wijnaldum, narsingh inspire netherlands in latvia published: friday 12 june 2015, 23.08cet
latvia 0-2 netherlands
georginio wijnaldum and luciano narsingh struck in the second half as guus hiddink's charges recorded their first away win in group a.
• substitute georginio wijnaldum scores a 67th-minute opener • luciano narsingh doubles the advantage four minutes later in riga • the netherlands register their third victory in group a • second-bottom latvia are still without a win (d3 l3) • next games: turkey v latvia, netherlands v ıceland (3 september)
the netherlands struck twice in five second-half minutes to secure a comfortable 2-0 victory against latvia in uefa euro 2016 qualifying group a.
having won just two of their five matches in the section, the dutch immediately hit their stride in riga but had to wait until after the interval to open the scoring. substitute georginio wijnaldum broke the deadlock four minutes after entering the field before luciano narsingh sealed the success with a cool finish.
beaten 6-0 in amsterdam in their previous encounter with the oranje, latvia had hoped to start this latest contest on the front foot. however, guus hiddink's side soon took control as memphis depay and robin van persie both spurned early opportunities. wesley sneijder came even closer, rattling the outside of the right post with a curling effort 20 minutes in.
depay then combined with van persie before the netherlands captain unleashed a left-footed shot straight at latvia no1 andris vaņins. the visitors continued to push – recording 18 efforts on goal in the first half – but only succeeded in testing vaņins on three occasions.
hiddink's first change, bringing on wijnaldum for van persie after 63 minutes, soon paid dividends as the psv eindhoven midfielder poked his team in front four minutes later. daley blind then won the ball in midfield before sending another psv player, narsingh, clear to clinch the three points.
sneijder fired against the woodwork again nine minutes from time with an audacious chip. the result, however, was already beyond doubt.
