Louis van Gaal leaned to his left, wrapped his arm round Denzel Dumfries, and planted a kiss on the participant’s cheek.
Dumfries most likely deserved much more smooches from his coach on Saturday after main the Netherlands into the World Cup quarterfinals with a objective and two assists within the 3-1 victory over america.
“Yesterday, or a day earlier than yesterday, I gave him an enormous fats kiss,” Van Gaal stated on the post-match information convention. “I’m going to present him one other massive fats kiss so everyone can see.”
And so he did
“There you go,” Van Gaal stated, exhibiting his affection for the appropriate again, who performs for Italian membership Inter Milan.
Dumfries did all of it towards the People because the Netherlands prolonged its unbeaten run to 19 video games because it pursues an elusive World Cup title.
The Dutch nationwide group carries the burden of most likely being greatest soccer nation to by no means have received the World Cup. The Netherlands has been the runner-up 3 times — 1974, 1978 and 2010 — and was third in 2014 after dropping to Argentina on penalties within the semifinals.
Nonetheless, the group did not qualify in 2018, most likely offering extra motivation this time
Dumfries scored Oranje’s closing objective within the 81st minute on a volley after second-half substitute Haji Wright scored within the 76th to briefly get the People again into the match. He additionally added assists on the opposite two targets at Khalifa Worldwide Stadium — Memphis Depay’s within the tenth, and Daley Blind’s in first-half stoppage time.
“It was an awesome sport and I’m joyful I will be vital for the group,” stated Dumfries, who is called for American actor Denzel Washington.
“I’m proud to have his identify,” he stated. “I’m extremely pleased with Denzel Washington. He’s a very sturdy persona who voices his views and I see that for instance.”
Dumfries stated Oranje was “extra targeted” than it was in lackluster group video games — a 1-1 draw with Ecuador and 2-0 victories over Senegal and Qatar.
“We knew that we may play higher than we did within the first three matches,” he stated.
America had extra possession of the ball, and extra makes an attempt at objective — 16 to 12. However the Dutch handled that simply positive.
“In Holland we’re used to having the ball, to having possession,” Dumfries stated. “It is a totally different means of taking part in. I additionally perceive the criticism in Holland as a result of we will play significantly better with the ball.”
United States goalkeeper Matt Turner and the American protection have been underneath fixed stress dealing with crosses into the 6-yard field.
“It was like that they had just a little bit of additional persistence and minimize the ball again, and we didn’t monitor properly,” Turner stated. “I felt like each time they crossed the ball they bought a head on it or they bought a chunk of it.”
Cody Gakpo, who has scored three targets within the match, stated what Van Gaal has been speaking up: The Netherlands can lastly win the title, although few assume this is without doubt one of the nation’s greatest groups.
“We’ve believed in ourselves from the beginning and we’ve come right here with a objective,” Gakpo stated. “And that’s to try to change into world champions. We consider in that.”