Netherlands’ Wijnaldum,Depay team up to put three past North Macedonia.

Staff Reporter.

A Georginio Wijnaldum’s brace ensured that Netherlands finished their Group C campaign with a perfect record, as they beat North Macedonia 3-0 on Monday.

Frank de Boer’s side had already secured top spot in Group C with a game to spare having beaten Ukraine and Austria.

And they produced another dominant performance in front of 12,000 fans at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.

The Dutch opened the scoring with a devastating counter-attack, started by a Daley Blind tackle on the edge of his own box and finished by a first-time Memphis Depay strike from Donyell Malen’s cross.

Depay, playing his first game since his move to Barcelona was announced, now has nine goals and three assists in his past 10 games for the Netherlands.

Wijnaldum wrapped the game up in the second half with two goals in seven minutes, first tapping in from from Depay’s well-placed cross, before Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski’s save from Depay fell nicely for another close-range finish from the Netherlands captain.

The Dutch will travel to Budapest for their last-16 tie, where they will face the third-placed finisher from Group D, E or F on 27 June.

Meanwhile Austria reached the knockout stages of the European Championship for the first time as a deserved win over Ukraine secured a last-16 tie against Italy.

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