Xavi takes responsibility for the Netherlands’ 2-2 draw with Greece: “It was my fault”

The Netherlands coach, Xavi Hernández, took responsibility for his team’s poor first half in the 2-2 draw with Greece at Toumba on Thursday, as Reuters writes — “I am never happy with a draw, but the first half was very poor. It was my fault as coach. Maybe I confused the players by making too many changes,” he declared after the match.

Ivan Jovanović’s Greece closed the first half with a 2-0 lead through goals by Fotis Ioannidis and Georgios Masouras, before Virgil van Dijk reduced the deficit and Tijjani Reijnders equalised a minute before the end of the match.

Xavi, who made three changes at the start of the second half, revealed that he had apologised to the players at half-time: “I told them exactly the same thing — forgive me, because I think it is my fault. Forget the first half, now we will restructure.”

With this draw Greece remains unbeaten at the top of its Nations League group, while the Netherlands plays on Sunday against Serbia in Eindhoven — and Greece hosts Germany on Sunday at Toumba, without the injured Christos Tzolis.

Xavi’s statement came a night after the Greek national team had stunned the Oranje with an almost perfect first half in front of the fans in Thessaloniki, confirming the excellent form of Jovanović’s team in this edition of the Nations League.