Heart stroke
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The best goal since the start of the World Cup?
There was the ladle of Aboubakar against Serbia, and the magnificent gesture of Richarlison against these same Serbs but Depay's goal could enter the ranking of the most beautiful goals of this World Cup.
Not thanks to a class gesture from the former Lyonnais but rather thanks to a wonderfully constructed collective action on the part of the Netherlands.
De Jong brings the ball out cleanly from his surface, then the Dutch launch a sequence of collective play which ends with Depay's strike on a cross from Dumfries.
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The lesson of realism of the Dutch
The Americans took a lesson early in the game.
In the first 10 minutes of the match, they put their foot on the ball, gasping to build attacks and we wondered how long that would last.
And then in one action, the Dutch showed their quality and scored that goal.
1-0 for the Netherlands in 10 minutes of play with less than 30% possession at this point in the match.
At halftime, Louis Van Gaal's men had scored two goals on their 2 shots on target.
Lesson over.
It's not great football but it's devilishly effective.
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Dumfries, in all good shots
Since the start of this World Cup, all eyes have been on Cody Gakpo (3 goals since the start of the competition) in this team.
But tonight, the common point on the three goals was called Denzel Dumfries.
The piston of Inter was in all the good moves of his team on his right side.
He ends the match with two assists to which he adds a goal in the 81st.
He was also present defensively with this ball saved on his line in the 75th.
Women footballers team France, World Cup 2022
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Claw strokes
The United States too soft
We were expecting an unbalanced match and the first minutes seemed to prove us wrong… But then we had to quickly realize that the level of the round of 16 was too much for the United States.
Their Adams-Mckennie-Musah midfield was far too imprecise technically to worry the experienced Dutch.
The American attackers did not really worry Noppert and it took a monumental stroke of luck for the ball touched by Wright to end up in the back of the net in the 77th minute.
US defense too feverish
Before this match, the United States had conceded only one goal in three games, including a clean sheet against the English attacking armada.
Tonight, Gregg Berhalter's men failed to contain the Batavian attacks.
They gave in easily in the first half.
Gakpo and Depay brought an ordeal to life at the Ream / Zimmerman hinge.
Worse, under pressure, the latter was very close to scoring an own goal at 51'.
A disappointing round of 16 both in the stands and on the pitch
The players remind us of it at the press conference: in the round of 16 it is another competition which begins with more intensity, more pressure.
So maybe, but not on this match.
The fault obviously with the scenario of this meeting and with this goal scored very quickly by the Dutch.
But apart from a few individual flashes or this first goal, we cannot say that we were thrilled.
And the spectacle did not come from the stands either, where the supporters were very timid as they had been since the start of the competition.