dpa
Al Rayyan, Qatar
The Netherlands were led by Denzel Dumfries into the Qatar World Cup quarter-finals after beating the United States 3-1 on Saturday.
Dumfries provided two assists and scored the goal that sealed Netherlands’ qualification for the next round.
The Dutch opened the scoring in the 10th minute as Memphis Depay received the ball from Dumfries and finished off a beautiful team play from defence to attack.
Ahead of the break, and when the US looked closing to finding an equaliser, Daley Blind netted Dumfries’ low cross to extend the lead for the European side.
Cody Gakpo cleared Tim Ream’s header off the line early in the second half to keep Netherlands’ advantage safe but saw his team waste chances to put the game to bed.
As the US kept pressing for some late drama, Haji Wright missed from a tight angle in the 75th, but pulled one back for the US just a minute later, sending home a cross from Christian Pulisic with a stunning looping ball into the far corner.
Their comeback, however, didn’t last long as Dumfries got on the scoreboard himself in the 81st minute to wrap up matters.
“That’s a very important win for us. We played a very good match, but I still think we can do better,” Dumfries said. “We have faith in ourselves, we have good players, we have to be strong together and see what happens.”
In the quarter-finals on Friday, the Netherlands will meet the winner of the clash between Argentina and Australia later on Saturday.
“It’s such a good group of guys, but we came up just a bit short today, but not for the lack of trying,” US coach Greg Berhalter said.
“I’m really proud of this group but bitterly disappointed.” Following Netherlands’ early opener from Depay, the USslowly found their pace and looked like the most dominant team in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
In the 42nd, Tim Weah fired a shot from outside the box, but his effort was blocked by Dutch keeper Andries Noppert.
The miss tasted even more frustrating when the Netherlands extended their lead shortly before the break as Dumfries provided his second assist of the evening, this time a low cross for a first-time finish from Blind.
Early in the second half, it was Ream’s turn to miss a big chance for the US as his header after a corner was cleared off the line by Gakpo.
On the other side, the Dutch also saw keeper Matt Turner send Depay’s effort over the crossbar in the 61st. They were insistent, but still wasteful when Teun Koopmeiners’ strike was blocked in the 71st. On the rebound, Depay’s header was saved by Turner.
Netherlands were lucky when Depay gave the ball away to the US and Wright couldn’t get his shot right, but made up for it shortly after with his stunning goal to give his side renewed hopes.
That didn’t last long, however, as Dumfries crowned his crucial performance with a late goal to avoid any other possible scare.
“He was very important, today we saw what he can do,” Dutch midfielder Davy Klaasen said.
Asked what he hopes to achieve in Qatar, he added: “I hope we can go as far as possible. Of course we’re here for the trophy.”
