U.S. vs. NetherlandsU.S. Team’s World Cup Is Over After 3-1 Loss to the Netherlands

The Dutch scored two fairly easy goals in the first half to build a lead that the Americans couldn’t overcome. Here’s how it happened.

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Andrew Keh

Reporting from Qatar

For young Americans, an honorable exit against a wave of Dutch goals.

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The United States was eliminated by the Netherlands, 3-1, on Saturday.Credit...John Sibley/Reuters

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — The United States players doubled over at the final whistle, their white jerseys drenched in sweat, their faces twisted with exhaustion. They hung their heads and left them there.

The Americans had arrived in Qatar last month fresh-faced and with modest expectations. They were the second-youngest team at the tournament, representing a country returning to the World Cup for the first time in eight years. Qualifying for the tournament had been cause enough for celebration.

But the grandeur of the World Cup, with all the spirit and fanfare on the ground, has a way of making a group of players want more, of making them believe they can have it.

The Netherlands dashed those dreams — that little feeling of what if — in clinical fashion on Saturday night, exposing all the Americans’ deficiencies in a 3-1 loss before 44,846 fans at Khalifa International Stadium.

“This is a tough one obviously to swallow for us,” Coach Gregg Berhalter said. “The guys put everything they had into it. It’s such a good group of guys, such a close-knit group of guys, you just want more for them, and tonight we just came up short.”

The U.S. team will return home having achieved one small goal: vanquishing whatever lingering shame the program might have felt since 2017, when a previous team’s failure to qualify for the last World Cup triggered a yearslong period of rebuilding and soul searching. It may feel like it could have gone further.

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The Netherlands will play the winner of Saturday’s match between Argentina and Australia.Credit...Julian Finney/Getty Images

But it was a satisfying result for the Netherlands, a team whose ambitions for this World Cup were made clear when its coach declared before the start of the round of 16 that his squad had four matches left to play. The Netherlands will play again on Friday night against the winner of Saturday’s late match between Argentina and Australia.

Ambition, for an American men’s soccer team, can be a trickier thing to articulate.

In 2014, the last time the United States participated in the World Cup, Jürgen Klinsmann, the team’s coach at the time, mused before a ball was even kicked that his group had no chance of winning the tournament. He said he was being realistic. Some fans in the United States responded by suggesting Klinsmann, a native of Germany, leave the country. (The team was eliminated that year in the round of 16.)

Heading into this year’s tournament, Berhalter assumed a safer, savvier stance. Whenever the subject of ambitions arose, he would say that he viewed the World Cup as two smaller tournaments. The first was the group stage where each of the 32 teams played three games. Berhalter said his only aim was to make it to the second, the knockout stage where 16 teams would eventually produce a champion and in theory anything could happen. It was a useful bit of rhetoric, a sort of verbal step-over dribble. But it was not hard to read between the lines. For his young U.S. team, anything after the group stage would be gravy.

In that sense, the United States and many of its fans will be generally pleased with the body of work the team produced in Qatar.

The United States largely outplayed Wales, its first opponent, only to let victory slip from its grasp with the concession of a late penalty kick, resulting in a 1-1 tie. It stood toe to toe with England, one of the tournament favorites, sparring to a scoreless draw that was celebrated like a win. It faced Iran in a pressure-packed, win-or-go-home final group-stage match soaked in geopolitics and, despite a nervous few moments in the dying minutes of the evening, delivered a 1-0 victory.

The players in those three games moved with cohesion. They ran hard and worked for one another. They played with a collective composure that belied their years.

“The potential is very clear in this group,” goalkeeper Matt Turner said.

All of that interconnectedness seemed to dissolve on Saturday.

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Denzel Dumfries scored the Netherlands’ third goal. He had delivered the passes that produced its first two.Credit...John Sibley/Reuters

The Netherlands, having been content to absorb pressure in the early moments of the game, opened the scoring in the 10th minute, capping a sweeping, full-field move — one that involved nearly two dozen passes — with a strike from Memphis Depay that whizzed into the lower left corner of the goal. Depay had been left wide open on the play, escaping the attention of the American defensive and midfield lines merely by loitering in the space between them.

Denzel Dumfries, who assisted Depay on the goal, supplied an almost identical pass for the Netherlands’ second goal just before halftime. Once again the American defense was caught flat-footed as Dumfries zipped the ball toward the front of the goal from the right wing. This time it was Daley Blind, the Dutch wingback, who slipped free from a defender to meet the pass and score.

The United States’ only goal came in the 76th minute and seemed to defy the laws of physics. Christian Pulisic drilled a cross into the box, and Haji Wright could only graze it by reaching back with the outside of his right foot, which was facing away from the goal. The ball jumped off Wright’s foot, looped parabolically into the air and curled somehow inside the left post.

Wright had given the Americans a lifeline at 2-1, but Dumfries pulled it away five minutes later when he finished from close range after he was left unmarked, again, by the U.S. defense.

“In the past three games, I’d say we defended really, really well,” midfielder Tyler Adams said. “And today, the three goals come from moments where we were probably sleeping a little bit.”

In the general American consciousness, which seems to become attuned to the doings of its national soccer squad only once every four years, the team may now enter a period of suspended animation. Other games and competitions will return once again to the foreground of the country’s sports landscape.

But behind the scenes the gears will keep turning. Berhalter is nearing the end of a four-year contract, and a decision will soon have to be made, by the coach and team, about whether he should stay on for another four-year term to nurture and shape the squad before the 2026 World Cup.

“In the next couple weeks, I’ll clear my head, sit down and think about what’s next,” Berhalter said.

That tournament — for which the United States, Canada and Mexico will serve as joint hosts — has loomed large over this current team. It will mark the return of the world’s most-watched sporting event to North America since the 1994 World Cup. It will also be seen as the moment when the core of this young team should collectively enter its prime.

The current tournament may, by then, be dismissed by some as a dress rehearsal, a chance for the players, talented but still very green, to wet their feet. In that regard, it was a success. Pulisic, Tim Weah and Wright fulfilled childhood dreams by scoring their first World Cup goals. Adams, handed full-time captain duties for the tournament, established himself as the heartbeat of the team, the person turning its emotional dial from the center of midfield.

But after a tournament when so many things went right, and a night when so many things went wrong, there may linger a niggling feeling that they could have had more.

John Branch
Dec. 3, 2022, 2:24 p.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

A bitter finish brings a chance for the U.S. to look forward.

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Christian Pulisic as the Netherlands team celebrated its win in the round of 16.Credit...Rungroj Yongrit/EPA, via Shutterstock

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — The whistle blew on the United States at this World Cup, and through the Khalifa International Stadium loudspeakers came a Dutch version of “Auld Lang Syne.”

The song is familiar to Americans as a New Year’s Eve anthem, played just at the moment between two distinct phases of time, a switch in the calendar. And so it was for this U.S. soccer team: a chance to reflect on what was, and to resolve for improvement in the future.

The winning team from the Netherlands, the 3-1 victors headed on to the quarterfinals, danced in a huddle. The Americans stood quietly on the outside, mostly with hands on hips.

“It’s frustration to begin with,” United States captain Tyler Adams said of the complex emotions. “But after reflecting for that quick moment, you could just really sit here and think it’s probably the first time in a long time where people will say, ‘Wow, this team has something special.’”

This year’s U.S. team was seen as young and talented, the second-youngest roster in the tournament, with the youngest starting lineup. But this World Cup is a bit mistimed, perhaps, for a program that believes it is a couple of years from full bloom.

The goal in Qatar, at least to most fans and commentators, and perhaps even to some of those close to the team, was to advance through the group stage, to reach the round of 16. That was accomplished. But goals ratchet up with each success, so the loss to the Dutch was greeted with heartbreak, and then perspective.

A disappointing game. A pretty good tournament. A bright future.

“When you put four performances like that out on the field, it really gives people something to be excited about,” Adams said.

The Americans thought they matched up well with the Dutch. And an earlier tie against England and a defeat of a scrappy Iran had them adjusting their ambitions heading to the knockout phase.

“We had a lot of really bright spots in this tournament, enough to move forward,” defender Walker Zimmerman said. “That’s what makes this loss hurt.”

What they lost was opportunity in the present. What they found was expectation.

It was a tease for the fans on Saturday, their emotions rising and falling. And it is a tease for the fans four years from now, for a World Cup to be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“It’s hard in the moment, just because the World Cup is every four years — it makes it so unique, and so painful, when you know how long you have to wait to get back to this stage,” Zimmerman said. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to stop being hungry. It doesn’t mean we’re going to stop thinking about winning a World Cup. But it makes it hurt when you know you have four years to wait.”

The game was tighter than the score, at least early, and then briefly late, which added to the disappointment.

Christian Pulisic, who had left the Iran game for the hospital after a collision while scoring its lone goal, nearly scored in the first minutes against the Netherlands. Alone in the box, he caromed a quick shot off the goalkeeper’s leg.

The Netherlands scored in the 10th minute with a strategy that it employed several times. It sent a ball from the right side into a void behind the defenders who had rushed back toward goal. The first time, two steps inside the box, Memphis Depay one-timed a shot past goalkeeper Matt Turner.

It was only the second goal that the Americans had allowed in the tournament, and the first that wasn’t a penalty kick.

Then, with about 30 seconds left in the half, the Dutch duplicated the goal. Denzel Dumfries again worked free amid a slow-footed defense, again centered a pass a bit back upfield. Daley Blind was the eager recipient this time, and his shot left Turner waving his arms in anger at the dejected defenders in front of him.

“That was brutal,” Turner said of the second goal. “It was off a throw-in. There’s no real excuse for it. Everything that could have went wrong on that play did.”

But, like his teammates, Turner stepped back, figuratively, when asked about the team’s future, a discussion that might be recast a bit after this World Cup run.

“There’s a tremendous potential, and if you don’t see that, I don’t really know,” Turner said. “We played England, we played the Netherlands and we gave both teams really, hard, hard times.”

The Americans displayed some of that potential in the second half. Energy improved. Chances came and went. The defense tightened, and Turner made several big saves to keep the game in reach.

And in the 76th minute, Pulisic got loose on the right side, moved toward the goal and sent a low pass that hit the right foot of the substitute striker Haji Wright, who lifted the ball up and over the 6-foot-8-inch Dutch goalkeeper, Andries Noppert.

Suddenly it was 2-1 and the Americans had momentum. They had a chance. Five minutes later, that ended with another Dutch goal. But something else had already begun — growing expectations.

The whistle marked the end of one phase, the start of another. The song that made the Dutch dance might have been more appropriate for the Americans.

A time to reflect, a time to resolve.

Latest Photos From the World Cup
  1. Tyler Adams
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  2. Denzel Dumfries
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  3. Netherlands vs. United States
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  4. Denzel Dumfries
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  5. Matt Turner
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  6. Netherlands vs. United States
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  7. Netherlands vs. United States
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  8. Kansas City, Mo.
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  9. Netherlands vs. United States
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  10. Netherlands vs. United States
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  11. Denzel Dumfries
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  12. Manhattan
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  13. Memphis Depay and Cody Gakpo
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  15. Netherlands vs. United States
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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:53 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

FULL TIME: The United States national team’s 2022 World Cup, a campaign started with high hopes, marred by a scary injury to its star and then undone by three simple goals on a cool night outside of Qatar’s capital, is over after a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands. The defeat did not come as a surprise at the end; the young Americans had been outclassed by a Dutch team that got goals from Memphis Depay and Daley Blind in the first half and a clincher from Denzel Dumfries in the second — minutes after Haji Wright had thrown the United States a late lifeline.

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Credit...Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:50 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

90′ + 3 Tick, tick, tick on this U.S. team’s World Cup. Most of them will be back in 2026, four years older, a lot more experienced and on home soil.

Sarah Lyall
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:50 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

The silence in this stadium from the American fans is deafening.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:47 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

90′ + 1 Six minutes of added time and another U.S. forward, Jordan Morris, is waiting forlornly by the fourth official hoping for a break in play so he can come in.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:50 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Morris on for Robinson as the Dutch serenade the U.S. with “Na na na na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye ...”

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:47 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

90′ The Netherlands is just going to be playing keepaway now. And it’s pretty good at that.

Carly Olson
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:46 a.m. ET

When the U.S. team scored, Nancy Mansfield, 59, cheered and waved a small American flag at a Dutch viewing party in Manhattan. “I am not ashamed at all,” she said, seated next to her Dutch husband. But as we spoke, the Dutch scored again, taking the air out of the few Americans here.

Christina Goldbaum
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:46 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

In Al Khor, a coastal town north of Doha, about a dozen young Qatari men are watching the game in an outdoor lounge their family built for viewing the World Cup. There is artificial grass, flags of all competing countries and an 80-inch TV.

All of them are rooting for the United States, but after the Netherlands scored its third goal, the group let out a communal groan. “Do I think the U.S. will win? No,” Jassim, 24, said. Still, he said, most of his friends were cheering for the United States. “Everyone loves an underdog.”

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Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
Sarah Lyall
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:43 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

With his relentless prowling and gesticulating inside (and occasionally just outside) the little box where he’s allowed to stand during the match, Berhalter is the picture of restless anxiety, and for good reason. By contrast, the Netherlands coach, Louis van Gaal — older and more phlegmatic, and also in charge of a team that is currently in the lead — remains mostly out of view. If he has things to say, he will say them later.

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:38 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

81′ GOAL! The Netherlands answers, and is that it? It’s 3-1 now.

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:39 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

That was not so much telepathic as it was comically simple. Blind, with the ball on the left, sees Dumfries, his counterpart on the right, with his hand up. “Hey Daley,” Dumfries seems to be saying, “they forgot me and I’m wide open.” Blind drops a cross on his foot, and Dumfries one-times it past Turner.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:36 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

80′ Worth noting that DeAndre Yedlin replaced Dest at right back during all that. That’s a like for like switch. Oh, and the U.S. just won a corner …

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:37 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Which the 6-foot-8 Noppert easily catches. Feels as if the U.S. path past him is low, not high.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:34 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

A minute after he wasted a chance, Wright delivers in a very artsy way. Pulisic frees himself on the right and rolls in a low cross. Wright, attacking the near post, reaches for the ball behind him. Somehow redirecting it with his heel, he loops the ball over Noppert and it falls, tantalizingly and in slow motion, over the line. But the U.S. is back in the game now, at 2-1, and the last bit here is about to get fun.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:33 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

76′ GOAL! The U.S. gets one back. Wright makes up for his mistake.

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Credit...Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:32 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

75′ Golden chance! A terrible mistake — an ill-timed back pass — appears to send Wright in alone on Noppert. But his first touch is far too heavy, taking him well wide of the goal. He vainly tries to shoot, but it’s cleared.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:29 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

72′ Turner only barely keeps it at 2-0 with a couple saves in quick succession.

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Credit...Luca Bruno/Associated Press
Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:28 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

68′ Resetting, the U.S. now has Pulisic, Wright and Reyna up front, backed by Aaronson and Yunus Musah, with Adams behind them. Gregg Berhalter will eventually have to take off a defender and push for goals; he has no choice. But the Dutch have already added Steven Bergwijn to Memphis and Gakpo, and they are currently pressuring a four-man back line.

Claire Moses
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:27 a.m. ET

A group of Dutch students watching the game in a sports bar in East London displayed a typically sober Dutch attitude, even though the Netherlands was two goals ahead. “Who knows!” said Nelleke Dekkers, 21, a student in London, when asked if the Netherlands could go all the way to the final. “Maybe.”

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:24 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

67′ The subs are official now: Aaronson for Weah, who had a great World Cup if it all ends tonight. And Wright for McKennie. (Robinson, meanwhile, is up and asking to come back on.)

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:23 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Those subs go on pause for a moment, though, as Antonee Robinson is down on the left side. He and Dumphries tangles hard a few minutes ago, and while Dumphries seems to be fine, Robinson is clearly in pain.

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Credit...Adrian Dennis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:21 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

64′ Brenden Aaronson and Haji Wright are getting instructions in front of the U.S. bench. They’re next.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:18 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

61′ Memphis, out of what seemed to be a failed attack, asks for the ball and rockets a ball that Turner pushes over the bar. That was closer than it looked.

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Credit...Dylan Martinez/Reuters

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Sarah Lyall
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:13 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

American fans getting (non-alcoholic) refreshments during the break seemed disappointed but hopeful (do they have any other choice?) about the match. “If we win, of course it will be great, but if we lose, we already won to get this far,” said Ayan Noor, 51, who is visiting from Virginia. “It’s a young team. Just wait four years.”

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:12 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

54′ The U.S. goes close again. Reyna, in his first attempt at something like menace, collects a ball way out on the left and centers for McKennie. He controls and then fires a left-footed shot, but in leaning back he sends it over the bar. Disappointed in himself, he pulls his jersey up over his face briefly.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:08 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

50′ In quick succession: The United States almost gets its first, and the Netherlands almost gets a third. Ream burst through on a U.S. corner to try to bundle a ball in, but the Netherlands clear. At the other end, they scramble back to try to thwart Depay in the goalmouth. Matt Turner is up to the job and saves the shot.

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Credit...Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press
Grace Ashford
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:05 a.m. ET

That second Netherlands goal tempered the enthusiasm of the fans here in Wappingers Falls — slightly. Some high school friends of the team’s captain, Tyler Adams, are hopeful that changes in the second half will turn things around. “Gimme some good subs,” chants one, as the game fades to commercial. “Just don’t sub Tyler out.”

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Credit...Richard Beaven for The New York Times

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Carly Olson
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:05 a.m. ET

For Dutch fans, a place that feels like home near Times Square.

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Dutch fans at a watch party at Hurley’s Saloon in midtown Manhattan that was hosted by the Netherland Club of New York. Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times

Soccer fans crowded into Hurley’s Saloon near Times Square on Saturday morning to watch the World Cup. But they were dressed in orange, not red, white and blue.

The 10 a.m. kickoff time and the rainy weather did not impede the Dutch fans turnout for a viewing party to watch the Netherlands face the United States in the round of 16. If the Netherlands wins, they will advance to the quarterfinals. (The Netherlands led, 2-0, at the end of the first half.)

Over a hundred people wearing orange shirts, scarves, wigs and even cowboy hats packed the bar before the match began, hoping for a spot with an optimal view of one of the dozens of TVs.

The watch party was organized by the Netherland Club of New York, a social club for Dutch expatriates that hosts cultural and professional events. As the party at Hurley’s got underway, the club was simultaneously hosting a celebration for Sinterklaas, a Dutch holiday, at its Fifth Avenue outpost. (Organizers emphasized that the World Cup game will be shown there, too.)

The Netherland Club had hosted watch parties at Hurley’s for the three previous Dutch games, but Katherine Vos van Liempt, the general manager of the club, said this would be the largest yet. “This is a big one for us,” she said.

The Netherlands has competed in the World Cup finals in 1974, 1978 and 2010 and is known for being possibly the best team to have never won a World Cup.

Despite bearing no cultural ties to Hurley’s, a three-story bar and restaurant on West 48th Street serving Irish and American pub fare, Dutch fans packed the booths, ordering rounds of beers and chicken wings.

It was nearly impossible to move through the crowd once the game began. Fans punched the air and tossed their beers as air horns blared when the Dutch team scored in the 10th minute. One fan jumped on another’s back.

Mickey Voll, 33, who was born in Amsterdam and played semiprofessional soccer until he was 16, helped organize the event. He has also organized watch parties for the Euro Cup and leads a fan club for one of the popular Dutch club teams.

“You just want to have the feeling that everyone is together in orange,” he said.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 11:04 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

46′ Back underway. Gio Reyna does, in fact, replace Ferreira.

Sarah Lyall
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:57 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

The Dutch crowd may be fewer, but traditions remain strong.

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Dutch fans in the Khalifa International Stadium before their team faces the United States.Credit...John Sibley/Reuters

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Dutch fans arrived at the stadium in their traditional way: in a kinetic blur of orange, singing and chanting behind an orange bus that led them through the streets. But many of them have stayed away from the World Cup this year, upset about Qatar’s human rights record and repressive laws, which criminalize homosexuality.

Mervin Acoca, 40, estimated that several thousand fans in orange had shown up to the tournament. But, he said, many of them live locally or in other places in the Persian Gulf, meaning that far fewer than normal have traveled from home.

“There was a lot of very bad stories in the media about human rights and how expensive it would be,” said Acoca, who was dressed in his traditional World Cup outfit: an orange Fred Flintstone-style tunic dotted in black and accessorized with orange high-tops, an orange wig and a tie striped in the colors of the Dutch flag. “But that just means it’s more exclusive here.”

Not all of the fans of the Netherlands were Dutch. People from India, people from China, people from Egypt — they were also wearing orange, in some cases because they were actively pro-Dutch, and in other cases because they could not get tickets to the Argentina-Australia game being played later this evening and did not want the United States to win.

Chen Sheng, 30, from China, said that she had fallen in love with the Netherlands team after moving to Rotterdam to study for her master’s degree. She had gone full orange — clothes, cape, novelty sunglasses — except for a cone hat in the colors of the Dutch flag.

“I’m not 100 percent a football fan,” she said. “But I love orange. I think this team is so cool, and I think the colors are super cool, too.”

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Andrew Keh
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:56 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Blind's first-half goal was the second time the United States’ defenders have been caught standing around. Blind drifted in from the left side as play continued on the right, and no one followed him. He got a free shot, and made it look simple from there. For a team that’s been so sharp on the defensive side of the ball in this tournament, and worked so well as a unit, it’s not a great sign.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:52 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Halftime: Down 2-0, the Americans need some goals. Fast.

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Memphis Depay of the Netherlands, right, after scoring the opening goal during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between the Netherlands and the United States.Credit...Luca Bruno/Associated Press

The United States opened its first knockout-round game at the World Cup in eight years looking energized, adventurous and aggressive. And then it let its guard down for a minute and fell behind.

And then it did it again.

Memphis Depay gave the Netherlands a 1-0 lead after only 10 minutes on Saturday, slamming home a wide-open shot from the top of the penalty area to complete a 20-pass move in which the Netherlands ran the Americans around the field and then — in two quick passes — cut them wide open.

Cody Gakpo delivered the first ball, sending it out wide on the right for an overlapping Denzel Dumphries. He hired in a low cross just behind the penalty spot where Depay — inexplicably — was jogging alone. He finished clinically to give the Netherlands the lead.

Just before halftime, the Dutch offered what amounted to an instant replay of the move. This time Dumphries got the ball back after a throw-in and, glancing into the center, played a grass-cutting ball to almost the exact same spot. This time it was Daley Blind who arrived to meet it, and to make it 2-0.

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Daley Blind of Netherlands after scoring the team’s second goal.Credit...Catherine Ivill/Getty Images

The halftime whistle blew moments later, and the teams trudged off. The Netherlands will like how that went. The United States will need to make some changes, fast. The first might be a change up top: Jesus Ferreira was largely invisible in his first action at the World Cup.

Could this be a moment for Brenden Aaronson? Or for Gio Reyna? The latter has been little used in Qatar, mostly because of circumstances (his job is not to come in and protect leads).

Now the U.S. needs goals, though, and he might be able to do that.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:47 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

HALFTIME: Netherlands 2, United States 0.

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:46 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

45′ GOAL! A simple repeat of the first for the Netherlands. 2-0.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:54 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Another naive bit of defending by the Americans is punished by Daley Blind. A throw-in by Dumphries is returned to him, and — with the U.S. failing to pull its back line forward enough to catch him offside — he has a clear look into the center with the ball at his feet. He chooses the exact same option he did on the Depay goal, centering toward the penalty spot. Blind arrived to meet it a step ahead of Dest, his former Ajax teammate, who appeared to be ball-watching at precisely the wrong moment. That doubles the Dutch lead just as the halftime whistle blows.

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Credit...Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Reid Epstein
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:44 a.m. ET

The nation’s Democratic governors briefly interrupted their annual meeting with donors and lobbyists in New Orleans to watch today’s game. Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who owns a women’s professional soccer team, and Gov. Janet Mills of Maine, sat on couches next to large TVs living and dying with each play. But Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina admitted he’s not a huge soccer fan. “I’m more into basketball and hockey,” he said, before heading out to attend a meeting.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:44 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

43′ Signs of life from the U.S.: Weah picks up a ball on the right and, off a short hop, sends a laser through a crowd at Noppert. But he saw it the whole way and — even though it arrived quickly — parried it away.

John Branch
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:45 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

That shot from Tim Weah woke up a crowd that had been listless, maybe anxious or impatient. This stadium, the only one of the eight for the World Cup that previously existed (built in 1976) is not conducive to noise. It holds 45,857, but the stands are far from the field because it has been used for track (including the 2019 world championships). But stadium design is not the reason why American fans were struggling to get excited. They’re perking up.

Andrew Keh
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:40 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

The U.S. has a promising passing sequence that ends with a cross into the box. It started when Ferreira dropped way back into the midfield to find the ball, clearing space for the team’s wingers to slide ahead of him. Ferreira hasn’t been much of a factor yet, but that’s the type of play that can make him a useful presence in this game.

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Carly Olson
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:38 a.m. ET

Hurley’s Saloon in Manhattan is hosting a viewing party supporting the Dutch team, hosted by the Netherland Club of New York. Michel Geijs, 22, took a train from Connecticut with his girlfriend to come. “If you come here alone, you’re looking for people who have the same story.”

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Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times
Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:35 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

34′ The U.S. is doing what it needs to do at the moment: have a good spell of possession, build back its confidence, and try to stretch out the Netherlands a little bit. The wider they can make the Dutch play, the more options they may have to get through someplace.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:29 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

29′ Two corners in a row after Memphis wins the first by turning Walker Zimmerman back and forth in the area a few times. The American held his ground and never gave the forward a look at Turner’s goal.

Lauren McCarthy
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:31 a.m. ET

If you’re wondering why Memphis Depay doesn’t use his last name on his jersey, he has said in interviews over the years that he goes only by Memphis to distance himself from a father who abandoned his family when he was very young.

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Credit...Anne-Christine Poujoulat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
John Branch
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:28 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

I joked that the Dutch are dressed like electric highway pylons, but it does feel like the Americans are struggling to drive through a crowded construction zone — slow, tentative, not sure where the lanes are.

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Credit...Mohamed Messara/EPA, via Shutterstock

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:28 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

26′ The Netherlands is quietly squeezing the game farther up the field and giving the U.S. no angles to exploit. It appears to be frustrating the U.S. midfield a bit, but it has also made Ferreira virtually invisible.

John Branch
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:22 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

And we’ve got the wave going. Colleague Andrew Keh, next to me: “I like the wave.” Me, too. Don’t hate.

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 10:19 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

18′ The Netherlands drives up the center again but chooses the worst of three options: a layoff for Daley Blind. His shot skies over the goal.

Claire Moses
Dec. 3, 2022, 9:45 a.m. ET

The Dutch have more competition: the holiday season.

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Large viewing parties were held at Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam for the Netherlands’ group stage games, but there will not be one for the game against the United States on Saturday.Credit...Ramon Van Flymen/EPA, via Shutterstock

The obvious competition for the Netherlands on Saturday is the ambitious United States team who is hoping to advance to the quarterfinals by beating the eighth-ranked soccer team in the world.

But another rival is coming from within the country. The game conflicts with shopping and celebrations for the Dec. 5 holiday Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of St. Nicholas Day that includes a night of opening gifts and eating candy.

For one, an event to watch the game on big screens with thousands of people in the Johan Cruyff Arena, the Amsterdam stadium where Ajax plays, has been canceled because of lack of enthusiasm, according to organizers. The event, named House of Orange, was held for the first three Dutch games of the tournament.

The mood in the Netherlands during this World Cup has already been different, fans and bar owners say. The so-called “Orange fever” that defines such tournaments seems lacking this year, partly because of the timing and partly because of where the tournament is taking place. Fans have said that human rights issues in Qatar have changed the atmosphere, and some establishments in the country have decided not to air the games at all in protest.

Because the World Cup normally takes place in the summer, many people are accustomed to watching the games in outdoor seating areas set up by bars, cafes or municipalities. This year, more people seem to be staying inside.

“I’ve noticed it’s less lively in the city,” Kim van Sluijs, 20, an Amsterdam resident, said before watching one of the group games. But, she added, some people had decided to gather in the city center anyway.

The number of television viewers seems to be lower than usual as well. Fewer than four million people, low for the Netherlands, watched the team defeat Qatar, 2-0, this week, according to the Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Still, plenty of people will support the Dutch team on Saturday, and bars, pubs and cafes in many cities are preparing for an influx of people, according to the Dutch newswire ANP. In the province of Utrecht, a convention center has put up big screens and will have performances by Dutch celebrities. And the canceled event in Amsterdam could return if the squad beats the U.S. and advances further in the tournament.

Even though enthusiasm has been lower this year, and Sinterklaas has come to town, everyone wants to see the team win.

Dani Fung-A-Jou, 20, a bartender in Amsterdam, said, “If we make it to the finale, I definitely want to watch that.”

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Tariq PanjaAndrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 9:31 a.m. ET

Hospital officials in Brazil say Pelé is in stable health.

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The Torch hotel outside Khalifa International Stadium, illuminated with a get-well message for Brazilian soccer star Pelé on Saturday.Credit...John Branch/The New York Times

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — The aging Brazilian soccer star Pelé sought to reassure the public on Saturday that he was continuing his treatments to fight cancer after a Brazilian newspaper reported that he was no longer responding to chemotherapy and had been moved to palliative care.

“My friends, I want to keep everyone calm and positive,” read a brief post on Pelé’s Instagram account. “I’m strong, with a lot of hope and I follow my treatment as usual.”

In São Paulo, his three doctors at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein said in a statement on Saturday that Pelé, 82, was in stable condition after being admitted earlier this week to reassess chemotherapy. Pelé had “a good response” to treatment for a respiratory infection, the statement said, and his health had not worsened in the last 24 hours.

The hospital’s statement came after a Brazilian newspaper suggested that Pelé would no longer take aggressive measures to fight his cancer.

The newspaper report did not suggest that his death was imminent, and the hospital did not say that Pelé had been moved to hospice. But the newspaper report set off a flurry of rumors that Pelé’s health was failing.

At the World Cup, a towering hotel outside the stadium hosting the United States and Netherlands on Saturday posted an electronic message on its side before the game offering well wishes to Pelé, a three-time World Cup winner. Stars playing in the tournament, including Kylian Mbappé of France, posted similar messages of support.

Reports of Pelé’s demise have been common in recent years each time he has entered the hospital for treatment or an illness.

On Friday, Pelé’s Instagram account had attempted to push back on the most recent reports this week that had noted he was back in the hospital.

“Friends, I am at the hospital making my monthly visit,” said a message under a different photo of Pelé on a building in Doha. “It’s always nice to receive positive messages like this. Thanks to Qatar for this tribute, and to everyone who sends me good vibes!”

Earlier, Pelé’s daughter Kely Nascimento had said on Instagram that there was “no surprise or emergency” in her father’s condition.

“Lots of alarm in the media today concerning my dad’s health,” Nascimento wrote at the time. “There is no emergency or new dire prediction. I will be there for New Year’s and promise to post some pictures.”

Pelé’s latest message on Saturday struck a similarly optimistic tone.

“I have a lot of faith in God and every message of love I receive from you all over the world keeps me full of energy,” it read. “And watch Brazil in the World Cup too!”

Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 9:00 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Christian Pulisic is in the U.S. starting lineup.

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Christian Pulisic was hurt in a collision with Iran’s goalkeeper after scoring his team’s first goal in their group stage match on Tuesday. Pulisic will start for the U.S. against the Netherlands today.Credit...Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

So much for mystery: Christian Pulisic is back in the United States lineup for Saturday’s round of 16 game against the Netherlands at the World Cup.

Pulisic, who sustained an injury to his pelvis in a violent collision while scoring the Americans’ only goal in their last game, had been a doubt — at least officially — as recently as Friday. But U.S. Soccer sent signals all week that he was eager to play, and now it is confirmed that he will.

There are a couple of notable changes for Coach Gregg Berhalter: Walker Zimmerman returns at center back, where Cameron Carter-Vickers had performed well against Iran, and Jesus Ferreira will get his first minutes of the World Cup at forward.

Ferreira replaces Josh Sargent, who was also injured against Iran but has not recovered as quickly as Pulisic.

The United States lineup

Matt Turner, Sergiño Dest, Walker Zimmerman, Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson; Tyler Adams (c), Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie; Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Jesus Ferreira

The Netherlands has made no changes from the team that beat Qatar to close the group stage. Cody Gakpo, who has scored in all three of his team’s games at the World Cup, starts up front alongside Memphis Depay.

Marten de Roon provides cover for the back four, which should allow Frenkie de Jong, the most creative Dutch midfielder, to roam more freely.

The Netherlands lineup

Andries Noppert; Daley Blind, Nathan Ake, Virgil van Dijk (c), Jurrien Timber, Denzel Dumfries, Marten de Roon, Davy Klaassen, Frenkie de Jong; Cody Gakpo, Memphis Depay

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Andrew Das
Dec. 3, 2022, 8:58 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Berhalter has defeated van Gaal before. Just don’t ask the Dutch coach about it.

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Gregg Berhalter, center, with Sparta Rotterdam in 1997.Credit...VI Images, via Getty Images

Netherlands Coach Louis van Gaal did not think much of the reporter’s question. This was not unusual. He rarely thinks much of such questions.

But this one was unusually specific: Did van Gaal remember the day in 1997 when he was coaching Ajax, then the dominant team in the Netherlands and still a force in Europe, and it lost to Sparta Rotterdam, which at the time featured a young American defender named Gregg Berhalter.

“When was this? 1997?” van Gaal replied. “Do you really think that I would remember? No, I don’t remember that match.”

Berhalter wasn’t buying it. The Sparta victory was one of the highlights of his years in the Netherlands, where he spent six seasons as a player and set the foundations of his soccer education.

“I heard that you asked Louis van Gaal about it and he didn’t remember when Sparta beat Ajax,” Berhalter said. “I don’t think that’s true. I think he remembers. Really. I mean, being that competitive, he has to remember that game.”

Andrew Keh
Dec. 3, 2022, 8:14 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Gregg Berhalter’s Dutch education comes full circle.

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Credit...Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Gregg Berhalter remembers getting yelled at — a lot.

It was 1994, and he was a young player from New Jersey, fresh out of college, trying to start a professional career in the Netherlands with the club Zwolle. His Dutch teammates yelled at him for passing the ball to the wrong spot on the field. They yelled at him for delivering it to them with too much spin. They yelled at him whenever he did something wrong, and by his own admission he did a lot of things wrong back then.

But the yelling helped. It drove Berhalter to practice more, to soak up every bit of wisdom he could. In the Netherlands, far from home, he learned the intricacies of the game — spacing, positioning, all the various shapes a soccer team can take — at a level and pace he had never experienced in the United States. The foundation of knowledge laid in over his six years in the Netherlands helped him build a fruitful, 15-year playing career in Europe. It allowed him to play in two World Cups.

And all of that, in some roundabout way, has led Berhalter to Saturday, and to one of the biggest games of his life: coaching the United States in a round of 16 showdown against the Netherlands. The tournament has been a global showcase for his coaching and his ideas. And so far, they are working. The Americans advanced out of the group stage with a win and two ties, playing a swirling, disorienting brand of attacking soccer. On the defensive side, the team has allowed only one goal — and it came on a penalty kick. Berhalter’s players have run their hearts out for him.

Louis van Gaal, his Dutch counterpart, laughed on Friday when told by an American reporter that Berhalter had an army of critics back home who got on the coach’s case whether the team won or lost. That, too, felt very Dutch. There are always people who think they know a better way. But Berhalter got used to people yelling at him long ago. And as van Gaal could tell him from experience, there is a surefire way to silence the doubters: win.

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Lauren McCarthy
Dec. 3, 2022, 7:59 a.m. ET

The U.S. women’s team has won millions at the men’s World Cup.

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Credit...Ira L. Black/Getty Images

The United States women’s soccer team, a four-time World Cup champion, is winning at the men’s World Cup, too.

Thanks to new labor agreements reached with U.S. Soccer that guarantee a split of prize money won by the country’s national teams, the women will receive an equal share in the prize money from the performance of the U.S. men in Qatar. How much money? At least $6 million to date, or more than the combined prizes the women’s team collected for their 2019 World Cup victory in France ($4 million prize) and their 2015 title in Canada ($2 million).

In September, the U.S. women’s and men’s teams formally signed new collective bargaining agreements with landmark terms: For the first time, U.S. Soccer guaranteed the players will receive equal pay for competing in international matches and competitions, which had been one of the most contentious issues facing the teams and the federation in recent years.

That means the women’s national team will also benefit from the men’s advancement at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, in figures that a spokesperson for the women’s team said the players are still digesting — but that have given the women’s team, and its predecessors, a sense of accomplishment and advancement in a decades-long pursuit of equity in the sport.

“The women have done their work — four World Cups, four Olympic gold medals — to bring high visibility, and I mean high visibility, to the sport of soccer in this country, which needed it for a long time,” said Briana Scurry, a goalkeeper for the Americans’ 1999 World Cup-winning team. “Now the men, once again, it’s their turn and they’re showing incredibly well.”

FIFA previously announced that the total prize pool for the World Cup in Qatar would be $440 million, including $42 million for the winning team. For advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament, after a 1-0 tense win over Iran, the team stands to earn at least $13 million. A win against the Netherlands on Saturday could raise that figure to at least $17 million.

Under the new agreements, 90 percent of World Cup prize money will be pooled and shared equally between the players on the 2022 men’s World Cup roster and the 2023 Women’s World Cup roster, in a historic move that is unique only to the United States among top soccer-playing nations.

The sharing is reciprocal: When the women defend their World Cup title at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, any earnings will be split with the men’s team.

“These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world,” the U.S. Soccer President, Cindy Parlow Cone, said in a statement when the agreements were reached in May.

Andrew Keh
Dec. 3, 2022, 7:59 a.m. ET

Reporting from Qatar

Sergiño Dest has become a focal point of the U.S. attack.

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Sergiño Dest with Weston McKennie.Credit...Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

There is sure to be a spotlight tonight on American right back Sergiño Dest, who was born and raised — and underwent the most crucial years of his soccer training — in the Netherlands.

Dest, 22, played for the Dutch club Ajax as a teenager, before moving on to F.C. Barcelona, in Spain. He is currently on loan with A.C. Milan in Italy’s Serie A. After representing the U.S. at the youth level — he had eligibility through his Surinamese-American father — he committed his future to the team at the end of 2019.

Nationality aside, Dest already made himself a focal point in the Americans’ last match against Iran. Needing a win to advance, the United States pushed Dest far up the field, where he became a launching pad for much of the team’s best attacking play. He assisted on the team’s lone goal, getting behind Iran’s defensive line and delivering a perfectly headed cross to Christian Pulisic.

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Credit...Claudio Villa/Getty Images

“We know all his qualities on the field, and you know what he brings to this team, but off the field he’s quite the character, fun to be around,” said U.S. captain Tyler Adams. “He’s brought so much energy into his team.”

Dest, 22, possesses traits not commonly associated with American fullbacks. He is supremely comfortable with the ball at his feet, capable of attractive dribbling tricks and, more important, incisive moves that can undo opposing defenses.

“Dest joined the first team very quickly, and you could immediately see he was full of talent,” said Daley Blind, a Dutch defensive midfielder who was Dest’s teammate at Ajax. “He’s an excellent player, very skillful.”

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Sam Manchester
Dec. 3, 2022, 7:59 a.m. ET

Can you guess where the ball is supposed to be in these pictures?

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CreditCredit...

Now that we’re through the group stage at the World Cup in Qatar, we’ve seen the magical goals, phantom fouls and the heartbreak of teams being eliminated from competition. Before we advance to the knockout round, let’s look at some photos of the action from the Cup’s early games. To make them more interesting, I’ve removed the ball. See if you can guess where it was.

Ben Shpigel
Dec. 3, 2022, 7:59 a.m. ET

Looking at the Dutch, U.S. sees a bigger version of itself.

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Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands.Credit...Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

In their most important match since facing Iran four days ago, the Americans draw a team with a stingy defense, possession-hogging midfield and forwards struggling to convert scoring chances. No, they are not practicing against themselves.

Consider the Dutch a more experienced and, perhaps, more talented version of the United States, though in Qatar they, glaringly, have lacked the panache — a stylish, daring edge — that defines their national team as much as their orange kits.

Plodding along in Group A, the Dutch looked vulnerable — but please do not confuse that for diminished or unimposing. Virgil van Dijk remains one of the best center backs in the world, and Frenkie de Jong remains one of the better midfielders in the world, and soon Cody Gakpo, who has scored three goals this tournament, could be one of the best strikers in the world, too.

Call it a hunch, but the Americans are not intimidated by any of this — the Dutch, the pressure, the atmosphere. One of the youngest teams in the World Cup, the United States emerged from a group loaded with land mines and allowed just one goal, on a penalty.

Needing a victory in a match fraught with geopolitical ramifications, the Americans won that, too, on a goal that left Christian Pulisic, after colliding with the Iranian goalkeeper, writhing with an injury later characterized, in some rather euphemistic nomenclature, as a “pelvic contusion.”

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Christian Pulisic training with the U.S. team on Friday.Credit...Christopher Lee/Getty Images

Against the Netherlands, the condition of Pulisic’s, umm, netherlands will dictate how well he can turn, sprint and feint, which we hear are all rather critical actions for a soccer player. Complementing him, though, is one of the more fearsome midfields in Qatar. Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah played an enormous role in neutralizing England and driving play in all three matches. Still unclear is how, if at all, Gio Reyna, perhaps the Americans’ most creative player up front, will feature against the Dutch.

For this generation of Americans, after enduring the indignity of failing to qualify in 2018, Qatar projected as a springboard for 2026, when the United States would be expected to truly shine in a competition staged on its soil. Four years early, they are equipped to reach what would be only their second quarterfinal.

All they have to do is beat themselves.

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