The veteran centre-back did not hold back when addressing the fallout from the Netherlands’ shock elimination. The Oranje were sent packing after a tense penalty shootout in the round of 16 against Morocco, a defeat that sparked a wave of negativity back home. Van Dijk was particularly incensed by narratives suggesting he was responsible for tactical shifts that supposedly hampered the team’s performance.
“We just failed at the World Cup, those are the hard facts,” Van Dijk said. “That’s not down to me, I’ve never been the one who comes up with that. It was a bad game, but we almost got it over the line. Then nothing would have been wrong. But now we were eliminated far too early. Then you get everything thrown at you.”
He was visibly irritated by claims that he and former coach Ronald Koeman had “broken” Dutch football. “Nonsense is being thrown into the world to make me look even worse. That happens far too often. It makes no sense to come back to it now. I was told it was my fault we played with five, that Ronald Koeman and I destroyed Dutch football,” he added.