The Netherlands national team found its head

In the Group A favorites match, the Netherlands won 2-0 over the Senegalese thanks to goals scored in the end by Cody Gakpo and Davi Klassen.

Chronologically, the third match of the World Cup turned out to be the first that did not divide the rivals too clearly: here is a strong one, but a weak one. The favorites of group A, who will have to defend their status and the right to a ticket to the playoffs in games with the Ecuadorian team that beat the Qataris the day before, were quite worthy of each other and played on an equal footing, no matter how you measure it, at least by statistics, at least by subjective feelings.

The Senegalese team, left without Sadio Mane, decided to go anyway to the Dutch team with three attackers and with the desire to complete any attack with a blow.

Maybe, by the way, and excessive, because some looked either hasty or completely superfluous: you could improve your position, find a free partner, and, in the end, take a tiny pause in order to better understand the situation and not allow what has arisen in front of you the Dutchman to take over the ball. But the Senegalese saw in front of them, like a bull in a bullfight, a red rag, only a goal with the mighty Andris Noppert standing in them – unexpected, given the goalkeeper’s lack of experience, the choice of coach Louis van Gaal. And this habit made life a little easier for the Dutch defense, led by Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutch national team, on the contrary, was let down by the inability to strike.

The first amazing moment for her was created, as usual, on time and subtly connected by van Dijk’s partner in the center of defense, Matthijs de Ligt, and Cody Gakpo, who supported him. Gakpo’s cross left goalkeeper Edouard Mendy on the sidelines, but Steven Bergwijn didn’t have the guts to guess where the ball was headed. He never got to it.

The second moment was the merit of Bergwein. Having fallen on the lawn, he managed to give an almost perfect pass to Frenkie de Jong from such a position. De Jong, who was supposed to shoot the gate in a moment, handled the ball rather poorly, let it go half a meter and failed to break through normally.

A small episode, but it can be said that it perfectly illustrated why today’s Dutch team with a bunch of bright characters in the roster is still called a contender for medals, but with many reservations. Well, strikers, endowed with an exceptional bombarding gift, who score not occasionally, but regularly, do not appear recently for some reason in the talent-rich Dutch football. In the Qatari application, there is, perhaps, only one person more or less similar to such an attacker – Memphis Depay. But he, not quite healthy, when de Jong stole his chance, was sitting on the bench.

Meanwhile, by the end of the first half, those who were worried about the Dutch should have become anxious about their defense as well. No, there still could not be any claims against van Dijk. But other Dutch from time to time were weird in the rear. And the awkward removal of the same de Jong almost transformed into a Senegalese goal.

In the middle of the second half, van Gaal sent Memphis Depay into the game. The Dutch commentators, of course, were terribly surprised: it seems that the injury excluded his participation in the match.

And his exit could not be interpreted otherwise than as a recognition of a sad fact: without such a risky step, it would not be possible to bring his attacking efforts to perfection.

But even with Depay, the Dutch national team did not stick well for a long time. On the contrary, the Senegalese under the incessant beat of the drums, which their fans armed themselves in the stands and which made such a noise that the famous howl of the South African vuvuzela in 2010 could, apparently, seem like music for evening relaxation against its background, still slightly intensified. And the loss of Sheik Kouyate, an extremely important footballer for the team, cementing the support zone, could not slow them down – they climbed forward, crushed, albeit still not too skillfully. Athleticism, pace here took precedence over thought with overwhelming superiority. But the Dutch, fed by Senegalese jerks, whatever one may say, was not easy. And the debutant of serious competitions Noppert had to work.

This meeting seemed to be moving in a straight line towards a goalless draw, which a neutral observer would consider an absolutely fair outcome. But it didn’t work out with a draw. Ten minutes before the final whistle, de Jong sent a cross into the penalty area, about which Edouard Mendy, the excellent Senegalese goalkeeper, who, playing for Chelsea, caught hundreds of such crosses in the English Premier League, probably thought that he could handle it without problems. And suddenly Cody Gakpo grew up in front of Mendy, with his height over 190 cm, as it turned out, he could jump like an NBA basketball player. So the ball was touched not by the gloves of the goalkeeper of the Senegal national team, but by the top of the football player of the Dutch national team.

And already in stoppage time, the Senegalese were finished off by a counterattack with a cunning, from under the defender, Depay’s blow.

Mendy repulsed him, but Davi Klassen managed to rebound, after which it became clear that, it is possible, the key victory in the group stage from the Dutch will not go anywhere.

Alexey Dospekhov