LONDON-- England came crashing down to earth with a frustrating 2-1 loss to an inexperienced Netherlands side at Wembley on Tuesday, failing to build on their heroic defeat of world champions Germany last weekend.
Second-half goals from Dutch forward Vincent Janssen and substitute Luciano Narsingh cancelled out a Jamie Vardy strike in the first half, sapping the optimism around Roy Hodgson's side ahead of this June's European Championship finals.
On paper it should have been a routine victory for England, who boast top Premier League hit men Vardy and Harry Kane and had not lost at Wembley in 2-1/2 years.
But history was never on their side. Barring one win in 1996, they have not tasted success against the Dutch in more than 30 years.
This time they may have reason to feel aggrieved, with striker Janssen appearing to shove defender Phil Jagielka in the build-up to Narsingh's winner.
Yet from the start England struggled to rekindle the attacking flair that saw them stage a second-half fightback to beat Germany 3-2 on Saturday.
Having squandered an earlier opportunity, Vardy had the simplest of tap-ins to open the scoring after right back Kyle Walker found space on the right-hand side of the area and nicked the ball across the face of goal in the 41st minute.
The goal - England's 100th in the four-year tenure of manager Hodgson - appeared to liven up the crowd, who had little to rouse them in the opening period other than a moving ovation to legendary Dutch forward Johann Cruyff, who died last week.
While England dominated possession, defensive lapses from both sides on the wet Wembley surface hinted that the game could swing either way.
So it was that the ramshackle Dutch side levelled the score shortly after the break when defender Danny Rose gave away a penalty for a handball.
Janssen fired the 50th-minute spot kick high into the net, his first goal for his country.
England had some chances of their own to regain the lead. An acrobatic leap from Dutch keeper Jeroen Zoet stopped a swerving long-range effort from Vardy before substitute defender Nathaniel Clyne thumped another scoring chance at the stopper.
Ultimately it took a controversial incident to help separate the two sides, leading to protestations from England's players after the goal was awarded and booing from the home support.
