Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk watched in despair as Ollie Watkins fired England into the Euro 2024 final on Wednesday evening.
England and the Netherlands thought they were going to extra time, but Aston Vila’s main man stepped up and produced the crucial moment in the final minute.
The first half was very entertaining, with both teams scoring, including a screamer from Xavi Simons, before Harry Kane’s penalty tied the game, much to the fury of Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and his Dutch colleagues.
Following the break, Ronald Koeman tightened things.
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Up from a defensive standpoint, the game became quite flat, lethargic, and plodding.
From England’s standpoint, it was the same old, same old under Gareth Southgate, and the murmuring could be heard once more.
In terms of opposition, it wasn’t exactly total football, and it was nothing like what the great Dutch teams of the past have accomplished on the international stage.
Former Liverpool player Steve McManaman told ESPN that seeing such football ‘drives you wild’ since he believes both teams were to blame for the quality going out the window in the second half.
However, he singled out two players from each team who he was dissatisfied with: van Dijk and John Stones, both top performers for Liverpool and Manchester City, respectively.
McManaman disliked the centre-back pair’s actions because he believed they were a major reason for the game’s lack of serious quality by passing it side to side, stating that van Dijk had’more passes than anybody else on the pitch’ in the second half, and the guy on the other side was the same.
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