The Netherlands advanced to the World Cup knockout stages with a 2-0 victory over Qatar in Group A. Cody Gakpo scored his third goal of the tournament midway through the first half, and Frenkie de Jong added a second shortly after halftime. Louis van Gaal’s side advances to the knockout stages, where they will face the runner-up in Group B, which at this point could be any of England, Iran, the United States, or Wales. As a result, Qatar is the first World Cup host nation to fail to win or even score a point.
Netherlands beats Qatar by 2-0
There was no doubt about who had been the standout performer for the Netherlands thus far, and Gakpo struck again in 26 minutes to put his team ahead. He scored with his head against Senegal, with his left against Ecuador, and with a right-footed drive from just inside the area against Qatar to complete his perfect hat-trick. It was two after 49 minutes. Davy Klaassen’s cross deflected off the head of a defender and found Memphis Depay at the far post. His close-range effort was saved, but it fell kindly for De Jong to prod into an empty net from just a few yards away.
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On 68 minutes, Steven Berghuis tapped home from close range just a few minutes after coming on as a substitute for the Netherlands, but VAR ruled the goal out for a handball by Gakpo in the build-up. But it didn’t stop them from looking forward to the evening’s Group B games to find out who their opponents in the last 16 will be. The Netherlands advances to the round of 16 as group winners, where they will face the runner-up from Group B. Senegal, which defeated Ecuador 2-1 in the other Group A game, joins them.
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Qatar becomes the first World Cup host nation to fail to win a game. Despite leading Group, A, Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal reacted angrily to criticism of his team’s World Cup performance thus far. They finished with seven points after a 2-0 win over hosts Qatar, having previously beaten runners-up Senegal by the same scoreline and drawing 1-1 with Ecuador. Despite the fact that they had few alarms in their first three games, Van Gaal was grilled in his post-match press conference about why the games were not particularly entertaining to watch.
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I’m not going to elaborate because I believe you have a different perspective on football,” he told one journalist. Why don’t you write about how boring it is and how you’re going home tomorrow because you couldn’t care less? When asked why fans were “grinding their teeth” on social media about the performances, Van Gaal replied, “That’s disappointing, but I disagree with you. That’s your opinion, but I don’t believe it’s the correct one.” Everyone should be pleased that we have advanced to the next round.
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