Arsenal’s Demiane Agustien provided a goal and an assist as the Netherlands u19s got off to a fantastic start to the international break with a win over Cyprus.
The Netherlands u19s were in action against Cyprus on Wednesday, with Arsenal’s Demiane Agustien starting the match.
The Netherlands are the hosts for this round of qualifiers, so the team would have been keen to get off to a strong start in their opening game in front of the local support.
That’s exactly what happened, and Agustien had a big part to play in an emphatic 7-0 victory.
Though Agustien didn’t play a direct role in the Netherlands’ opening goal from Ayodele Thomas, he was central as the team continued to increase their lead.
First the midfielder scored to make it 2-0 in the 36th minute, then he set up Joel van den Berg to make it 3-0 in the 47th.
The Arsenal summer signing ended up coming off in the 61st minute, with the three points already wrapped up. The eventual 7-0 scoreline gives the Netherlands a commanding position at the top of the group.
Things are going well for Agustien with his country, as he scored his first goal for the Dutch u19s in his last game of the October break against France. Now he has a second goal and a first assist.
Only the top two teams in each qualification group are guaranteed progression to the Elite round of qualifiers, so the team won’t want to let up in their following two fixtures of the November break.
The Netherlands face Kazakhstan on November 15th at 15:00 GMT, then Ireland on November 18th at 18:00 GMT to wrap up the initial group stage. With Kazakhstan beating the Ireland 1-0 in their opening qualifier, the next game is now the big one.