Euro 2008 - Young Wales lose to Dutch

Eurosport - Sun, 01 Jun 17:34:00 2008

The Netherlands beat a young Wales side 2-0 in an international friendly at the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam thanks to goals from Real Madrid duo Arjen Roben and Wesley Sneijder.

FOOTBALL 2008 Netherlands Babel van der Vaart Heitinga - 0

Former Chelsea winger Robben beat Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey to open the scoring on 34 minutes, while Sneijder doubled the lead with a free-kick eight minutes into the second half.

Wigan's Jason Koumas captained Wales for the first time.

Wales had Hull play-off hero Sam Ricketts back in the side along with Toronto FC's Carl Robinson.

Holland missed Liverpool winger Ryan Babel, who was ruled out of Euro 2008 after tearing ankle ligaments.

Both sides traded chances early on, although Hennessey was busier than Dutch counterpart Edwin van der Sar as the Netherlands started to take control.

A poor header from Robinson allowed Robben to race away, hold off young Craig Morgan and slide the ball past the exposed Hennessey for the first goal Wales had conceded in 394 minutes.

Hennessey then had to save well to his left from Orlando Engelaar, although Van der Sar made a save from Freddie Eastwood two minutes from the break and Chris Gunter headed into the side netting.

Wales sent on West Ham's teenage midfielder Jack Collison for Robinson at the break, while the Dutch replaced Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Joris Mathijsen, Engelaar and Demy de Zeeuw with Tim de Cler, Mario Melchiot, Nigel de Jong and Dirk Kuyt.

The Dutch instantly increased the pace with Robben, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Kuyt all going close, and soon after the hosts were 2-0 up.

Joe Ledley was penalised for a foul on Rafael van der Vaart and Sneijder's sent a 20-yard free-kick past the diving Hennessey.

Wales sent on Ched Evans and Craig Bellamy for David Edwards and Eastwood but could not reduce the deficit.

Craig Bellamy went close for Wales, as did Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink for the Netherlands, but it stayed at 2-0.

The Dutch arguably have the toughest group at the European Championships in Switzerland and Austria - they face World Cup winners Italy, runners-up France and the rising force of Romania.

Reda Maher / SportingLife / Eurosport