UEFA Nations League: Netherlands coach, Koeman reveals why Portugal beat his side 1-0 in final

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UEFA Nations League: Netherlands coach, Koeman reveals why Portugal beat his side 1-0 in final

 

Netherlands head coach, Ronald Koeman, has explained why Portugal defeated his side 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League final on Sunday night.

Koeman said the host nation defeated Netherlands because his players “were not good enough”, adding that Portugal was very solid as a team.

We had reported that Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal to defeat Netherlands 1-0 in Sunday’s final to claim the trophy.

Goncalo Guedes scored the only goal of the game in the 60th minute after the first half ended goalless.

“We want to go on and push forward. We were not good enough, perhaps that is the case for tonight,” Koeman was quoted by Goal as telling reporters after the match.

“But that is putting it negatively knowing the whole campaign we’ve had. We knew we had to be at our best and we were not.

“We know we made big steps in one year in the campaign of the Nations League. Against Germany, France, England, Portugal – maybe four of the strongest five or six teams in Europe.

“To make the next step maybe we need more time, more offensive strength is really important. To create more chances, to have what we missed tonight.

“Portugal, as we expected, were very solid as a team. They are used to playing that way. They have had more time together than us.

“They are handsome in front, maybe we missed some of that creativity in our attacking play.”

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