Dumfries and the Netherlands crash out of the World Cup vs. Morocco

The Netherlands are out. After a stellar show at the group stage, Ronald Koeman’s men could not survive the merciless uncertainty of a penalty shoot-out and crashed out of the tournament in the round of 32 at the hands of Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Diaz’s Morocco.

The Netherlands went ahead in the 72nd minute thanks to Cody Gakpo’s opener. Morocco left it late to equalize but remained in the game due to Issa Diop’s 91st-minute goal. Neither team could trouble the scorers in extra time, and the game headed for penalties in Monterrey.

Teun Koopmeiners opened with a converted spot-kick to put the Dutch 1-0 up, before Neil El Aynaoui missed for Morocco. Justin Kluivert then missed, letting Soufiane Rahimi level it at 1-1. Wout Weghorst restored the Dutch lead at 2-1, and Chemsdine Talbi answered to make it 2-2. The sequence turned in Morocco’s favour when Quinten Timber missed, and Achraf Hakimi also failed to score, keeping it level at 2-2, before Crysencio Summerville missed for the Netherlands. That opened the door for Ismael Saibari, who buried his kick to win it 3-2 for Morocco.

Denzel Dumfries played the full 120 minutes and had the most touches (6) in the opposition box. He was not called up to take a penalty.