FIFA World Cup: Penalties haunt Netherlands once again as Dutch crash out in Round of 32
Penalty shootouts haunted Netherlands once again as Ronald Koeman's team were knocked out of the FIFA World Cup 2026. A disastrous spell of spot kicks saw them miss 3 chances, sealing their fate in the tournament.
MOROCCO ENJOY MAJORITY OF THE CHANCES
Morocco fashioned the better chances before the break, with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen producing a series of outstanding saves to deny Ayoub Bouaddi's close-range header and Neil El Aynaoui's powerful effort.
What had been expected to be a free-flowing clash between two quality attacking sides instead turned into a frustrating and ill-tempered contest. Defender Jan Paul van Hecke found himself at the centre of attention after pushing Morocco striker Ismael Saibari to the ground, sparking anger among the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists.
Morocco took a dislike to van Hecke almost immediately, with one challenge resulting in the defender bleeding from his forehead. Netherlands barely got a sniff in the first half as Morocco’s defenders put in a series of big tackles to keep them out of the box.
Dutch forward Brian Brobbey was well marshalled throughout the game and failed to register a single shot. Most of Netherlands’ attacking threat came through Summerville on the right, whose occasional spark of creativity brought life into the game.
At the other end, Bounou was finally called into action to parry Micky van de Ven's long-range strike.
Hakimi rattled the crossbar and forced another save from Verbruggen as the Dutch struggled to contain the full-back’s runs from deep before Ronald Koeman’s introduction of Wout Weghorst gave his side a much-needed focal point in attack.
The Atlas Lions enjoyed vocal backing throughout, with many Mexican supporters adopting Morocco for the night and reviving chants of “No era penal” (“It wasn’t a penalty”), recalling the controversial penalty that helped the Netherlands eliminate Mexico at the 2014 World Cup.
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