Frustration as Leeds United's Crysencio Summerville is sacrificed but big chance remains

Summerville is currently away with the Netherlands under-21s squad at the under-21s Euros in which the Whites winger was handed his second start of the tournament in Saturday’s tea time clash against Portugal who had fallen to a 1-0 defeat against co-hosts Georgia in their group stage opener.

The Netherlands had been held to a goalless draw against Belgium in their first group game in which Summerville had also started and been given 69 minutes before being taken off. Three days later, boss Erin van de Looi named an unchanged side with Summerville lining up on the left side of a front three also featuring Royal Antwerp’s Jurgen Ekkelenkamp on the right and Ajax forward Brian Brobbey through the middle.

Summerville saw plenty of the ball from his wide position and looked destined to set up an opening goal for his side when sending a cut back from the byline into the feet of Kenneth Taylor after Brobbey’s attempt had been saved in the 19th minute.

But Taylor was also unable to convert and Portugal then countered to eventually take the lead two minutes later through Andre Almeida who swept home Pedro Neto’s cross. Summerville was then presented with a chance just three minutes later with a free-kick some 25 yards out and central but the Leeds winger scooped his effort harmlessly over the top left.

Another opportunity presented itself five minutes before the break when Summerville was played in down the left by Taylor and the 21-year-old made his way into the area but saw his low shot across goal easily saved by keeper Celton Biai.

A few crosses from Summerville failed to have the desired effect and a frustrating half ended with the Dutch 1-0 down. The Leeds winger stayed on despite two Netherlands changes at the break and Summerville produced two particularly good bits of play in the search for an equaliser.

With just 56 seconds on the clock, Summerville and Taylor linked up with two neat one-twos to progress down the left flank but Summerville’s cross was eventually cleared. It was a similar story in the 59th minute when the Leeds attacker showed great footwork to dance around a couple of defenders towards the byline but his cross was cleared for a corner that came to nothing.

After a mixed bag but overall frustrating time, Summerville was taken off in the 69th minute as boss van de Looi sacrificed his only natural wide player to bring on another striker in Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee.

The Netherlands finally equalised 11 minutes later from a cleverly worked corner at which Wouter Berger’s knockdown was seized upon by Brobbey to slide the ball home from close range. Neither side were able to find a winner as the game ended in a 1-1 draw and the Netherlands are still seeking their first win of the tournament.

But victory against Georgia in their final group stage game on Tuesday evening would send the Netherlands through following a 2-2 draw between Georgia and Belgium in Saturday evening’s other Group A game. Georgia sit top of the group on four points, two ahead of both Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium are second on goals scored. Portugal are bottom with just one point.