Georginio Wijnaldum came to Netherlands' rescue as their strikers misfired in Minsk, with his double sinking Belarus.
2020 EURO qualification
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Match Reports
Georginio Wijnaldum led the Dutch charge towards Euro 2020 as his superb double gave the Netherlands a 2-1 win in Belarus.
After the calamity of failing to qualify for last year's World Cup, Netherlands are close to securing their return to the big stage, although they were unimpressive in Minsk.
Memphis Depay was absent with a thigh injury, and the Lyon forward was badly missed after his strong form for Oranje this year.
It fell to Liverpool midfielder Wijnaldum to make the difference, with his neat header and spectacular long-range strike doing the damage for Ronald Koeman's men before Belarus' Stanislav Dragun breathed fresh life into the contest.
Group Standings
Match Events
20' CLOSE! Van de Beek's shot wide out
25' De Ligt makes a mistake in trying to clear the ball
Belarus go route one from a spell of Netherlands possession just outside their opponent's box and De Ligt makes a mistake in trying to clear the ball, allowing Laptev in - and he wins a corner.
26' MISS! Laptev's shot wide out
LAPTEV SHOULD SCORE! What a chance for Belarus from the corner! Stasevich crosses and Laptev is six yards out with the goal gaping, but De Ligt throws himself in front of the ball and makes an absolutely vital block!
32' GOAL! Belarus 0-1 Netherlands (Wijnaldum)
GOAL! THERE IT IS! NETHERLANDS LEAD! It's simple, but effective as Wijnaldum scores his fourth goal of the campaign - just a floated Promes cross, Wijnaldum gets between two defenders and heads it into the top-left corner.
41' GOAL! Belarus 0-2 Netherlands (Wijnaldum)
WHAT A HIT! WIJNALDUM SCORES AGAIN! That's a strike of supreme quality from the midfielder - he's stepping up when needed! He gets his head up, picks his spot and absolutely wellies that into the top-right corner. There's too much swerve on the ball and the shot's too well-placed for the keeper to have any chance of stopping it!
53' GOAL! Belarus 1-2 Netherlands (Dragun)
GOAAAAL! BELARUS ARE BACK IN IT! It's Dragun with a header at the back post! Van Dijk misjudges the flight of the cross and Dragun pounces to head past Cillessen! It's his 11th international goal!
79' NICE TRY! Malen's shot saved
WHAT A SAVE! Wijnaldum has a chance for a hat-trick, bursting into the box to get on the end of a neat Bergwijn flick. He tries to cut onto his right, the chance disappears and he decides to lay it off to Malen on his right - but Gutor produces a massive save to keep the score at 2-1!
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