![\"Virgil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_Virgil-van-dijk.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLiverpool captain Virgil van Dijk starred for the Netherlands in the World Cup group stage opener for the Oranje, where he was involved in some VAR controversy<\/p>\n
Luke Thrower Trends Writer<\/p>\n
23:03, 14 Jun 2026Updated 23:09, 14 Jun 2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Virgil van Dijk scored the opener for the Netherlands against Japan in the World Cup group stage clash(Image: (Photo by Roy Lazet\/Soccrates\/Getty Images))<\/p>\n
Virgil van Dijk was at the center of some VAR controversy during the Netherlands’ opening group stage game against Japan in the World Cup, as it appeared to ignore a potential foul in the build-up to his goal for the Oranje.<\/p>\n
The towering defender was one of three Liverpool<\/a> stars to feature for the Dutch side, being joined by Ryan Gravenberch<\/a> and Cody Gakpo<\/a> for the crunch match. The Netherlands entered the group as the favorites, but with a tricky task in taking on Japan, Sweden and Tunisia to book a place in the knockout rounds of the World Cup.<\/p>\n Japan certainly provided a threat in the opening game for Van Dijk and his side, as its tight defensive shape made it difficult for Ronald Koeman’s team to create anything of real substance.<\/p>\n That was until the 51st minute, when Van Dijk got his head on the end of a cross into the box, with the ball hitting the post and eventually beyond the line to give the Netherlands the lead.<\/p>\n There was controversy from VAR, however, as Japan appealed for a potential foul from the Liverpool defender, who seemingly pushed his defensive counterpart before getting his header away.<\/p>\n The video assistants didn’t check for the foul, however, and only made sure that there wasn’t an offside in the build-up to the goal, much to the dismay of Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu.<\/p>\n Japan’s coach was seen complaining to the fourth official after Van Dijk’s goal(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n Van Dijk’s header broke open the game regardless of the VAR controversy, with another three goals following after the opener from the Liverpool captain.<\/p>\n His effort on goal received plenty of praise, as former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on BBC Radio 5 Live: “It’s a brilliant header from Virgil van Dijk. It’s a super execution.<\/p>\n “He finds himself free and he still has so much to do. The ball skips off the turf and bends off the post. It’s a really clever header from Van Dijk.”<\/p>\n Ex-Scotland striker Ally McCoist was equally complimentary when he said on ITV: “That was a tale of two crosses – the first one was poor, the second one was excellent.<\/p>\n “The header from Virgil Van Dijk actually starts outside the post and curls in. It’s a beautiful goal.”<\/p>\n There will be some frustration that a clean sheet didn’t follow for the 34-year-old, as the Oranje had to settle for a point in an end-to-end 2-2 tie.<\/p>\n Sweden is next up for Van Dijk, before a final match against Tunisia to confirm a place in the knockout rounds of the competition.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen how far the Netherlands can go, but the experienced defender will have a big say on proceedings regardless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk starred for the Netherlands in the World Cup group stage opener for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2957,42,1547,43,40,38,41,39,27030],"class_list":["post-500032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-headlines","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-virgil-van-dijk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Japan's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0_Image-14-06-2026-at-2223jpeg.jpg\")
<\/p>\n