Senegal 0-2 Netherlands
The most heartening moment of the evening for me was the sight in the World Cup 2022 dugout of a 71 year-old man.
In truth, he had aged since I last saw him. In truth, I got a bit of a shock at how much older he seemed.
However, there he was, as studious as ever, one of the best managers of his generation leading his country for a third time.
Earlier this year, Louis Van Gaal revealed that he has had an aggressive form of prostate cancer since 2020. He explained how he had been sneaking away from the Dutch training camps to have radiotherapy. He also said he felt well enough to take the team to the World Cup and that the players give him energy.
It was wonderful to see in the Al Thumama Stadium and his players, eventually, did him proud, with a helping hand from Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
Highlights of the game
This was Holland’s first World Cup match for eight years when, under van Gaal, Oranje reached the semi-finals and beat hosts Brazil 3-0 in the third-place play-off.
Then he played a three-man central defence and here he was implementing the same system as the veteran became the coach with the most wins for the Dutch national team (previously tied with Dick Advocaat on 37, although Advocaat took three games more to reach that number).
It probably won’t be one of the most memorable of his career as two sides expected to progress from Group A showed bursts of adventure, particularly in the first half, but seemed set to fizzle out until six minutes from time when Frenkie de Jong floated a delightful chip into the box and PSV Eindhoven youngster Cody Gakpo reached it before goalkeeper Mendy.
It made amends for de Jong who had wasted the best chance of the contest 18 minutes in when he took too many touches after being presented with a glorious chance by Steven Bergwijn.
Then, in stoppage time, Mendy could only parry a Memphis Depay shot into the path of fellow substitute Davy Klaassen who swept home the rebound.
In fairness, until the late intervention, Senegal were deserving of a point in a match, billed as a ‘Grade A’ meeting, which had plenty of endeavour but a lack of World Cup highlights due to a lack of top quality in the final third.
There were good reasons for that.
For a start, Senegal suffered a pre-tournament blow when their talisman, Sadio Mane, was ruled out, a key figure when they qualified for Qatar by winning their group and then beating Egypt in a play-off.
Indeed, Senegal manager Aliou Cisse says the football family are “saddened” by the absence of Mane, who has 34 goals in 93 international games.
Meanwhile, the Dutch were without forward Depay, who scored 12 goals in World Cup qualifying, with a hamstring injury – although he was afforded an appearance from the bench for the final 28 minutes.
After the goal, Senegal responded and it took a fine save from debutant Andries Noppert to deny Pape Gueye an instant equaliser.
They will hope that Cheikhou Kouyate, who had to be carried off on a stretcher after landing awkwardly following for an aerial challenge, is back for the next contest as Senegal remain second favourites with the SBOTOP World Cup betting odds to progress from the group.
I mentioned in September that Holland had look of intent, reaching the semi-finals of the Nations League, topping a group which contained Belgium
After going through the entire Nations League campaign unbeaten, winning five of their six matches, and qualifying for the semi-finals with something to spare in a group which contains the nation ranked second in the world, this was average fare but they got the job done.
And the most heartening aspect of all was the beam on van Gaal’s face.
Key statistics
This was the first ever encounter between Senegal and Holland who have qualified for the World Cup together for the first time. The Dutch failed to qualify for the two tournaments in which Senegal appeared (2002, 2018).
The Dutch have won their last six matches against African opposition in all competitions and have never lost against an African nation at the World Cup.
The best result by an African team at the World Cup is reaching the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.
Holland are the only team to have played at least three World Cup finals and never won the trophy. Those three final defeats were in 1974 (2-1 v hosts West Germany), 1978 (3-1 after extra time v hosts Argentina) and 2010 (1-0 after extra time v Spain).
The Dutch have lost only one of their last 15 World Cup matches (games decided by a penalty shootout are classed as a draw).
What’s next?
It’s a return to action on Friday (November 25) for both nations.
Senegal face hosts Qatar three hours before Holland host Ecuador.
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