The Netherlands crossed the first tickets to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, after defeating its counterpart, the United States of America, by three goals to one, on Saturday, in the round of 16 at the “Khalifa International” stadium.
The match was known at its beginning with great excitement, with the first extremely dangerous threat to the American team at the second minute, when midfielder Christian Pulisic singled himself at the Dutch goal and hit the brilliant goalkeeper Andres Nobert in stopping it.
The Netherlands’ response came quickly with an organized attack during which the players moved the ball with short passes that broke the American defense before Denzel Dumfries sent a cross that Memphis Depay received with the soles of his feet to put it into the net for the first goal at the 10th minute.
The realistic performance of the Dutch “mills” did not give the US team the freedom to create opportunities and prevented it from building the attack by clamping down on Westin McKinney and Tyler Adams, the keys to playing in the middle, and Serginio Dest and Anthony Dest on the sides.
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And from a quick counterattack, the Netherlands scored the second goal in an identical way to the first, but with the feet of Danny Blind, who followed Dumfries’ ball into the American goal in the first minute of substitute time for the lost first half.
In the second half, the situation of the American team changed for the better after several substitutions made by coach Greg Berhaliter, including the entry of Haji Wright, the Turkish striker of Antalyaspor, who managed to reduce the difference with a magical goal that he scored with his heel in the 76th minute.
The joy of “Cousins Sam” did not last for more than 5 minutes, as the brilliant Dumfries succeeded in returning things to what they were with a third goal that came in the usual Dutch style, relying on the movement of the parties and passing the cross balls to those inside the opponent’s areas.
Despite falling behind by two goals, the American team continued to search for compensation with attempts that found a vigilant defense that led the Netherlands to the next round, in which they will face the “mills” in which they will face the winner of the confrontation between Argentina and Australia.