Football
Netherlands beat North Macedonia to cruise into last-16
Goals from Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum helped the Netherlands beat North Macedonia to make it three wins from three at Euro 2020.
Frank de Boer’s side had already secured top spot in Group C with a game to spare having beaten Ukraine and Austria.
And they produced another dominant performance in front of 12,000 fans at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
The Dutch opened the scoring with a devastating counter-attack, started by a Daley Blind tackle on the edge of his own box and finished by a first-time Memphis Depay strike from Donyell Malen’s cross.
Depay, playing his first game since his move to Barcelona was announced, now has nine goals and three assists in his past 10 games for the Netherlands.
Wijnaldum wrapped the game up in the second half with two goals in seven minutes, first tapping in from from Depay’s well-placed cross, before Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski’s save from Depay fell nicely for another close-range finish from the Netherlands captain.
The Dutch will travel to Budapest for their last-16 tie, where they will face the third-placed finisher from Group D, E or F on 27 June.
The veteran striker was given a guard of honour by his team-mates when he was substituted in the 69th minute as the curtain came down on his international career at the age of 37.
He retires as North Macedonia’s record appearance holder, and record goalscorer, with 38 goals, almost twice as many as the next player on the list.
Tournament debutants North Macedonia, who became the first team to be eliminated after defeats against Austria and Ukraine, were not bowing out without a fight.
It even looked as if Pandev would leave the big stage with a final assist, when Ivan Trichkovski netted from his clever through-ball inside 10 minutes, only for it to be ruled out for offside.
Darko Churlinov had a second-half goal ruled out for offside, and Aleksandar Trajkovski hit the woodwork, but the visitors otherwise offered little attacking threat.
North Macedonia are just the fourth team to lose all of their matches on their first appearance at a European Championship finals, after Turkey in 1996, Denmark in 1964 and France in the inaugural tournament in 1960.
