Dominant Dutch ease past USA into World Cup quarters

In a land of abundant natural energy, Netherlands produced a masterclass in efficiency on way to the quarter-finals of 2022 World Cup. The edition’s first knockout round game was where exuberance was checkmated by a performance so clinical that it felt like a team of surgeons were at a game of soccer.

Watching them is like “grinding teeth” the combative Dutch coach Louis van Gaal has been told here. For the most part though, Saturday’s 3-1 win against USA felt like a ride on a luxury sedan with great mileage. Or, having an orange on a mild winter afternoon.

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USA dominated the ball, began with their usual press from which Christian Pulisic got on goal in the third minute. Showing no signs of the injury that had forced him off at half-time against Iran, Pulisic broke through and fired but Holland goalkeeper Andries Noppert saved with a leg.

Like they had in their group games, USA moved up in numbers. Antonee Robinson and Sergino Dest sortied on the left and right. Timothy Weah, Pulisic and Jesus Ferriera, who replaced Josh Sargent, too were present in the Netherlands’ back third with Yunus Musah and Weston McKennie playing close to them.

This also meant space in the USA half as in their enthusiasm to get at Noppert, they were not always tracking back.

Having absorbed the early pressure, Netherlands forged ahead through Memphis – he was just that and not Memphis Depay to the emcee at the Khalifa Stadium - whose run from the middle USA were unable to track. A slick move involving Frenkie de Jong and Cody Gakpo found Denzel Dumfries on the right. The Dutch wingback looked up and played into space where Memphis fetched up and banged home.

Netherlands then produced a lesson in managing the game. Closing the gap between their defence and the frontline, they narrowed the area of play to a 20-yard strip on either side of the centre-circle. They were okay with USA having the ball but had closed all the passing angles. So, the first half ended with USA having 59% possession and their rivals 30%. But it also ended with Netherlands leading 2-0.

Daley Blind’s goal in stoppage time was like the first in the sense that it was about exploiting space in the box. Again, it was Dumfries who has at the heart of the move, a restart. He took the throw, played it short to Davy Klassen who rolled it back in to Dumfries. Again, a ball was played back and again a Dutch forward made a run to take away a defender. Into that space stepped Blind, making the most of Sergino Dest being a second too slow to score.

USA tried to break the Dutch chokehold by getting Dest to play inverted right back and Yunus Musah move wide. It led to forward movement but not much beyond. They did have a Timothy Weah snap shot though that Noppert got both hands to in the 41st minute.

Giovanni Reyna finally got one half of a World Cup as USA replaced Ferreira, making it another father-son pair to have featured on the sport’s grandest stage. USA got a chance three minutes into resumption but Taylor Ream couldn’t get enough on the ball and Gakpo cleared off the line.

Coming from the land of Total Football, seeing a frontliner making a goalline save should feel like normal service. Like in the first half, the Dutch took charge after a while and it was Matt Turner’s goal that was always under more threat. USA pulled one back through Haji Wright in the 76th minute, the ball fortuitously slicing off his boot and arcing back into goal after Pulisic had found him. USA had also forced a goalline save one minute earlier after a backpass was intercepted by Wright.

In the 81st minute, the two-goal margin was restored; Dumfries making the most of Robinson leaving his man to complete a great night to score off a Blind delivery. Depay, Frenkie De Jong and Blind played short passes before the ball was relayed to Dumfries.

Not for the first time on the night was USA’s backline caught out. And beaten by a team who with 43% possession had as many shots on target, six, as their opponents.

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