8′ Kashia is far too enthusiastic as he powers out of defence and clatters through the back of Depay. Dumfries then goes down in the right-hand channel but referee Lambrechts instead awards a goal-kick to the away side.
6′ Dumfries speeds inwards as he looks to latch onto a long pass over the top, however, Loria is quick off his line to intervene in front of the right wing-back.
5′ Depay dances one way and then the other but has to play backwards as the hosts opt to retain possession and remain patient in their attempts to pass through Georgia’s deep defensive block.
3′ SAVE! Lobzhanidze ghosts down the right flank and his run is found by Kiteishvili’s throughball. The Georgian forward races towards the area before his right-footed attempt is saved by Stekelenburg, who dives to his right to keep the scores level after three minutes. The first chance goes to the visitors and they look to be a threat with their pace on the counter-attack.
2′ Wijnaldum drives forward down the right-hand side in the opening stages but his progress comes to an end at the hands of Giorbelidze.
1′ Referee Erik Lambrechts gets this friendly underway!
This will be the first time Netherlands and Georgia face each other, which is quite surprising given the two are both from Europe.
Sagnol makes nine changes in total from the morale-boosting win against Romania. After scoring in the 2-1 win, Aburjania keeps his place in the side, while Khocholava is the other Georgian to stay in the starting line-up. Barring that pair, Sagnol names a changed line-up for the trip to Enschede.
Frank de Boer opts for two changes from the Scotland game. Krul drops to the bench and Stekelenburg replaces him in goal. The other change sees Matthijs de Ligt miss out entirely and Blind is the man to partner De Vrij and Timber in the three-man defence.
SUBS: Irakli Azarovi, Tornike Okriashvili, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Georges Mikautadze, Murtaz Daushvili, Sergo Kukhianidze, Zuriko Davitashvili, Giorgi Beridze, Nika Kvekveskiri, Grigol Chabradze, Jambul Jigauri, Lazare Kupatadze.
GEORGIA (4-2-3-1): Giorgi Loria; Otar Kakabadze, Guram Kashia, Lasha Dvali, Guram Giorbelidze; Davit Khocholava, Valeriane Gvilia; Giorgi Aburjania, Otar Kiteishvili, Saba Lobzhanidze; Budu Zivzivadze.
SUBS: Davy Klaassen, Tim Krul, Patrick van Aanholt, Luuk de Jong, Ryan Gravenberch, Joel Veltman, Teun Koopmeiners, Marco Bizot, Donyell Malen, Steven Berghuis, Nathan Ake, Quincy Promes.
NETHERLANDS (3-5-2): Maarten Stekelenburg; Daley Blind, Stefan de Vrij, Jurrien Timber; Owen Wijndal, Frenkie de Jong, Georginio Wijnaldum, Marten de Roon, Denzel Dumfries; Memphis Depay, Wout Weghorst.
Georgia make the trip to De Grolsch Veste in Enschede off the back of a confidence-boosting 2-1 away victory over Romania. The visitors failed to qualify for the European Championships this summer, courtesy of a 1-0 defeat to North Macedonia in the final of the playoffs last November. Buoyed on by a draw against Greece and positive performances against both Sweden and Spain, Willy Sagnol’s team appear to be heading in the right direction in their 2022 World Cup qualifying games.
In an underwhelming performance against Scotland, Memphis Depay scored twice to secure a 2-2 draw with Steve Clarke’s men. After being placed in Group C alongside Ukraine, North Macedonia and Austria, the hosts will fancy their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the European Championships. First, however, Oranje face Georgia in their last friendly before their campaign starts against Ukraine next Sunday.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the international friendly between Netherlands and Georgia.
