One Liverpool player was said to have a ‘subdued’ performance in his country’s first outing at the 2026 World Cup.
Even without Wataru Endo, there was a healthy Reds contingent involved as Netherlands and Japan drew 2-2 in Dallas, with three members of Andoni Iraola’s squad lining out for the Oranje.
Virgil van Dijk opened the scoring with a header early in the second half after a diagonal cross from LFC teammate Ryan Gravenberch, but Cody Gakpo was unable to make much of an impact against the Blue Samurai before he was withdrawn for Brian Brobbey in the closing minutes.
BBC Sport‘s chief football writer Phil McNulty assessed each Liverpool player who was in World Cup action on Sunday, and while several Reds stood out with positive displays, that wasn’t the case for our number 18.
The journalist wrote that the 27-year-old ‘had a subdued match’ against Japan and ‘descended into predictability’ as his tendency to cut inside was ‘easily detected’ by the opposition defence, with the winger falling into ‘similar traps’ from the 2025/26 season.
However, McNulty had some sympathy for Gakpo as he argued that the forward ‘was arguably not helped’ by Ronald Koeman’s surprise decision to field Micky van de Ven at left-back, with the Spurs defender (usually a centre-back) offering ‘little’ in terms of support along the flank.
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Having come in for strong criticism during an underwhelming season for Liverpool and arrived at the World Cup amid speculation over his future at Anfield, the winger could’ve done with a more convincing performance in Netherlands’ opening match at the finals.
As the figures below (via Sofascore) illustrate, there were positives to Gakpo’s display against Japan, but his attacking play lacked precision in the first half in particular as the Oranje moved the ball far too slowly up against a compact and well-drilled defence.
As McNulty referenced, the 27-year-old and his team may have been hamstrung by some perplexing tactical and personnel decisions from Koeman, whose late substitution of Gravenberch for a defender in Nathan Ake backfired as the Dutch invited their opponents onto them before conceding a late equaliser to Daichi Kamada.
Will Gakpo have done enough to keep his place when Netherlands face Sweden in their next game, a fixture which looks all the more challenging after Alexander Isak and co walloped Tunisia 5-1 overnight?
If he has, then Liverpool and Oranje supporters will be looking for a bit more from the winger throughout the rest of the World Cup.
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