The match between the Netherlands and Morocco was one that looked set to be one of very high quality.
Morocco are in what is probably their best time period ever. When I was with the Dutch national team for a friendly game against them in 2017, we won 2-1, but it's now almost 10 years later and so many things have changed. It's amazing to see how fast things can change in football. Now they're in the top 10 of the world, surprised the world at the last World Cup and did a great job at the last Africa Cup of Nations.
In the group stage of this World Cup, we saw a very good game from them against Brazil, and while the other matches were a little bit less strong, they still made an excellent impression.
The Netherlands also made a good impression in the group stage, even if things got a little bumpy at times in the first match against Japan. The 5-1 win over Sweden was a very nice, positive surprise, and the win against Tunisia was comfortable, although we saw some moments in that game in which they struggled and got a bit lucky.
New system gives Morocco control
Partly because of those moments, Ronald Koeman decided to switch from a 1-4-3-3 (including the goalplayer), which is the house style of the Netherlands and which they had been playing all World Cup, to a 1-5-2-3, or 1-3-4-3. That's a big change.
As a result of it, what we saw in the match was completely the opposite of what we are normally used to seeing with the Dutch team. It was very strange to see. Morocco basically played the way we usually want to play; they were the Netherlands, and the Netherlands looked like Morocco of 10 years ago.
The Dutch defended in a 1-5-4-1, and they were reasonably compact. Morocco saw a lot of the ball, but they were initially very careful how they played it to each other early on. The game really needed to get going.
Once it did, you could see that the Moroccan team were very intense, very physical, with lots of power and speed. And in that sense, it was a top-level game.
Morocco defended very physically, always on the edge in terms of whether they were committing fouls or not. I think the referee was excellent, because he didn't favour one of the two teams, and he let quite a few things go. It was football for men. I think that was one of the reasons the Dutch were not able to keep possession; Morocco were so physical and so aggressive, and at the right moments.
When the Dutch did have the ball, the speed was very low, like against Japan, and they didn't really create many chances. They couldn't find space in behind the defence, and the Moroccans won the ball back very quickly. They did a very good job there.
Across the first half, the Dutch basically had two chances, but the Moroccans had about four chances, so overall, they were more effective. They were very aggressive, pressed well, created chances, and the Dutch didn't really have an answer to that way of playing.
Morocco had a very clear plan, which they executed excellently.
An un-Dutch approach
In the second half, the Dutch really didn't play the Dutch way. Morocco did. They had the ball, they dominated the game, they tried to create chances, and the Netherlands didn't put a lot of pressure on the ball; they really let them play.
Morocco had more players in midfield, and because of that, they could play the ball the back, but also in the midfield. When the Dutch had the ball, on the other hand, they gave it away very quickly because they were being pressed very, very well. Morocco could do whatever they wanted with the ball, and f they lost it, they could get it back quickly.
It was really un-Dutch. It was very strange for me to look at it, because I cannot remember seeing something like this before. Normally, the Dutch have more possession, equal possession or just a little less, and if not - I mean, we also sometimes played this system, but when we had the ball, we could play it around, find players and create chances.
I felt that the Netherlands just didn't play their own game. That was my feeling. It was Morocco who played our football. They dominated and did what they wanted, even if they didn’t create that many chances.
But then, out of nothing in the 72nd minute, the Dutch scored a great goal. Once again at this tournament, we scored at the right moment, and I thought that luck was really on our side as it had been in the group stage. If we could just get some control now, we'd be through, but that didn't happen. We again gave away the initiative. The Moroccans dictated the game even more.
The Netherlands defended reasonably, not giving away big chances, but then came a great cross and a great header in the 90th minute, and suddenly you're going to extra time.
Morocco really deserved that. There had been 20% possession for the Dutch and 80% for the Moroccans at some moments, and Moroccan goalie Bono had needed to do hardly anything all game, while Verbruggen had to make many saves and was the man of the match - it's never a good sign if a goalplayer has that much work to do.
At the start of extra time, I thought that the Netherlands would apply a little bit more pressure and get a little bit more of the ball, and that the Moroccans could maybe start to physically struggle, but that wasn't the case at all.
They had a fantastic chance after six minutes, one-on-one with Verbruggen, but he made an incredible save. That's the kind of save that can win a game, which gave me a very good feeling, because I thought again that luck was on our side.
Morocco had completely taken over the game at this point. In the first half of extra time, the Dutch had just 18% of the ball, which is an amazing number if you know what Dutch football is supposed to be. You could see that there was only one team that really played and tried to get the winning goal.
If you look at the overall game, Morocco had five good chances and scored one, while the Dutch had two at most and scored one; Morocco had 11 shots to the Netherlands' six; Bono made one save and Verbruggen five; Morocco made 800 passes, and the Netherlands made 293; Morocco had 70% possession across the whole game.
These numbers are crazy, and this is exactly the opposite of what we want in the Netherlands.
More penalty pain
Before the penalty shootout, I thought it was interesting to see that the Moroccan team prepared themselves and then they went to pray together. That could be excellent preparation to really focus as a team.
If we look at the penalty kicks themselves, it was interesting to see that the goalies didn't try to influence the takers; Bono a little bit especially with the last penalty, but nothing obvious. I always say that with Tim Krul against Costa Rica in 2014, we overdid it, but he really tried to intimidate the takers.
There are two types of takers: those that are goalie-dependent and those that aren't. The first type wait to see what the goalie does before shooting, whereas the second type just pick a side and put it there regardless.
Teun Koopmeiners isn't goalie-dependent, and his penalty - the first one - was perfect, really fantastic; Bono went the right way, but it had good speed and was right in the corner. Wout Weghorst is also not goalie-dependent, and he also scored, even though Bono again chose the right side, because the ball was too high.
Justin Kluivert was goalie-dependent and waited, but while Bono went to the wrong side, the ball hit the post. Timber waited, and Bono again went the wrong way, but the ball went wide. Summerville waited, but had to make his own decision after Bono didn't move, and his shot was saved.
In the Dutch goal, Verbruggen went the wrong way for the first penalty, but the ball hit the woodwork. I always think it's funny that goalkeepers celebrate when that happens; I'd be thinking about the fact that I made the wrong decision and picked the wrong side, and would just be grateful the taker missed.
The second Morocco penalty was just bad, bad luck for Verbruggen, and that a the decisive part of the shootout. He saved it, and if he didn't then accidentally kick it in with the back of his foot, the Netherlands would've gone two ahead.
If we look at the goalies' stats, Bono went the right way three times and stopped one penalty, while Verbruggen went the right way two times and didn't stop any.
One interesting discussion is what players do when they get the ball and whether they then score or not. Some people think players are more likely to miss if they dribble the ball to the spot or do tricks with it instead of just holding it, and I think they're right; many times now, I have seen players do that and miss.
New coach should embrace the Dutch way
That shootout defeat ended the Netherlands' World Cup campaign and Ronald's time in charge.
I have sympathy for Ronald. He didn't play the Dutch way in the end, but maybe that's because he just felt he didn't have the players to play to. After all, he was a student of Johan Cruyff. They worked together for a long time and were very close.
I'd encourage Ronald's replacement to look back at history. The Dutch have been developing a way of playing since the early 1970s, a style built by Rinus Michels and Cruyff, aimed at displaying the beauty of the game and simply scoring more goals than the opponent.
Everybody knows the Netherlands team of 1974. We made the World Cup final, we didn't win, but the whole world is still talking about that team today. That was the vision of Michels and Cruyff: Make sure you astound the world in your way of playing.
How? Control the ball, always push to create more chances than your opponent, and make it attractive. Of course, you have to defend well, but Cruyff always said that best defence is to have the ball, because then the opponent can't do anything.
We haven't seen a lot of that in recent times. Maybe that's because we don't have the right players to play that way, but I'm not sure, because they are basically all coming from the Dutch schools, so they know what it takes to play the Dutch way.
That Dutch way can be seen at Manchester City. They sometimes have to adapt, but Pep Guardiola is always trying to follow the teachings of Cruyff, his former mentor, and he does it excellently.
Mikel Arteta was taught by Guardiola, and he's also a good example, because everybody in the Netherlands wants to see the Dutch way, but sometimes you have to adapt and be smart in how you do it.
In 2014, the whole country lost their mind when Louis (van Gaal) said we were going to play a 1-5-3-2, but then he explained and showed that doesn't automatically lead to defensive football. We were just building a little bit more security in defence because of the type of players we had. We needed to adapt to be as successful as we could be, which is very, very important for the Dutch way of playing.
It's crucial that the next coach takes all this into account, because Ajax are struggling, Feyenoord are struggling, and even Dutch champions PSV went out of the Champions League after the first round, so the national team must be the country's pride. We want people to talk about us and say, "Wow, that's the Dutch way." Legends from all over the world love the Dutch way and are disappointed when they don't see it; Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic both were at this World Cup.
I think everyone would really love to see the new coach the embrace the Dutch way of thinking and the Dutch way of playing, even if they have to adapt it.
Go for Guardiola
As for who that new coach should be, I think everybody will agree that if you can get Pep Guardiola, there's no doubt that you have to get him. No doubt at all.
He may not be Dutch, but he's a Dutch coach. He was educated by Cruyff and Van Gaal and has built on their work in an incredible way. His way is the Dutch way, just with some of his own ingredients, and we can only applaud and admire that, and wish that we'd done that ourselves.
If you can get Guardiola, then there's no discussion to have. It's a no-brainer.
If you can't, then I do think there are also Dutch coaches that are top quality and could do a good job. I think Arne Slot, Peter Bosz and Erik ten Hag all could.
Bosz has made PSV the absolute number one team in the Netherlands. He's given them the stability I wish the other top Dutch clubs had, and plays the Dutch way. I'm very convinced that he could do well.
I feel the same way about Slot and Ten Hag. Slot performed miracles at Feyenoord and in his first year at Liverpool, even if the second season was difficult, while Ten Hag performed miracles at Ajax and won trophies at Manchester United.
They're all very interesting, very special coaches.
But if Pep Guardiola is a possibility, you have to get him.
Follow Frans Hoek on Instagram here and his company Goalplayer here
