Jabar Ekspres – Netherlands national team captain Virgil van Dijk said his team did not show the will to win when defeated by Italy with a score of 3-2 in the race for third place in the UEFA Nations League 2023 at De Grolsch Veste Stadium, Netherlands, Sunday (18/6) WIB.
“This team can play football very well, but if the will is not there, we are very mediocre,” said Van Dijk, reported through the official website of the Dutch national team, Monday.
In that match, the Netherlands missed two goals in the first half when Federico Dimarco and Davide Frattesi broke into the net guarded by Justin Bijlow.
The Liverpool FC defender commented that his team’s performance in the first half was very disappointing.
“Of course it’s not allowed. We were always too late to press,” Van Dijk said.
“We all didn’t take responsibility and let each other down,” he added.
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The team nicknamed De Oranje then got up in the second half and was able to score two goals through Steven Bergwijn and Georginio Wijnaldum.
However, these two goals were not enough to make the Netherlands go further because in the same half Federico Chiesa added a goal for the Azzurri and made the score end with 3-2.
In line with what Van Dijk said, Dutch national team coach Ronald Koeman also said his team did not show the will and mentality of a winner.
“I was ashamed of the way we played at that time. It has nothing to do with tactics or systems, but purely with will and mentality,” Koeman commented.
Furthermore, Van Dijk hopes that this defeat can be a lesson for his team to perform better in future matches.
“We have started a process. We have to sharpen it. This match is a learning moment. But the way we played in the first half, it was really impossible. It has to be much better,” said the footballer 31 that year.
