Dutch head to World Cup having lost warm-up 0-1 to Algeria

The Netherlands head to the World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada with a headache, after losing their warm-up game against Algeria 0-1.

Coach Ronald Koeman said after the game that the loss was a “wake-up call”. “This is the sort of home game we should win,” he said.

The only goal of the game was scored in the 86th minute by Feyenoord’s Anis Hadj Moussa, who was brought in as a substitute for Algeria.

But the first 25 minutes of the match included chances for Donyell Malen, Cody Gakpo and Tijjani Reijnders, Koeman said. One shot on target by Crysencio Summerville was ruled offside.

“If you don’t determine the game in 25 minutes, you end up playing against yourself,” he said. “If you have four or five big chances, then you need to score a goal. If that does not happen, it should not be a problem.

“But after that we started to play more difficult football and we missed aggression at some points. And sometimes, we were just too nice.”

The defeat is the first for Oranje since they lost 1-0 to Germany in the Nations League in 2024.

The Dutch squad leave for the US on Thursday afternoon and will play another friendly against Uzbekistan on June 8. Their first game in the competition is against Japan on June 14.