Category: Netherlands

Argentinian television is calling it La Copa de Batacazos: a World Cup of bumps, surprises and the unforeseeable. They’ve come thick and fast on this tiny Gulf peninsula over the past two weeks, with a record seven teams ranked in the top 20 of Fifa’s world rankings, including Germany, crashing out at the group stage.

The United States entered Saturday night’s knockout match with the Netherlands confident they could deliver the latest plot twist in a competition where outsiders have consistently punched above their weight. Instead, their dream is over in disappointingly predictable fashion thanks to shortcomings that have become all too familiar.

It was the same old story for the Americans, who finished with more shots (17 to 11), more shots on target (eight to six), more passes (564 to 412) and a greater share of possession (58% to 42%), but lacked the ruthlessness and professional edge of the Dutch, who improved to 19 matches unbeaten since Louis van Gaal took over after last year’s European Championship.

The Americans’ profligacy from promising attacking positions, their imprecision in building chances from possession and their consistently poor set-pieces all came under a harsh glare on the world stage after persisting through an often-rocky World Cup qualifying campaign. For three matches in Qatar they were able to make up the difference with closely knit team play fueled by boundless energy in midfield. But when the reserves ran dry on Saturday night, their defects finally caught up with them.

The controlled and efficient presence of the Tyler Adams-Weston McKennie-Yunus Musah midfield that embodied the Americans’ biggest strength and source of optimism against the favored Dutch was badly misfiring. Any concerns that they had left it all on the field during the group stage were confirmed in the first quarter-hour. Adams was nowhere near Memphis Depay on the first goal, McKennie was replaced before the hour mark and Musah looked spent from the word go, making poor giveaways that led to a number of Dutch chances. Physical and mental fatigue were working hand in hand.

That troubling collaboration was in full view early on, when the Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong dropped in between two center-backs to collect the ball before starting a sequence of 20 uninterrupted passes over 114 seconds, leaving the American press in ribbons before Depay finished crisply from a Denzel Dumfries cross to punctuate a pass-and-move masterclass.

Suddenly the only team to not concede from open play in the group stage was trailing for the first time in their tournament. At times they looked tactically overwhelmed against a Dutch side pressing insanely high, daring the Americans to make them pay.

“When you look at the difference between the two teams, to me, there was some offensive finishing quality that Holland had that we’re lacking a little bit,” Berhalter said. “We have a very young group. We have players that are beginning their careers and they’re going to catch up to that. They’re going to get the same thing.”

The Americans did well to get their feet under them. But when Daley Blind found acres of space at the post after eluding Sergiño Dest, the Ajax midfielder scored to effectively close the show against opponents who have wanted mightily for goals against world-class sides. The US didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes on Saturday. But when they did, the Netherlands punished them.

“The first half was a great indication of the game being about moments. We were on top for a lot of the first half and two moments come and all of a sudden we’re 2-0 down. The message was soccer can be cruel sometimes,” said Berhalter. “It’s just moments that the players were [switched] off a little bit here and there and it ends up in the back of the net. When you play at this level, against high quality opponents, that’s what happens. It’s unfortunate that it happens in the knockout game, but it did and we’ve got to learn from it.”

Now for the good news. At a time when more young US players than ever before are spending their teenage years in Europe, more than half of Berhalter’s 26-man squad compete in the world’s top five leagues, including Pulisic (Chelsea), Dest (Milan), McKennie (Juventus) and Adams (Leeds United), who departs as one of the revelations of the tournament. Nineteen of them made their World Cup debuts over the past fortnight – a record for a US team by some distance – and all of them got a taste of the knockout cauldron.

They started three of the youngest starting XIs in this tournament and four of the youngest five. Eight of Berhalter’s choices for the Netherlands match were 25 or younger.

For once the breathless chatter over an American golden generation doesn’t feel like promotional bluster. And the next time they play a World Cup match will be on home soil.

Even though Berhalter resisted the notion that his youth movement was designed at least in part with 2026 in mind, the fact remains that today’s core players will be in their presumptive primes when the US will be co-hosts.

“I think this group is closer,” Berhalter said. “Can we win against top teams? Can we perform well against top teams well enough to win? Today is a strange type of outcome in a game like this when we perform really well, especially in the first half. But to be fielding the youngest lineups in the World Cup four times in a row and still be able to play the way we are, the American public should be optimistic.”

If this is boring football then give Louis van Gaal more. The Netherlands’ head coach has bristled at claims he has created a tedious team but they had far too much class and intelligence for the USA as they comfortably advanced into the quarter-finals in Qatar.

The Internazionale defender Denzel Dumfries was the architect of the US’ demise with two assists and a fine third goal that extinguished any chance of a comeback by Gregg Berhalter’s side. The Netherlands now have five days’ rest before facing the winner of Argentina v Australia on Friday, while the co-hosts of the 2026 World Cup have four years to digest the painful lesson they were handed at the Khalifa International Stadium.

The Netherlands’ formation offered the US the opportunity to get behind their wing-backs and stretch a three-man central defence. In theory, at least. In practice, the Netherlands gave their opponents nothing to exploit. Van Gaal’s team were content to let the US bring the ball out from the back before compressing the space in midfield, seizing possession and striking on the counter. The ploy worked to perfection when they took an early lead from their first meaningful attack.

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It was a beautifully worked breakthrough that started in their own half and prised the US apart in seven pristine passes. Memphis Depay was involved at the outset and at the conclusion. Having carved open the US midfield with a series of one-touch passes Cody Gakpo surged forward and released Dumfries on the right. The defender pulled back an intelligent cross towards the penalty spot where the unmarked Depay converted into the bottom corner. So much for the boring football that Van Gaal’s team have been accused of playing: they lured the US into a trap and punished them in flowing, polished style.

The complexion of the first knockout tie could have been so much different had Christian Pulisic converted a one-on-one after three minutes. Pulisic, cleared to play after sustaining a pelvic injury when scoring the crucial winner against Iran on Tuesday, found himself free inside the area from a Tyler Adams flick. He was denied by the outstretched leg of Andries Noppert and Berhalter’s team rarely troubled the goalkeeper again for the remainder of the first half. The US were too safe, too pedestrian. They looked short of ideas on how to recover from falling behind for first time at this tournament. On the few occasions they did find gaps in the Dutch defence, hopes of an equaliser were invariably ruined by a poor final touch.

All hope appeared lost for the US when the Netherlands doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time. It was almost a carbon copy of the opener. Dumfries escaped down the right once again, latching on to a deft touch from Davy Klaassen, and played an identical cross to the first goal. This time Daley Blind arrived in space to tuck away a neat finish into the same corner that Depay found. Blind, who had earlier skied a similar invitation from Dumfries, sprinted over to the Netherlands’ technical area to celebrate with his father, Danny, who is also Van Gaal’s assistant.

The US, to their credit, did not let the deficit or the timing of the second goal deflate them. A much-improved second half display almost brought an early response when Pulisic’s corner dropped to Tim Ream, whose awkward touch took the ball beyond Noppert. Gakpo was perfectly placed to clear off the line, however.

The substitute Haji Wright injected much-needed menace into the US attack and he was also denied on the goalline after pouncing on a careless back-pass from Depay and rounding the Netherlands keeper. Dumfries came to his team’s rescue on that occasion. But a minute later Wright had his goal and the US had a route back. Depay was culpable again with a loose touch that DeAndre Yedlin turned on to Pulisic. The Chelsea forward crossed low from the right and Wright, falling in front of Virgil van Dijk, somehow managed to flick the ball over Noppert with his heel. Dumfries was unable to intervene at the back post this time, but the hugely influential defender had another part to play in the US’s downfall.

Five minutes after the US were back in the game, they were out again. Blind delivered an inch-perfect cross to the back post for his fellow wing-back to steer an unstoppable left-footed volley into the far corner, ensuring the Netherlands comfortably booked their place in the last eight.

What is cute game management and what is boring football? This has become the existential question of Louis van Gaal’s third Netherlands tenure as he plots a route to the World Cup final.

It was the narrative before and after Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over Qatar that sealed a serene passage to Saturday’s last-16 showdown with the USA and, frankly, it is annoying him. When one inquisitor wondered if fans deserved more sparkling fare the man known as the Iron Tulip showed his metal. “Why don’t you write it’s boring? I don’t think things are as bad as you say,” he countered.

Are they? Pertinent here is the fact that Van Gaal has previous with plodding teams, including his Manchester United side of 2014-16. The discourse of fans and the cognoscenti at the time ran: how could a side that contained Wayne Rooney, Memphis Depay, Ángel Di María, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, and Marcus Rashford be so sideways and pedestrian, so dull and uninventive?

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On a consistent basis, that is. Because there were flashes of what might have been for Van Gaal’s United in, say, the 3-0 shellacking of Tottenham at Old Trafford in March 2015 that was an exhibition of high-octane, synchronised play that offered a throwback to the Sir Alex Ferguson golden years. But type was always reverted to and a similar pattern emerges at Qatar 2022 where Van Gaal’s Oranje are yet to dazzle for a full 90 minutes.

At this tournament Van Gaal can call on Depay, Frenkie de Jong and Cody Gakpo in advanced areas, order Denzel Dumfries to be the flying wingback who lit up Euro 2020 under Frank de Boer, and allow Virgil van Dijk to be a classic play-building centre-back of the Ajax/Netherlands school. Except, no. By the Persian Gulf, Dumfries is channelling his inner Aaron Wan-Bissaka not Trent Alexander-Arnold, De Jong’s pretty patterns are yet to be the team focal point and Depay began not game-fit (not Van Gaal’s fault). Gakpo has been the only man putting the fantasy into the Dutch football.

The Netherlands can turn it on, though, and when they do there is a glimpse of how scintillating they can still be. For that to happen Van Gaal will have to switch to anti-Van Gaal mode but he does have the ingredients. Watch again, for example, how Gakpo drifts on to a floating De Jong diagonal for his header against Senegal after the former had also been involved in textbook geometric pass-and-move to engineer space. Or see Gakpo against Qatar feature in a sequence that has him back-heeling a Depay pass – who had received the ball from Daley Blind – into Davy Klaassen whose return to the PSV man is hammered home.

The 23-year-old Gakpo has three goals in three outings and with Depay able to start for a first time against Qatar and De Jong’s confidence boosted by his first World Cup goal, Van Gaal can be optimistic there will be improvement. But will this be within the paradigm of his preferred style or a more expansive one which those enthused by the total football of the teams created by Rinus Michels hope to see?

A clue to the answer was found when this writer spoke with Van Gaal at an Amsterdam hotel in 2019 and he explained why United had been sluggish under him. “We did not have too many creative players to increase the tempo of the ball and to use more vertical passes,” he said, a declaration that came despite the United players mentioned above – five of whom he signed or gave debuts to – and so suggests it is the workman not his tools which is the deciding factor in how the 71-year-old likes to play.

After the win against Qatar he said: “Sometimes there is not enough space and we have to go past a player, which is why I have [the forward Steven] Berghuis and [midfielder Teun] Koopmeiners because they’re used to going past players and against the opponents’ backline I felt we moved the ball quicker. That gives me hope for the future.”

There is still work to be done when the opponent has the ball, though. “We were a bit better than the last game [in that area] but when you lose the ball you have to exercise pressure and make sure everything is organised as quickly as possible. That can be improved.”

There is an acceptance he has become more pragmatic: “As a coach I had Ajax DNA – all about attacking and over the years I evaluated and applied the lessons, and slowly but surely this evolved into a less attacking style and winning more matches.” In the knockout stages of the World Cup, this is the bottom line.

The first time I realized that soccer was the world’s game was in 1978. I came home one day from playing soccer and I saw my father standing on the living room table and screaming at the television. He was wearing an orange shirt, drinking a bottle of something and eating what looked like herring in a jar. I realized he was watching the World Cup final, Argentina against his beloved Netherlands (we have Dutch roots). My father wasn’t a big drinker, but he was intoxicated both with what he was drinking and watching. My mother was in the other room shaking her head, as if to say, “I can’t condone this.”

In the course of the game, my father’s demeanor went from elation to sorrow to depression to “get away from me.” It wasn’t until a month later at dinner that my mother finally slammed her hand down on the table and said to my father: “David, talk to your son”, meaning my brother. See, the problem was my brother’s name is Brandt. And Ernie Brandts was the Dutch center-back responsible for one of Argentina’s goals. My father has not spoken to my brother for the entirety of that summer until my mother finally begged him. My brother smiled, my father realized his behavior was completely outlandish, he hugged my brother and it was over. But in that moment, I realized that this sport can touch people deeply, beyond reason and comprehension.

I also bring up the 1978 World Cup because it was held in Argentina for all the wrong reasons – it was a reinvention of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Watching the tournament today in Qatar, our sport takes on all of the world’s problems during the tournament because it’s one of the few times the world comes together. The World Cup is a celebration of a sport that we love, but it’s also a constant reminder of the things that we hate in this world. As much as I’d like to see the headlines be about who scored and who assisted, unfortunately it’s also about who has intervened in a politically charged issue that has nothing to do with the play on the field.

After all that, the US have beaten Iran and will compete against the only other team I love, the Netherlands. This will be a World Cup that I will always remember not for what has transpired off the field, but because I think the US can go further than we ever have before. I’m predicting a victory against the Netherlands.

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For all their flaws, the United States still have all the right energy and all the right weapons to win games. In Matt Turner we have one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament. We have what could be the best defense, only conceding one goal, and none from the run of play. We’ve taken on two of our greatest historical adversaries and have not lost. We have a captain in Tyler Adams who has made us more proud to be American than I could’ve ever imagined. I don’t know what I’m more proud of, his press conference or his play.

And we have Christian Pulisic, who has been punished for being an exceptional American player. He’s been scrutinized by the press so much that it’s hard to trust my eyes anymore when I watch him because the expectations were way too high – yet he still delivered the crucial goal that allows this team to chase destiny.

Preparing for the knockout stage can be a different experience. Every single player in the squad wants to be on the field. I didn’t get the chance in 1994, when we reached the second round. I was taken out of the starting lineup. That was the worst day of my life. Not just my professional career – my life. To be told that I was not going to play Brazil in the World Cup, on the Fourth of July, in Palo Alto, was crushing. Maybe that’s why I’m so passionate about Gio Reyna getting on the field: I lived it myself.

As this team moves forward, my advice is, don’t kill the vibe. Just be positive every day. Smile. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This is a team that can reel someone back in if he steps out of line when he’s having a bad day, and remind him what the ultimate objective is. They’re brothers out there. Gregg Berhalter has done such a great job building the culture of the US team, which is sorely needed. And he built this culture in the midst of the pandemic. They couldn’t be together, but he kept them together. That was really, really smart. In Qatar, we’ve finally been seeing the results of that.

Taking in all the beauty and pageantry of the World Cup and trying to focus on what’s really important on the field will be their challenge. America has always been regarded as the land of opportunity. This is our chance to take an opportunity that’s been given to us. I finally think this is a worthy team that’s up for the challenge. Later in life, I learned that the herring my father was eating as he watched the World Cup is a Dutch tradition to bring good luck. The US won’t need luck on Saturday – we just need to play, believe, and always remember the last line of our anthem: “home of the brave.”

OK, a little luck wouldn’t hurt. But I’m not going to eat that herring.