Van Dijk: 'Netherlands are not at their best yet'
"I think the Netherlands can still play better than what they showed today," Van Dijk said after the win at Khalifa. "I feel the team kicks better every game. The Netherlands can play beautiful football, and many times show it to the US team."
Yesterday, the Netherlands did not play well, but scored from the 10th minute. Cody Gakpo opened the ball to the right to let Denzel Dumfries stretch a touch for Memphis Depay to cross the corner to beat goalkeeper Matt Turner. This is Depay's 43rd goal for the Netherlands, just short of Robin van Persie's record of 50.
In the first minute of compensation, the Netherlands doubled the gap under the same scenario. Dumfries dribbled on the right wide and then stretched to let Daley Blind shoot a touch into the near corner that made Turner stuck. At 32 years and 269 days, Blind is the second oldest player to score for the Netherlands at the World Cup, after Gio van Bronckhorst against Uruguay in 2010 (35 years and 151 days).
In the second half, the US entered the game better and shortened the score thanks to Haji Wright's cutting ice. However, the Netherlands still won by two goals, with Dumfries' diagonal volley in the 81st minute.
Van Dijk was particularly delighted with the Netherlands' first two goals, saying his teammates had thoroughly practiced such situations. In particular, the orange team completed 20 consecutive passes before Depay opened the scoring, the most passes leading to a Dutch goal at the World Cup since 1966.
According to the captain, the Netherlands "could be even stronger, if we had better control of the ball". On the Khalifa field yesterday, Van Dijk and his teammates only held the ball 42%. In the group stage, except for the victory over Qatar in the last leg where they controlled 63% of the time, the Netherlands only achieved 54% possession and 55% against Ecuador and Senegal.
Like coach Louis van Gaal, Van Dijk emphasized the goal of the Netherlands is to win the gold cup in Qatar. "Fortunately, now we have two more days to recover, which is great. And then the Netherlands will again aim to win," added the 31-year-old centre-back.
With two assists and one goal, Dumfries was voted player of the match. He is the first Dutch player to create two goals in the first half of a World Cup match, and the third player to contribute to three goals in a Dutch game at the World Cup, after Rob Rensenbrink (twice). in 1978) and Johan Cruyff (1974).
After the game, the 26-year-old emphasized that this performance was a response to criticism that he did not play well in the group stage. Dumfries also revealed Van Gaal was not satisfied despite the Netherlands leading 2-0 after the first half, and asked the whole team to apply better pressure in the second half.
