Virgil van Dijk returned to the Dutch team on Wednesday night and had to collect one goal. That fell because Cody Gakpo stepped forward too late after a repulsed corner, Van Dijk also saw.
The PSV attacker raised offside, allowing Erling Braut Haaland to score the ball. “Indeed, we join and unfortunately Cody is the one who stayed behind,” Van Dijk told Decceit. “Can happen. Must not happen, but well: we actually have to do that better before the game.”
20‘ GOAL NORWAYLAND is left alone and Van Dijk’s tackle is too late. It stands 1-0. #nooned pic.twitter.com/ns97bcfl0o
—CCEit Soccer (@ Cecit Soccer) September 1, 2021
It finally remained at 1-1 and competitor Montenegro raised the helping hand by playing at the front runner Turkey deep in injury time 2-2. “I just heard it, yes,” says Van Dijk, who did not want to look too much at the competition. “I don‘t think we should rely too much on other countries. We have to win the next two games, that’s what we‘re going for.”
Orange plays at home against Montenegro on Saturday and is allowed to try to revanche for the defeat against Turkey in March three days later. The Turks are one point ahead of the Netherlands, Norway and Montenegro.
“We weren’t lucky,” Oranje captain Van Dijk analyzes afterwards. “Now we have to do those other games.” #nooned pic.twitter.com/z2KTY6zdNo
—CCEit Soccer (@ Cecit Soccer) September 1, 2021