November 17, (THEWILL) – The Netherlands and Norway did not put on much of a show in a tense 2-0 win for the former in Rotterdam, which saw the Norwegians booted from the World Cup campaign for 2022.
Both teams started cautiously, with Holland satisfied to knock the ball around their defensive third and backwards, and the Scandinavians content to sit in a compact defensive unit and contain their hosts, who struggled to break them down.
Louis van Gaal, who was confined to a wheelchair following a bicycle accident, could only watch as his team played sluggishly, but they were fortunate that their opponents lacked any real attacking ability, and the Oranje scraped into the main draw by squeezing through.
Stale Solbakken made offensive changes for Norway in the second half, bringing in Christian Thorstvedt and Jens Petter Hauge. Although the Norwegians stayed compact in defence and lacked quality in the final third, as they sorely missed their talismanic striker Erling Haaland.
Memphis Depay and Steven Bergwijn were the brightest lights in an otherwise dreadful game, both putting pressure on Orjan Nyland in the Bournemouth goal, but the Norwegian goalkeeper was not put to the test.
Arnaut Danjuma was also active for the Oranje down the left flank, constantly taking on Marcus Pedersen and coming near with a rasping shot when cutting inside, but his output was limited due to the hosts’ lack of bite in attack.
Joshua King had only 15 minutes left in the game to try and sneak a goal for his team, which would have put them one goal ahead of their Turkish opponents, but it was not to be as the Dutch utilised their experience to eke out the game and, more crucially, to qualify for Qatar.
On 84 minutes, Tottenham’s Bergwijn had the final word for the Dutch, but he was crashing home Danjuma’s pass with too much room and time.
With almost the final kick of the game, Memphis Depay doubled the lead as the hosts countered after a visiting corner, and with the defensive half virtually unprotected, Bergwijn turned provider for the Barcelona forward to slot home.
In the end, the Dutch were fortunate that their opponents were so weak on the day and without their top player in European. They would have lost in a play-off against Italy or Portugal if they had played like that. There is a lot of room for improvement. They simply need to recognise it.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
