The Netherlands and the United States open the eighth finals with an equal match than it seems in advance
The round of 16 breaks the ice with the Netherlands-United States, a cross with more equality than it seems in advance. Van Gaal’s team did their homework in the first phase and succeeded as the leader of their group, but without brilliance. A pragmatic football that no one falls in love with and that does not aim for very high levels in the tournament, except for the emergence of Cody Gakpo, the Dutch sensation and one of the pleasant surprises of the World Cup.
At 23 years old, the PSV football player is the new leader in the Netherlands. In June last year he made his international debut and in his twelve games with the ‘orange’ shirt he scored six goals, three of them at the World Cup with which he led the ranking, and he handed out two assists. Figures that confirm his impressive record at PSV, where he scored 13 goals in 24 games and provided 17 assists.
Gakpo marked Senegal with his left foot, Ecuador with his right and Qatar with his head, showing his varied qualities that were already noticed before his explosion by big Europeans, such as United, who brought him close to the contract last summer. That is exactly the idea of the English for this winter market, but the price is not the same. For less than 70 million euros, PSV is not prepared to sell Gakpo, who would come to fill the gap left by the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. In fact, the player himself has admitted on several occasions that he would love to play in the Premier League, particularly at the behest of his compatriot Ten Hag, so it’s clear that his destination in January is close to Manchester.
The Dutchman will be the man to watch for the United States, who are looking to match their best performance at a World Cup when they reached the quarter-finals in 2002, where they were knocked out by Germany (1-0). For this, it has a crop of talented young people who have created the illusion of a country where football has long gone hand in hand with the most popular sports, such as baseball, the NFL or the NHL. McKennie, Weah, Pulisic, Tyler Adams, Musah, Dest… The United States has the talent and guts to scare everyone, as they have already shown by signing with England, one of the tournament’s favourites. The game will be played next Saturday (4pm, Khalifa Stadium) and from this combination the rival of Argentina or Australia will play for the quarter-finals.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
