Getty ImagesCody Steel and Xavi Simons
NOS Voetbal•vandaag, 07:07
Jesse Wieten
editor of the Dutch national team
Jesse Wieten
editor of the Dutch national team
The line-up of the Dutch national team against Ireland tonight in Amsterdam is still a matter of speculation, but in attack Cody Gakpo and Xavi Simons can prepare for a starting place. The two must provide the creativity, the chances and, if possible, the goals and assists.
Normally, the 20-year-old Simons occupies the right wing and the 24-year-old Gakpo comes from the left, or sometimes as a central striker. While Gakpo took a leading role with the Dutch team at the World Cup, among others, Simons is still waiting for his real breakthrough in the Dutch national team.
Impressive at RB Leipzig
Simons’ star is rising quickly in European football. His numbers and his play are impressive. In all competitions, the ex-PSV player scored six goals for RB Leipzig this season, the last two of which were particularly nice against SC Freiburg and Red Star Belgrade.
Oranje live at the NOS
The Dutch team will play its penultimate European Championship qualifier against Ireland in the Johan Cruijff Arena on Saturday, November 18, with the away match against Gibraltar scheduled for Tuesday, November 21. Both matches start at 8:45 PM and can be followed live on NOS.
The preview with Pierre van Hooijdonk and Rafael van der Vaart starts at 8:00 PM on NOS.nl and in the NOS app and at 8:25 PM on NPO 1.
In addition, Simons is manifesting himself as a reporter this season. He has already provided eight assists in all competitions and with seven assists in the Bundesliga, after Marcus Thuram (Inter, 8 assists) and together with Pedro Neto (Wolverhampton Wanderers), he is the best scorer in the five largest leagues in Europe.
The German Sport1 called him an “artist” and Bild wrote about “super magician Simons”.
Waiting for a goal at the Dutch team
His numbers in Orange are less impressive. Nine caps, zero goals, zero assists. As the greatest Dutch talent in years, he can emulate the greatest Dutch players. They were quicker with their first goal.
Johan Cruijff, Faas Wilkes and Abe Lenstra scored on their debut, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie in their second international match, Dennis Bergkamp and Arjen Robben in their third and Memphis Depay in his seventh.
National coach Ronald Koeman is not worried about Simons’ lack of goals. “Of course everyone wants to score goals, but he is developing fantastically,” he said at a press conference yesterday. “He does that at his club. That is nice to see, because it shows that he has a great future.”
Koeman praises Simons: ‘Happy to have player like Xavi at the Dutch team’
“I don’t entirely agree that he is inferior to the Dutch team,” Koeman continued. “Of course he has had less moments in matches, but I am very happy that we have a player like Xavi in our Dutch team.”
Gakpo impressive in Orange
Simons created only four chances in 479 minutes of play for the Dutch national team. That’s not much, compared to some colleagues. Offensively, a lot depends on Gakpo in the Netherlands and in that respect, Koeman can be happy that he is back after his absence in the previous international period.
Despite the fact that Gakpo only played 191 of the maximum 540 minutes in European Championship qualifying, he created more chances than any other Dutch player. Gakpo created thirteen chances, followed by Denzel Dumfries (11 chances in 417 minutes) and Nathan Aké (7 chances in 485 minutes).
ANPCody Gakpo and Xavi Simons in September 2022 as PSV
Gakpo was accurate against both Greece and Ireland in September, bringing his total production in the Dutch team to eight goals in nineteen international matches.
This century, only one player scored more than eight times in his first twenty games for the Dutch team. That was Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with twelve goals. Dutch top scorer of all time Robin van Persie scored his eighth goal in his 26th match, while number two Memphis Depay had eight goals after 34 international matches.
Last players with at least 8 goals in first 20 international matches
Date of 20th international match Player Goals October 14, 1992 Dennis Bergkamp 12 June 5, 1998 Patrick Kluivert 11 October 13, 1998 Peter van Vossen 8 September 7, 2002 Ruud van Nistelrooij 8 March 28, 2009 Klaas Jan Huntelaar 12
Gakpo’s figures at Liverpool lag slightly behind, especially compared to those of Simons at Leipzig. In fourteen games in all competitions, Gakpo scored four goals and provided one assist for the Reds.
That does not alter the fact that coach Jürgen Klopp remains enthusiastic about the Eindhoven native and not just about his football qualities. “He is incredibly nice, incredibly smart,” Klopp said. “When I met Cody, he was captain of PSV. And after ten minutes I realized why.”
If Simons and Gakpo join forces, great things can happen. PSV took advantage of this in the first half of last season, when Gakpo scored 9 goals and 12 assists and Simons had 8 goals and 3 assists. The combination can guide the Netherlands towards the European Championship tonight.
2023-11-18 06:07:08
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