ROTTERDAM, Netherlands :Poland fullback Matty Cash fired home a late equaliser to ensure his side held the Netherlands to a 1-1 draw in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier, a major boost to their hopes and a dent to Dutch ambitions.
A thunderous right-footed shot from the English-born defender in the 80th minute was as much as Poland deserved after a strong second-half performance, having been a goal down at halftime at the Feijenoord Stadium.
The Netherlands and Poland now share top place in Group G with seven points each, although the Dutch have played one game less.
Coach Ronald Koeman had identified Poland as the key team to beat in the group, and his side looked on course to do so after Denzel Dumfries put them ahead in the 28th minute.
The hosts were the early aggressors.
Tijjani Reijnders’ strike from outside the Polish penalty area took a slight deflection before coming back off the upright in the 12th minute, followed shortly after by an effort from Dumfries that was blocked by Poland goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, with the ball then rebounding off Nicola Zalewski and back onto the woodwork, before being gratefully snatched up by the keeper.
The opening goal came from an in-swinging corner high to the back post that saw Dumfries come around the back unmarked to head home.
Poland could have pulled one back before the break had Sebastian Szymanski, who regularly played in the stadium during his time at Feyenoord, not glanced wide his header from Zalewski’s cross.
They kept up their positive approach in the second half and made the Dutch look distinctly uncomfortable before a series of passes across the face of the home goal saw Cash given space to crack home a powerful strike into the top corner.
“I was saying before the game that I really like playing in this stadium, last time I played here I scored and today I was dreaming of the same thing,” Cash told TVP Sports.
“But it was a team performance, the way we defended, Holland obviously controlled the ball a lot and we knew that we had to defend well and the boys were amazing. Obviously I’m happy with the goal but it was the overall performance, the grit and determination we showed.”
The Poles had 37-year-old Robert Lewandowski back in their side after refusing to play in June when previous coach Michal Probierz replaced him as captain, but he was ineffective with little sight of the ball.
The Dutch had been hoping Memphis Depay would get opportunities to move ahead of Robin van Persie as the national team’s leading scorer but while he had several half chances, a 51st goal proved elusive and was substituted with 12 minutes left.
“Disappointment prevails,” Koeman admitted on Dutch television. “I wasn’t calm towards the end. You know you have to score a second, otherwise they always get one or two chances. That’s painful, especially when you see how that goal came about.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; additional reporting by Trevor Stynes; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
