The United States Men’s National Team defeated the Netherlands in dramatic fashion, scoring the tying and game-winning goal literally within minutes of each other, by a score of 4-3.
The game’s final goals came from Danny Williams at the 89th minute to knot the game up at three-all, and then after traveling the length of the field Michael Bradley found Jordan Morris who fed a nice pass to Bobby Wood, scoring the goal that would give the U.S. the victory in the 90th minute. The USMNT’s furious comeback capped a sensational win over the Dutch, who led 3-1 with 20 minutes left in the game.
United States’ coach Jürgen Klinsmann started the game with a 4-3-3 formation with a front line of Gyasi Zardes, Áron Jóhannsson, and Fabian Johnson, midfield consisting of Alfredo Morales, Michael Bradley, and Kyle Beckerman, and a backline that fielded Brek Shea, John Anthony Brooks, Ventura Alvarado, and Timothy Chandler with Brad Guzan between the sticks.
The game’s first goal was from a Klass-Jan Huntelaar header that came by a Memphis Depay cross. The US defense lazily marked the tall Dutchman and he got a head on a long Depay pass that beat Guzan on his left side for the 1-0 Netherlands lead.
Five minutes later, Gyasi Zardes scored his first ever international goal for the United States thanks to a beautiful cross from Fabian Johnson. Zardes caught the cross on the half volley right before the ball went over the goal line and beat Jasper Cillessen, as he got a leg on it but he didn’t get enough of it to keep it from going in.
After the halftime break, it didn’t take long for the Dutch to break the deadlock and it was Huntelaar again who would break through for his second goal of the game. In almost similar fashion to his first goal, except it was Gregory Van Der Wiel with the cross from the touch, Huntelaar powerfully headed the ball that went over Guzan’s head for the 2-1 lead.
Memphis Depay would tack on to the Dutch lead when Huntelaar fired a missile right from the 18-yard box and it deflected off Depay’s face, leaving Guzan helpless as he watched the deflection hit the post and go in for the Netherlands’ third of the game.
After the Depay goal, the US made some smart subsitutions bringing in Danny Williams, Bobby Wood, and DeAndre Yedlin, replacing Beckerman, Jóhannsson, and Shea respectively. The Dutch would also replace Huntelaar, a goal short of his hat trick, and would bring on Wesley Sneijder.
All looked lost for the United States team until John Anthony Brooks gave a breath of fresh air to the USMNT after some lovely passing lead by Bradley and Yedlin led to Brooks scoring on an open net to bring down the deficit to 3-2.
Again, with the game coming to a close it looked as if the U.S. was about to jot this one down as a loss, Danny Williams scored a sensational goal from outside the box. After a failed clearance from a corner, the ball found Daniel Williams and he fired it on net; the ball then took a deflection off Luk De Jong and went in.
The Yanks celebrated mighty after the goal thinking they would at least walk away with a draw. But, to their fortune, they would score one more for the win. After a furious flurry of shots by the Dutch almost saw them net the game winning goal, the U.S. cleared the ball and went on the attack. Michael Bradley received the ball near the top of his box and went on an magnificent run, blowing by several would-be defenders, finally leaving a through ball for Jordan Morris who crossed it low to find Bobby Wood, who tapped it in for the fourth U.S. goal.
Truly one of the better performances by the United States against a tough Dutch team, they are on a high and will now take on the defending World Cup Champions, Germany, in Köln on June 10 to finish off their European friendly tour.
