Netherlands legend left red-faced after dismissing Morocco threat before World Cup elimination

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FT Desk

The Netherlands are officially out of the World Cup after being eliminated on penalties by Morocco.

After a positive group stage that saw the Dutch draw 2-2 with Japan, demolish Sweden 5-1 and defeat Tunisia 3-1, Ronald Koeman and his men would have gained confidence and aspirations of going far in the tournament.

However, they did not make it past the World Cup's first-ever Round of 32 after a loss versus Morocco in Monterrey.

The game remained 0-0 for a long time but it was certainly an entertaining affair, with goalkeepers Bart Verbruggen and Yassine Bounou called upon to make some smart saves.

The deadlock was eventually broken in the 72nd minute when Cody Gakpo latched onto a loose ball inside the Morocco penalty area to smash a strike home. It was an extremely emotional moment for the Liverpool man as he and his wife tragically lost their child after a recent miscarriage

He was surrounded by his team-mates in an embrace after scoring.

The Netherlands looked destined for the Round of 16 but Issa Diop broke Dutch hearts in injury time with a superb header into the roof of the net in the 92nd minute.

The match would eventually go to penalties and spotkicks were missed by Achraf Hakimi and Neil El Aynouai for Morocco and Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville for the Netherlands.

The West Ham man missed the decisive penalty as Morocco reached the last-16.

The events of the game left one particular former Netherlands player looking rather foolish.

Rafael van der Vaart said as a pundit pre-match: "Not to be rude, but every Moroccan that's not good enough to play for The Netherlands is now playing for Morocco, while we have players from Liverpool, Barcelona, etc. So let's not worry about Morocco, really."

Three of the Moroccan squad - Sofyan Amrabat, Noussair Mazraoui and Anass Salah-Eddine - were born in the Netherlands but represent the African nation, while there is a large community of people with Moroccan heritage who live in the Netherlands.

High-profile players like Hakim Ziyech could have represented the Netherlands in the past but opted for Morocco.

Recently, reports emerged that the son of former Oranje striker Robin van Persie, Shaqueel van Persie, has decided to switch allegiance to Morocco after featuring for the Netherlands at youth level. He is eligible for the African side due to his Dutch-Moroccan mother.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic put the blame for the World Cup exit straight towards Koeman, whom he believes stripped away the country's football identity with his choice of tactics.

"This defeat is Koeman's fault because I didn't recognise this Dutch team. He lost with an identity that is not the Dutch identity. That makes me angry," the Swede, who played for Ajax, said on FOX.

"I was always taught: attack, attack, attack. This is not the Dutch identity. Today, Koeman looked like an Italian coach, playing not to lose, whereas the Netherlands always play to win. If you lose, at least lose with your own identity and don't change it.

"This wasn't the Netherlands I'm used to seeing. You could also tell by the way they played that they didn't feel comfortable. The possession was gone, the attacking football was gone... It just looked really bad, and that was all on Koeman. I didn't like it at all, absolutely not."

Up next in the World Cup for Morocco is a last-16 clash against one of the tournament hosts, Canada, on Saturday.