Poland were eager to put Wednesday’s heavy defeat to Belgium behind them, and they did so on a night of high drama in Rotterdam, news outlets reported.
The Netherlands went on the attack right from the start of the game, while Poland, who were without star striker Robert Lewandowski, looked to hit them on the break.
Poland go 2:0 up
This strategy paid off on 19 minutes, when Matty Cash collected a cross-field pass from Nicola Zalewski and shot past Mark Flekken into the net.
The hosts piled on the pressure, but it was Poland who scored again, Piotr Zieliński finishing off a counterattack to make it 2:0 on 49 minutes.
The Netherlands fight back
The Netherlands quickly drew level, however, with goals from Davy Klaassen and Denzel Dumfries.
They continued to push forward and had a golden opportunity when Cash handled in the area, but Memphis Depay struck the outside of the post with the resulting penalty.
‘Poland can compete without Lewandowski’
2:2 it stayed and “Poland proved emphatically that they can still compete without Robert Lewandowski,” uefa.com wrote.
One of the Poland goalscorers Cash said after the game: “It's a really good result. A lot of teams come here and struggle. We showed fantastic character to stay in the game and keep it at 2:2.”
He added: “I had a sigh of relief at the end [when Depay missed the spot kick], but the feeling when I scored was unbelievable – one of the best feelings I've ever had."
After Saturday’s game, Poland are third in their 2022/23 UEFA Nations League group, with four points from three matches. The Netherlands top the table with seven points.
Poland now face a return match against Belgium in Warsaw on Tuesday.
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Source: PAP, uefa.com