Van Dijk calls Netherlands’ first half against Greece unacceptable

The Netherlands conceded against Greece in Thursday’s Nations League match, extending their run without a clean sheet to 11 games, ANP reported. Their last clean sheet came in a 4–0 World Cup qualifying win over Lithuania on 17 November 2025. [1]

The Netherlands have since conceded in matches against Norway, Ecuador, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia, Morocco, Germany and Serbia, as well as Greece. They have not finished a match in 2026 without conceding. [1]

Update

The Netherlands went into half-time 2–0 down in Thessaloniki after goals from Fotis Ioannidis and Giorgos Masouras. Ryan Gravenberch, Tijjani Reijnders and Noa Lang came on at the break, and Virgil van Dijk headed in from a corner before Reijnders struck from close range in the 89th minute to make it 2–2. [2]

Greece lead Nations League A Group 2 with seven points from three matches. The Netherlands are second on five, ahead of Germany on four. [2]

Update

Greece led 2–0 at half-time, but the Netherlands recovered to draw 2–2. In post-match comments to NOS reported by ANP, Van Dijk said his side had been beaten to too many balls in the first half. He said they struggled to set a tempo and lost possession too quickly through the middle. The captain felt they played better after the break, but said they needed to do so from the start. [3]