Young Orange in desolate ambiance on tuber field in Cluj not past Romania

In some competitions, the question is: who exactly are you having a good time with? The exhibition game between the Dutch Juniors and the Romanian Juniors was such a duel. On a tuber field in a deserted stadium in Cluj, the Dutch promises drew 0-0.

With good courage, the Dutch Juniors tried to play the familiar offensive game, but on a field that looked more like a meadow, it was more like slithering and sliding than tikkie-takka. The fact that the Romanians were doing a lot of hoeing in the opening phase also did not promote the attractiveness of the match.

It quickly became a duel in which the legs also had to be looked after, a match that club trainers must have been watching nervously.

The most exciting moment in the first half was when Micky van de Ven received an ugly slap on the lower leg from Louis Munteanu. The Wolfsburg defender went to redress, which led to a riot. After a lot of pushing and pulling on yellow and black shirts, Joshua Zirkzee jumped in as mediator.

Zirkzee, one of the veterans at the Dutch Juniors and recently moved from Bavaria to Bologna, replaced Bryan Brobbey in the striker. Just like Ryan Gravenberch, the Ajax player was brought to the big Orange by national coach Louis van Gaal after injuries to Memphis Depay and Frenkie de Jong.

On a fairly dreary evening, the biggest bright spot for Feyenoord defender Lutsharel Geertruida was. The right back, who is on his way back from mononucleosis, played for ninety minutes.

National coach Erwin van de Looi also seized the opportunity to give the bench seats some minutes. None of that resulted in great opportunities, also because Romania managed to stay in front of their own goal for 85 minutes.

It was that goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen was sharp when an attacker appeared in front of him after a counter, otherwise the Orange would have lost. At that point, the face of Xavi Simons, who played diligently but was often overrun by the physically strong Romanians, had turned a little more sour. However, the referee allowed the full four minutes of extra time to continue.

The match against the Romanian promises was for the time being the last exhibition game of Van de Looi’s team. The rest of the preparation program for the European Championship in Romania and Georgia has yet to be announced. The European Under-21 Championship starts on June 9.

UEFA still has six months to lay down an acceptable pitch in the Cluj stadium.