After crushing Belgium at home (4-1) last Friday, the Dutch lead the group with 6 points, ahead of Belgium and Poland who have 3, the Welsh bringing up the rear with a counter at zero.

The cold shower was all the more unpleasant for the Welsh as they had equalized in added time, before conceding another goal less than 90 seconds later.

The burst of energy to beat Ukraine in the play-off, but also no doubt that of the celebrations which followed the first qualification for the World Cup since 1958 and the second only in their history, had led coach Rob Page to make seven changes in his starting XI.

Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey were on the bench at kick-off, but Louis van Gaal was even more radical by changing his entire eleven compared to the match against Belgium.

Between Oranje who had not lost for ten matches and Dragons who remained on 19 games without defeat at home, the match was very balanced, even if the locals often accepted the domination of the visitors.

Clear actions remained very rare, however, with the Netherlands opening the scoring thanks to an unstoppable low cross shot from Teun Koopmeiners (1-0, 50th), on their first shot on target of the match and the only one... until the second goal, with a superb diving header from Wout Weghorst (2-1, 90th + 4).

In the meantime, an angry header from Rhys Norrington-Davies (1-1, 90th + 2) gave hope to the public at Cardiff City Stadium.

The Netherlands will therefore leave with a ninth success in as many confrontations with the Welsh.

They will receive Poland on the 11th and will meet the Welsh on the 14th in Eindhoven.

© 2022 AFP