Late Gakpo, Klaassen goals sink Senegal

The Netherlands set up a potential Group A decider against Ecuador on Friday by opening their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win against Sengal at Al Thumama stadium.

Goals from Cody Gakpo and Davy Klaassen in the final five minutes ensured a comfortable winning margin against the African champions, who must now beat host nation Qatar in their next game to maintain hopes of quaking for the second round.

Cody Gakpo lived up to his billing as one of the sought-after young forwards in Europe by teeing up a 2-0 win for the Netherlands in their Group A opener against Senegal. PSV Eindhoven forward Gakpo came close to a move to Manchester United during the summer and remains on their radar ahead of the January transfer window. And in his first game on the World Cup stage, the 23-year-old ensured that Louis van Gaal’s team made a winning start and gave themselves the edge in the race to qualify for the second round as group winners.

With the game seemingly drifting towards a 0-0 draw, Gakpo arrived late in the Senegal penalty area to head Frenkie de Jong's cross past a hesitant Edouard Mendy in the African champions’ goal. Gakpo had been quiet during the game having been deployed in a deeper role by Van Gaal and the Dutch struggled to make an impact against a Senegal team without their injured talisman Sadio Mane. But with the group winners due to face the runners-up in Group B - likely Wales or the USA - winning the group means avoiding a potential clash against England, so the three points could be crucial for the Dutch, who made it 2-0 in the final seconds of stoppage time when Davy Klaassen capitalised on another Mendy error.

As for Senegal, despite creating some second-half chances, they failed to suggest they could become the first African team to go beyond the quarterfinals in Qatar. Their clash with Ecuador next Tuesday is set to be the game which decides their fate.

We already knew that Sadio Mane would be a huge loss for Senegal, but the injury that has forced their all-time record goalscorer out of Qatar 2022 has left Aliou Cisse's team toothless in attack. Senegal simply carry no threat going forward without the Bayern Munich forward, with Watford's Ismaila Sarr and Salernitana's Boulaye Dia nowhere near the level of their star team-mate. They are a team full of talent and winning pedigree, having won this year’s Africa Cup of Nations, but without a reliable forward, Senegal will not trouble the better teams in the tournament.

And the same applies to the Netherlands, who would be a contender to go deep into the competition if they had just one striker comparable to their greats of recent times, such as Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Marco van Basten. Louis van Gaal’s team have world-class players further back in Virgil van Dijk and Frenkie de Jong, but their attacking players are a level below what the Dutch really need to succeed in Qatar.

Memphis Depay, who started as substitute, was joint top scorer alongside Harry Kane in European section of the World Cup qualifiers, but the Barcelona forward is not going to trouble the top teams and neither will the likes of Luuk de Jong and Wout Weghorst.

Cody Gakpo might, but the PSV Eindhoven can’t carry Dutch hopes on his own, even though he won this game with his late headed goal. In all likelihood, the runners-up in this group will face England in the second round and neither Senegal or the Netherlands are strong enough to beat Gareth Southgate's team. - Agencies