The Netherlands are out of the World Cup after a penalty shootout defeat to Morocco. The game finished 1-1 after extra time.
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Ronald Koeman decided to make a change to formation for the match as he went for a back five that included both Nathan Ake and Micky van de Ven. Crysencio Summerville also replaced Donyell Malen in the attack.
Oranje had a lot of possession early on but never threatened the Morocco goal and in the 20th minute, Bart Verbruggen had to make two big saves to deny Bilil El Khannouss and Achraf Hakimi.
The first chance for the Netherlands fell to Van de ven as he fired on goal from the edge of the box but his strike was too central and was tipped over the bar.
Just before the break, Morocco had another big chance as a free kick was fired into goal but Ismail Saibari couldn’t finish from close range.
The early stages in the second half saw Hakimi hit the crossbar for the Moroccans before the right back was denied through on goal by Van de ven.
With Morocco pushing and only 20 minutes left, Koeman changed back to a 4-3-3 with Teun Koopmeiners replacing Ake and Wout Weghorst coming in for Brobbey. The changes had an immediate effect as a long ball forward was flicked on by Weghorst and Summerville raced in on goal before the ball fell to Gakpo, who lashed in the opening goal.
It was an emotional moment for the forward, who announced this week that he and his partner had lost their unborn child. The emotion was clear to see on Gakpo as the whole Dutch squad came on to celebrate and congratulate Gakpo.
The Netherlands looked to see the game out but in the 90th minute, Issa Diop rose in the box to head Morocco level.
The match went to extra time and Verbruggen kept the Netherlands level with a wonder save from close range to deny Soufiane Rahimi, who looked guaranteed to score.
The game went to penalties and it started well for Oranje as Morocco missed their first penalty but Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville all failed from the spot to send the Netherlands home.
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Got why we deserved.
Cya Koeman, absolute trash coach.
Devastated 🙁
Thank you for your fantastic and dedicated coverage throughout the tournament – most appreciated.
It’s heartbreaking to be knocked out so early like this
but i only can blame koeman and van dijk for this
Firstly koeman respected morrocco too much even if they are a very solid team but giving this teams this much respect will reflect negatievly on you after the first goal morrocco looks totally lost for a bit of time that you could seize the chance to increase the goal scoreline
second thing if you’re not prepared for the penalties why pushing for it and you know our bad history with penalties
i know if we won people will say koeman did it correctly but for me koeman did too much defending come on you’re the netherlands
Van dijk is the main reason for their equalizer i don’t know how he didn’t jump knowing that another tall defender from the opposition in your 6 yards
also i see he was afraid to step-up for the penalties and throwing it on young unexperienced players like timber summerville and kluivert when kopmeiners and weghorst stepped up for this imagine if van dijk took early penalty it would have been different
Until the Netherlands realise that these penalty shoot-outs are not a game of chance, but that a penalty is a technical skill that needs to be practised, our Oranje will always be knocked out (barring any mistakes, they have won two shoot-outs – against Sweden in 2004 and Costa Rica in 2014 – and lost all the others). You can ask any artificial intelligence or consultancy firm to produce statistics and predictions about the penalty takers, but if our players don’t know how to take penalties, it’s all for nothing. How can you shoot a penalty a metre wide of the goal, as Timber did?
As for the rest, Koeman is leaving… at last. Let’s hope Slot can take charge of the team and get them playing some proper football. Against Morocco, it was pitiful.