Tiktuknu: summary of the day's events in sports, 25.11 (Sport1)
In their opening game in the World Cup, the Netherlands struggled to show quality football but still overcame Senegal.
Tonight (Friday) she already paid a price for her mediocre ability, when she finished with 1:1 with Ecuador.
Nevertheless, the fate of Louis van Gaal and his players is in their hands, as they will host Qatar in the final round, knowing that a victory by a large margin will guarantee them the top of Group A.
To do so, she will have to kick a little more into the frame - so far she has done so only twice - the lowest figure for a European team in two games since 1966.
"We did not play well with the ball," Van Gaal admitted.
"This team really wants to, and we have the qualities, but we lost a lot of balls and gave them to the opponent. Despite this, we allowed Ecuador to reach very few situations. In the Nations League, we already proved how we are capable of playing, but these opponents are different and try to disrupt our game. I don't In a sad mood, we haven't lost yet, we're at the top of the house and I believe in my players."
"They have some jets that force you to react quickly," Virgil van Dijk admitted of the Ecuadorian attack, led by the great Ener Valencia.
"We could have handled it in a better way. We should have done a better job of holding the ball, our pace was too slow. In the end we got an OK result, and that's what's important."
Watch the summary of the 1:1 of Holland and Ecuador: courtesy of Kaan 11 - the official broadcaster of the 2022 World Cup. Live broadcasts, recaps, statistics and more await you on the Kaan World Cup page
believes in his players.
Van Halen (Photo: Reuters)
Valencia, who scored his third goal in the tournament and Ecuador's sixth in a row in the World Cup (the first South American player ever to do so), was injured near the end and went down on a stretcher, and it is currently unclear whether he will be fit for the fateful match against Senegal in the final round.
"My knee has been bothering me since the beginning of the tournament," said the star, "I tried to do the impossible and help my friends."
"I am very proud of these players," concluded coach Gustavo Alfaro.
"I am proud of the way they played. At halftime I told them that we were behind because we are young and inexperienced, but we came up with a different approach to the second half and did not think about the result at all. We played equal against equal against an excellent team. We equalized thanks to football and courage."
FIFA World Cup
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The Netherlands team
Louis Van Halen
Ecuador national team
Ener Valencia
