The veteran of the Netherlands and Liverpool struggled to conceal his anger at how Argentina eliminated the Netherlands from the World Cup in Qatar.
After the Netherlands lost a devastating penalty shootout to an Argentina team captained by Lionel Messi, Virgil van Dijk has stated he won’t watch any more of the World Cup in Qatar.
The Oranje of Louis van Gaal came back from being two goals down in the last 20 minutes to force extra time with the help of a brace from Wout Weghorst. The dreaded spot-kicks were used to break the draw after an additional 30 minutes had failed to do so.
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Van Dijk was the first player for his country, and while the Liverpool defender is typically very reliable from 12 yards out, this time he saw his shot saved by La Seleccion’s star goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa.
Next for the Netherlands was Steven Berghuis, but Martinez stopped both of his penalties. Finally, Lautaro Martinez converted Argentina’s fifth penalty to put an end to the match and secure Argentina’s spot in the round of 16, where they will play Croatia.
Van Dijk acknowledged this during his post-game media responsibilities. He is one person who won’t be watching.
When questioned about whether he believes Argentina would ultimately win the World Cup, he responded as follows: “I don’t care. I’ll stop watching now.”
The match was a heated one, and as the game went on, there were several altercations amongst opposing players. Leandro Paredes, on loan from Juventus, kicked the ball into the Dutch bench after chopping down Nathan Ake, and Van Dijk was the one to knock him to the ground.
After Argentina lost in the penalty shootout, Virgil van Dijk was disappointed.
At full time, Van Dijk declined to comment on some of Argentina’s antics, but it was obvious that everyone connected to the Netherlands national team was incensed by how their opponents behaved.
Even after the penalty shootout result was known, there were several altercations, with Argentine defender Nicolas Otamendi turning around to taunt the bewildered Dutch players before scurrying off to celebrate Martinez’s winning spot-kick.
Surprisingly, the hostilities persisted even while the players participated in their media obligations, with Argentine legend Messi being seen on tape addressing a Dutch camp member as “what are you looking at, stupid” before an interview.
Messi said, “I don’t want to comment about referees because after they will sanction you. ” The seven-time winner of the Ballon d’Or was equally upset with referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz.
But many witnessed what occurred. I believe that Fifa must address this because it is unacceptable to assign a referee of that caliber to a game of such significance.
“The referee must be capable of handling the situation. Lots of happiness and relief. There were no plans to use penalty kicks. We suffered excessively given the circumstances. However, the World Cup quarterfinals are currently underway.