It was a reminder of what the Dutch national team can do in good form at a World Cup – a stage that has been so poor after 2014 in Brazil. With the 5-1 victory over Sweden, in an excellently entertaining game on Saturday in Houston, the Dutch presented themselves convincingly. With a lot of power, insight, speed and technique – the most important aspects of modern top football – Sweden was destroyed in phases.
The performance gives impetus to Ronald Koeman’s difficult, colorless second term as national coach – since the beginning of 2023 – at the last minute. It is certainly a match to continue to build on, this tournament and in the longer term. Because if Saturday proved anything, it is that the potential is great, that the team has many weapons.
“You can compare it to a blanket that is too short. If you have cold shoulders, you pull it up,” said Graham Potter, Sweden’s national coach. “But then your feet get cold again.” He just wanted to say: the Dutch national team is “strong everywhere”. New problems kept emerging for Sweden. Potter wanted to highlight a few Dutch players – “De Jong, Reijnders, Gravenberch, Van Dijk” – and then name almost the entire starting team.
‘Total football’
“This is total football,” co-commentator and former professional footballer Owen Hargreaves shouted on American TV after striker Brian Brobbey’s 1-0. It was a formidable goal, especially in terms of structure. The long kick from goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, the checking by Brobbey, his sensitive tap on the outside of the foot on Tijjani Reijnders, the rush from Cody Gakpo on the left flank, his flawless low cross that Brobbey only had to tap in. “Within no time we were in front of the goal with four or five men,” said Koeman. “Great goal.”
Rarely has the Dutch team shown this energy, drive and directness in recent years. Only the Nations League quarter-final against Spain in the spring of 2025 was of this caliber. In Houston, FIFA boss Gianni Infantino showed a slightly surprised look at the dancing Willem-Alexander next to him in the stands after Gakpo’s 4-0, when the king leaves the etiquette of the grandstand for what it is. It was allowed for a while, after a preparation full of doubts and dormant grumpiness.
The Dutch team played in the closed and air-conditioned Houston Stadium.
Photo KOEN VAN WEEL / ANP
Koeman’s discovery – one of the few discoveries in his second period – is without doubt attacker Crysencio Summerville from West Ham United. He did not play an international match until the World Cup campaign, and he immediately received almost limitless confidence from the national coach. In the starting line-up in the first match against Japan (2-2), he immediately scored a goal. Very strong against Sweden as a substitute, with an assist and a goal. And what in jargon is called a ‘front assist’. Only in the third or fourth repetition do you see the technical class in his pirouette during his passing action in the run-up to Gakpo’s 3-0. “A pleasure to see,” said Koeman, about Summerville.
Brobbey realizes potential
Brobbey has been the most promising striker in the Netherlands for years. But his time under Koeman cannot be called successful. The emphasis was often on what he could not do, that he was not fit, that Memphis Depay was the first choice. But on an early Saturday afternoon in a sweltering Houston, it suddenly happened, the potential realized. As a strong starting point, he wins duels against the Swedish man-marker Isak Hien. Scoring twice within seventeen minutes. With the second goal his positioning is perfect, Brobbey sneaks out of Hien’s back and slides in the ball with the tip of his right foot.
The offensively minded players seemed to rely on Brobbey as a framework for the attack structure. Midfielders Reijnders and Ryan Gravenberch in particular benefited from this; Brobbey’s ball retention and dueling ability gave them more time and space for their dynamic deep runs. “Sweden simply could not resist the power” of Brobbey, writes Michael Cox, author of Zonal Marking and tactical expert for The Athletic, the sports branch of The New York Times.
Attacker Crysencio Summerville came in well and made it 5-1 for the Dutch team.
Photo REUTERS / Annegret Hilse
It sometimes seemed like a siege, as aggressively as the Dutch flew forward during outbreaks. It prevailed on the flanks. Dumfries was the engine from the right side as he has so often been for the Dutch team in recent years, after a dip in form during the World Cup preparations. He was decisive with two tight, low crosses that led to goals.
But the match also underlined that the volatility runs deep within the Dutch team. This was “tactically the most interesting match of the World Cup so far,” Cox writes. Due to the mandatory water breaks this World Cup, football has become a sport of four quarters, and Swedish national coach Potter took full advantage of this. After quickly falling behind, he adjusted his formation, Sweden started building up with four instead of three defenders. And Potter strengthened the midfield by allowing striker Alexander Isak to come more from the left flank.
The Dutch team loses control
The game image completely turned upside down. While the Dutch led in the number of shots on target before the first break with four to one, it was eight to one in Sweden’s favor in the period after the drinks break until half time, Cox writes. In that phase, the Dutch team lost control and looked particularly vulnerable. After another great chance for Sweden, shortly before half-time, a fierce discussion arose between Dumfries, Frenkie de Jong and Gravenberch, apparently about who should pick up which opponent.
“Then you see that we [in het veld] do not quickly recognize what they do differently,” said Koeman. He says that they often have “moments” in a match when they “fall back”. “That we run backwards more instead of covering at the back. That you make it small defensively, that can be more compact.” He mentions left back Micky van de Ven, who has problems with the speed of substitute Anthony Elanga on the right in the second half. This also results in the counter goal.
But, Koeman had said shortly before: “For the rest, I enjoyed my team.” According to him, how the Orange goals came about will cause “fear” among opponents. “In the transition, with a lot of speed and a lot of quality, we can be incredibly dangerous.”
Dutch fans in Houston Stadium.
Photo Paul ELLIS / AFP