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 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals with a aim and two assists within the 3-1 victory over the USA.
“Yesterday, or a day before yesterday, I gave him a big fat kiss,” Van Gaal mentioned on the post-match news convention.
“I am going to give him another big fat kiss so everybody can see.” And so he did.
“There you go,” Van Gaal mentioned, displaying his affection for the correct again, who performs for Italian membership Inter Milan.
Dumfries did all of it in opposition to the Americans because the Netherlands prolonged its unbeaten run to 19 video games because it pursues an elusive World Cup title.
The Dutch nationwide workforce carries the burden of most likely being finest soccer nation to by no means have gained the World Cup. The Netherlands has been the runner-up 3 times — 1974, 1978 and 2010 — and was third in 2014 after shedding to Argentina on penalties within the semifinals.
However, the workforce did not qualify in 2018, most likely offering extra motivation this time.
Dumfries scored Oranje’s last aim within the 81st minute on a volley after second-half substitute Haji Wright scored within the 76th to briefly get the Americans again into the match. He additionally added assists on the opposite two objectives at Khalifa International Stadium — Memphis Depay’s within the tenth, and Daley Blind’s in first-half stoppage time.
“It was a great game and I’m happy I can be important for the team,” mentioned Dumfries, who is called for American actor Denzel Washington.
“I’m proud to have his name,” he mentioned. “I am incredibly proud of Denzel Washington. He is a really strong personality who voices his views and I see that as an example.” Dumfries mentioned Oranje was “more focused” 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 could play better than we did in the first three matches,” he mentioned.
The United States had extra possession of the ball, and extra makes an attempt at aim — 16 to 12. But the Dutch handled that simply nice.
“In Holland we’re used to having the ball, to having possession,” Dumfries mentioned.
“This is a different way of playing. I also understand the criticism in Holland because we can play much better with the ball.” United States goalkeeper Matt Turner and the American protection had been beneath fixed stress dealing with crosses into the 6-yard field.
“It was like they had a little bit of extra patience and cut the ball back, and we didn’t track well,” Turner mentioned. “I felt like every time they crossed the ball they got a head on it or they got a piece of it.” Cody Gakpo, who has scored three objectives within the match, mentioned what Van Gaal has been speaking up: The Netherlands can lastly win the title, although few suppose this is without doubt one of the nation’s finest groups.
“We’ve believed in ourselves from the start and we’ve come here with a goal,” Gakpo mentioned.
“And that’s to try and become world champions. We believe in that.”