Roy Keane was full of praise for one Liverpool player after a ‘brilliant’ moment during his country’s opening match at the 2026 World Cup.
Virgil van Dijk was among three Reds players who started for Netherlands in their 2-2 draw against Japan, along with Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch, and he opened the scoring in Dallas with a superb header from the latter’s diagonal cross.
Unfortunately for the Oranje, they would twice relinquish a lead on the day to end up having to settle for a point, but the ex-Manchester United captain lauded the 34-year-old over his goal.
Speaking on punditry duty for ITV Sport (via Liverpool.com), Keane said: “We saw Japan dropping deeper and deeper, and once it goes in it’s an absolutely fantastic header from Van Dijk.
“He’s such a goal threat, brilliant finish. Going in off the post, brilliant. The way he guided it, there’s no pace in it, but fantastic header. Poor defending, Japan are dropping deeper, but it’s beautiful. He’s seen it all the way – lovely, lovely finish and they were in total control at this stage.”
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It was a masterful finish indeed from Van Dijk, who subtly made space to evade the close attention of Tsuyoshi Watanabe before guiding his header past Zion Suzuki and into the Japanese net.
It was the 34-year-old’s 13th goal for his country, on top of the 36 that he’s plundered for Liverpool, a very impressive return for a centre-back.
The Liverpool defender came in for criticism from ex-Netherlands international Rafael van der Vaart over his performance against Japan, being accused of turning ‘like a Boeing 747′ (GOAL), but there’s no denying that he often comes up trumps for his club and national team when they need him.
While it was another subdued outing for Gakpo in attack, Van Dijk once again showed his potent tendencies to break the deadlock in a game which had been going nowhere up to that point, before then sparking into life during the second half.
If the Oranje are to fulfil pre-tournament expectations of going deep into the World Cup, they may need a couple of more clutch moments like that from their inspirational captai.
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