HOUSTON (AP) – Under intense pressure after a draw in the opening game, the Netherlands turned in a dominant performance against Sweden. world cup They will move to the top of the Group F standings on Saturday.
Brian Brobbey and Cody Gakpo each scored two goals to lead the Netherlands to a 5-1 victory.
With Brobbie’s goal in the first half, Holland got off to a great start and had a big win after the game. Japan tied 2-2 on Sunday.
With this victory, the Netherlands lead the group with four points. Sweden has three points and is scheduled to play Japan and Tunisia later on Saturday.
“Perhaps our play gave us confidence,” Dutch coach Ronald Koeman said. “Now with the four points we can feel a little bit better. We can work on what’s happened and that’s really good.”
Gakpo, who also had an assist, extended the lead to 3-0 with a goal from a Denzel Dumfries cross in the 47th minute, just after halftime. In the 54th minute, he took a right-footed shot from the left side of the box and met Blobby.
“Today we had more variations in our offensive play, and we had more players with different positions and movements,” Gakpo said. “So it probably made it harder for the defenders to mark us and we were free in the box. I think that was probably the little thing we missed in the last game.”
Sweden was unable to build on their good performance. 5-1 Tunisia’s fierce run In that first match. The loss to the Netherlands was their biggest World Cup loss since 1950, when they lost 7-1 to Brazil.
Sweden coach Graham Potter said the loss was more about how well the Netherlands played on Saturday than the team’s performance. He then named all the star players of the Dutch national team before continuing.
“So we don’t expect everything to be easy for us,” he said. They are a top team and they were better than us today. We have to congratulate them, but I think we can learn a lot from this match. ”
The Netherlands’ game plan of going wide, opening Sweden and feeding Blobby with crosses worked perfectly in the early stages. In the 5th minute, Gakpo put a cross into the center of the box, which Blobby converted with his right foot before falling to the grass to give the Netherlands the lead.
The second goal came in the 17th minute when he slid in a cross from Dumfries and connected it with his right foot, firing it inside the far post.
Koeman credited Blobby’s success to his improvement after struggling with the rigors of playing full games in the past.
“He’s healthier, sharper and developing very well,” he said.
Anthony Elanga’s left-footed goal in the 59th minute cut the lead to 4-1, helping Sweden avoid a shutout.
Up until then, Sweden had had plenty of chances to score, but Dutch goalkeeper Bad Verbruggen made four saves in the first half.
Sweden appeared to have cut the lead to 2-1 with Gustav Lagerbjelke’s header in the 44th minute, but he was ruled offside. lagerbjerke He is a baron from the Swedish nobility.. His father and grandfather were counts.
But he wasn’t the only royal in the stadium on Saturday, with two very special guests in the Netherlands to support him: King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, who watched from their luxury suite.
“The king was very happy,” Koeman said.
The crowd of 68,777 was made up primarily of Dutch fans, many of whom took the 2.5-mile Oranger Fan Walk from Rice University to Houston Stadium on Saturday morning.
Crisencio Somerville, who assisted Gakpo’s second goal, scored the Dutch goal in the 89th minute and celebrated with NBA stars. Stephen Curry’s “Night Night” gesture.
Somerville received stitches after being kicked in the head late in the game, but Koeman said he should be ready for the next game.
“I think things are OK,” he said. “He seems to have a little headache.”
Sweden concludes group play against Japan at Dallas Stadium on Thursday night, and the Netherlands will face Tunisia in Kansas City that night.
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
