The'Netherlands overcomes Senegal in the final: goals by Gakpo and Klaasen

Decisive goals from the class of ’99 and the Ajax striker

The drawn-out match between Senegal and the Netherlands, the second in Group A that saw Ecuador’s victory over hosts Qatar on Sunday. The orange team found victory in the final minutes of the match, thanks to a great header by Psv’s class ’99 Cody Gakpo and the final seal by Davy Klaasen.

The first half was characterized by many mistakes by both formations, especially by the Netherlands, which wasted a couple of limpid chances, the clearest one with Frenkie De Jong who, alone in front of Edouard Mendy, lost time for the shot.

In the second half, it was Senegal that came close to taking the lead on more than one occasion: the debutant, not only at a World Cup but even in the national team, Andries Noppert, always responded. In the 86th minute the Netherlands went through, thanks to a great aerial break by the Psv player, on a ball of his own from De Jong, very underwhelming up to that moment.

The African formation threw itself in search of an equalizer but, despite the eight minutes of recovery, could not find the 1-1 goal; on the contrary, it was the Netherlands that doubled with the newly arrived Ajax player. Van Gaal’s Orange thus move, momentarily, to the top of Group A in the company of Ecuador.