER!!! Gravenberch, who has started today, goes for goal from 25 yards out as he in space but the shot is well over the bar.

1′ KICKOFF! N Macedonia get the ball rolling in the first half.

Right then! The formalities are out of the way. It’s almost time. We are moments away!

Out come the players. Pandev leads Macedonia out for the last time in national colours.

Followed by the home side.

Time for the national anthems/

We are less than 10 minutes away from kick-off. Expect this to be a cracking encounter

We also have the live coverage of the Ukraine vs Austria clash. Follow the match LIVE Here

FORM GUIDE:

Netherlands-W,W,W,D,W

N. MACEDONIA- L,L,W,D,W

“We did not have a great build-up to the tournament. The hammering we got was ­something that led to discussions in the squad.

“We spoke with all the ­players and the coaches about the ­critics. Fans and media are allowed to be sharp and critical. We had to face it because of the way we played against Scotland.

“I like the real Dutch 4-3-3 system. That is where my heart is, with myself in an attacking role behind the front three. That was the way we played under Ronald Koeman and that was also the period where we were very successful again.

“We got to the final of the Nations League, we beat teams like France and Germany.’’

“In the second half against Ukraine we were the real North Macedonia, and showed that we deserved to be at the European Championship.

“This is how we should play against the Dutch. We want to put on a real show and hopefully pick up our first points of the tournament.”

NETHERLANDS WINS- 2

N MACEDONIA- 0

DRAWS- 2

Current position in table:

Netherlands- 1st with six points and two wins in two matches

NM- 4th with 0 points in two matches

Ivan Trickovski and Aleksandar Trajkovski come in the playing XI instead of Boban Nikolov and Stefan Spirovski.

Ryan Gravenberch and Donyell Malen replace Marten De Roon and Wout Weghorst in the playing XI.

De Roon is benched while Ryan is not even in the 23

Dimitrievski, Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski, Bardhi, Ademi, Trickovski, Elmas, Trajkovsi, Pandev.

Subs: Zajkov, Ristevski, Hasani, Jankov, Kostadinov, Nikolov, Stojanovski, Velkoski, Spirovski, Siskovski, Avramovski, Churlinov.

Stekelenburg, Dumfries, De Vrij, De Ligt, Blind, Van Aanholt, F De Jong, Wijnaldum, Gravenberch, Depay, Malen.

Subs: Veltman, Ake, Berghuis, L De Jong, Promes, Krul, Klaassen, Weghorst, Bizot, Koopmeiners, Timber, Gakpo.

Hello and welcome to our live blog coverage of North Macedonia vs Netherlands, UEFA Euro 2020 match. Netherlands with two wins over Ukraine and Austria are already through. North Macedonia are almost on the brink of elimination. Can Goran Pandev inspire a miraculous turnaround?