Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk led Holland into the final eight of the World Cup today, strolling through a 3-1 win over USA.
The Dutch captain was barely troubled as the Netherlands became the first team to book their quarter final spot. And, judging from AD’s match ratings after the game, van Dijk’s performance fell firmly into the ‘solid, if unspectacular’ category.
Scoring the Liverpool centre-back a six out of ten, they claim that van Dijk ‘led the defence’ and ‘covered where he could.’ However, he was said to be ‘disappointed’ by the USA consolation goal, having been beaten to the ball by Haji Wright.
By no means the standout player on the pitch, Virgil is outscored by three out of four of his colleagues in the back five. Nathan Ake picked up a six point five for his display. Meanwhile goal scorers Denzel Dumfries and Daley Blind scored eight and seven respectively.
Virgil still playing below his best
Six out of ten sounds about right for van Dijk today. In fact, it probably serves as a decent score for his tournament so far. Perhaps even his whole season with Liverpool.
That’s not a bad score for a centre-back, really. It usually means that you did what was expected of you as your team probably sauntered to a win.
If it were up to van Dijk, he’d probably take that kind of rating every week.
What’s the problem then? Well, the problem is that we’re used to seeing Virgil bag sevens, eights and nines for his performances.
The 31-year-old has shown an almost superhuman level of consistency at Liverpool. To see him dropping fives and sixes in Qatar speaks to a perceived gradual decline as he hits his thirties.
Of course, it could just be that our expectations are too high for van Dijk. Holland have been favourites for every game they’ve played so far. As they ease their way into the tournament, there hasn’t been much more the Liverpool star can have done.
But still, the nagging feeling remains that we’re just waiting for something a bit more from him on the world stage.
Perhaps a clash with Lionel Messi can give us what we’re looking for? Should Argentina navigate their way past Australia this evening, that’s exactly what we’ll get. Messi’s whole career has been leading to this, but so has van Dijk’s. Maybe it’s finally time to avenge the Ballon d’Or robbery of 2019? More to come from Virgil. Watch this space.
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