Disclaimer: I support the Dutch. I have for over thirty years. This article is not an apology for the Netherlands loss to Morocco. But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that Oranje sucks at the penalty shootout.
As soon as Morocco’s Issa Diop slipped behind Virgil van Dijk to head home the stoppage time equalizer, my heart sank in a familiar manner. Please no shootout, I thought.
Which is why the subsequent 30 minutes of extra time proceeded to vex and shock me in equal measure. The Dutch just… stopped. They stopped attacking. They stopped passing. To paraphrase megalomanic pundit Zlatan Ibrahimović, the Netherlands “played not to lose.”
“Not to lose?”
Are you kidding me? Hello?! Did Ronald Koeman not get the memo? How could anyone on his staff not know that the Dutch are historically among the worst teams EVER when it comes to the shootout. Just look at the grid below.
And that’s no fluke. In European competitions (including the newer Nations League format), the Dutch are just as abysmal.
Important note: the Dutch victory against Costa Rica in the 2014 World Cup semi-final, saw goalkeeper Tim Krul get subbed on in the 120th minute.
Krul was known as being a penalty kick specialist, and he lived up to that reputation by saving two of the five shots.
The Penalty Shootout
Penalty shootouts are equal parts rock-paper-scissors blended with a high-stake game of chicken. The Dutch approach on this one was a smart one. Four of the five shooters had been subbed on late; their legs (and minds) were fresh. But paper tactics get cut by the scissors of execution, and the Dutch didn’t do the business.
Patrick Kluivert struck the post; Quinten Timber pulled his shot so wide left it landed in another zip code. A particularly savvy Yassine Bono made the crucial save. Moving across his line like a pong bar, he neglected to dive and was upright when he caught Crysencio Summerville’s shot. Genius.
It’s not as if Morocco was perfect. Their opener, Neil El Aynaoui, struck the crossbar. Rahimi caught a break when Bart Verbruggen appeared to smother his strike, only to see the ball slip under his body, rebound off his back leg and trickle over the line. Achraf Hakimi’s effort also smacked off the post.
Morocco: The Better Team
Of course, Morocco was better from the spot. But they were the better team in the match as well. They dominated the Netherlands in nearly every category: possession (70% to 30%), xG (1.38 to 0.24), shots (11 to 6), on-frame shots (5 to 2), chances created (5 to 1) and even accurate passes (801 to 292). If it wasn’t for a series of critical late tackles, and five big time saves from Verbruggen (including an otherworldly one-on-one stop against Soufiane Rahimi in extra time, using his thigh and hand to deflect his shot wide), this match would have been settled in extra time.
And the best team would have still won it.
