National Team Friendly

National stadium
Spectators: 10300 (Terracing: 7725, Seating: 2369, VIP seats: 206) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Johan Kiewit kicked off to start the match. Italy's Ciccio Bocchi played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Johan Kiewit in the 5th minute of play. In the 9th minute Davide Spadoni shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Tadej Pogačar saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. The audience thought a goal was coming when Davide Spadoni got free with Tadej Pogačar in the 10th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. An unexpectedly hard shot by Johan Kiewit in the 12th minute of play forced Italy's goalkeeper Ciccio Bocchi to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. An unexpectedly hard shot by Davide Spadoni in the 16th minute of play forced Netherlands's goalkeeper Tadej Pogačar to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 19th minute Davide Spadoni shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Tadej Pogačar saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After 21 minutes Netherlands's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Bernardo Di Piazza who took care of the corner kick. The corner led to Italy's Bel Cross getting away a dangerous shot that went just outside the goal. Italy's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Bernardo Di Piazza in the 29th minute. Netherlands's Tadej Pogačar played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Davide Spadoni in the 33rd minute of play. Italy's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Bernardo Di Piazza in the 35th minute. Marick Brunt sent away a hard shot on goal in the 36th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Tadej Pogačar stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Davide Spadoni's shot from short distance in the 38th minute. 41 minutes into the match, Italy's goal looked a bit too open when Hette Visscher came free, but Ciccio Bocchi reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Tadej Pogačar made an important save on a dangerous shot by Aldo Di Biagio in the 45th minute. Italy's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Bernardo Di Piazza in the 46th minute. Bel Cross made a great header on Italy's corner, it was just that Netherlands's Tadej Pogačar managed to reach the ball for a save. The fans had the chance to grab some refreshments as the whistle went for half-time. The score stood at 0-0 after a close first half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Davide Spadoni to make the kick off. An unexpectedly hard shot by Davide Spadoni in the 58th minute of play forced Netherlands's goalkeeper Tadej Pogačar to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. 63 minutes into the match, Italy's goal looked a bit too open when Johan Kiewit came free, but Ciccio Bocchi reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Tadej Pogačar didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Davide Spadoni went, in the 67th minute, to the upper right corner, 1-0 was the resulting score. Italy's Eugenio Cherubini was substituted for Bel Cross. Netherlands made a substitution. Nick Heesen replaced Johan Kiewit. Netherlands made a substitution. Fabian Apotheker replaced Frenkie de Jong. Italy's Fortunato Froněk was substituted for Davide Spadoni. Netherlands's Timo Haydon quite brazenly broke a throw-in by Donato Zoccolo, made in the 73rd minute of the game. 74 minutes into the match, Italy's goalkeeper Ciccio Bocchi had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Dries van Veldhuizen. In the 80th minute, Fortunato Froněk ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Tadej Pogačar was frozen by the shot and now it was 2-0. Timo Haydon kicked well hit freekick during the 87th minute of the match. In the 89th match minute, Italy was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Mattia Hummels to maneuver through the defense. Netherlands's Timo Haydon quite brazenly broke a throw-in by Mattia Hummels, made in the 92nd minute of the game. When the match clock showed 94 minutes, the score became 3-0 when Fortunato Froněk sped through Netherlands's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Tadej Pogačar. Netherlands's players left the field with heads hung low after losing a match that had been finely balanced throughout.