In the twentieth minute, Memphis Depay becomes overconfident. He looks at Virgil van Dijk, gestures where the ball should go, the central defender sends him into the depths. The field is open, but the goal is still far. So waiting for connection, Cody Gakpo sprints forward. Boom. Depay rams the fall of about 35 meters from the bounce wide. Failed attempt.
Gakpo looks at the sky in desperation for a moment, then quickly walks on. This is part of Depay’s game, he knows. Especially if the attacker of FC Barcelona is in good shape. He is this Saturday evening in the eighth final of the World Cup against the United States. He regularly touches the ball, with space around him. Often he does something good with it. Like in the thirteenth minute, when he clears Blind on the left with a careless pass. But especially with the opening goal in the tenth minute of the game, when he shoots the ball into the left corner after a fluid attack.
Not your typical number 9
With the goal, Depay repays the credit he receives from his coach. Louis van Gaal has largely adapted the playing style of Orange to Depay. The national coach considers him his best player, but does not think Depay is a typical number 9. Not a point of contact, as Vincent Janssen or Luuk de Jong can be. Not a pure finisher either. Depay needs space to dribble, to make actions. He gets that in this system with two attackers.
The fact that he was usually on the bench at FC Barcelona this season was not a problem for Van Gaal. After all, Depay always ‘delivered’ in Orange. And how. He scored twelve times in the qualifying series for this tournament. Six times he gave the decisive cross. No player came close to those numbers. “He is my top scorer and my assist king,” said Van Gaal.
The hamstring injury he suffered in the game against Poland in September was a bigger problem. Van Gaal, he always says, ‘in principle’ does not take injured players to major tournaments. But for Depay he made an exception. If the recovery went well, he could make his first minutes during the group stage. If that went well, he would be match fit in the knockout phase.
On the couch
He came in against Senegal and Ecuador. Depay can’t do that well, sitting on the couch. Then he is tense, and he finds filling in difficult. He is less bothered by pressure and criticism, he said during this tournament in conversation with VI. “I am a player who puts the pressure on himself. Always. So this doesn’t make me feel any extra tension or anything. I want to be decisive and play well, I created that expectation pattern myself. I have now scored 42 goals in the Orange squad, well, then people can expect something from me.” He started in the starting line-up for the first time against Qatar, and he got through those 65 minutes well. Physically at least, he couldn’t make his mark on the game. That raised the question of whether Depay lacked form after a month and a half without a game. He gave the answer on Saturday evening at the Khalifa Stadium. Depay can still be a class apart in the front of the Orange.
Even after the break, he occasionally shows that class. Ball under the foot, opponent played out. In the sixtieth minute, a ball falls in front of his feet just outside the penalty area. Barely time, shooting from stand, inside foot just over target. And he looks fit, runs a lot, necessary in the system Van Gaal wants to play. With Steven Bergwijn – his favorite fellow player in the front, he said a few days earlier – sometimes as the most advanced attacker after the break, Depay defends into his own penalty area if necessary.
Sometimes he is sloppy. Halfway through the second half, he even led an offensive from the US with a failed pass to his own defense, which resulted in a goal a few minutes later. He stands with his hands on his head looking at it. Van Gaal will not blame him too much. He has seen Depay look like the player he was before his injury. The goal, his first since June 11, means a lot to him, he says afterwards: “I am happy with it, on to the next one.”