Virgil van Dijk from Breda almost certainly helped the Dutch team to a place in the final rounds of the European championship on Monday evening. In extra time of the away match against Greece, he was allowed to take a penalty after ex-PSV player Denzel Dumfries was pulled down. The Orange captain did not fail. It meant the only goal: 0-1.
Thanks to the win over the Greek competitor, the team of national coach Ronald Koeman can hardly avoid participation in the European finals, next summer in Germany. Earlier in the important qualifying match in Athens, Wout Weghorst had missed a penalty. He was allowed to dock after … Van Dijk was knocked to the ground.
The Koeman formation should have decided the technically weak, but exciting match much earlier. Van Dijk couldn’t be bothered with that afterwards, as he told the NOS: “In the end we got the win and that is the most important thing. I am happy that I was able to take responsibility. We expected this opposition, but we had “We can make it a little easier for us by, for example, taking advantage of that first penalty. Or in the second half with a number of counters. Of course we can do better, but you win here and hopefully we can quickly secure participation.”
Van Dijk was number three on the list of penalty takers. When Spanish referee Alejandro Hernández pointed to the spot, Weghorst and ex-PSV player Xavi Simons had already disappeared from the scene.
Speaking of that scene: the native of Breda was not pleased with it: “Did you see what the field was like? That this is possible and allowed at this level.”
In addition to Van Dijk, goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, also from Breda, also played the entire game, including the extra 10 minutes that preceded the final signal. PSV midfielder Joey Veerman took Simons’ place in the 62nd minute.