Brian Brobbey pounced for a first-half brace, Cody Gakpo scored two more goals after the break and the Netherlands romped to a 5-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday in Houston to take command of Group F.
Crysencio Summerville added a late goal for The Oranje (1-0-1, 4 points), who posted their largest margin of victory in a World Cup since a 5-1 win over Spain in the 2014 group stage.
Denzel Dumfries had two assists, while Gakpo and Summerville each had one.
The Netherlands enter the final group matchday even on points and goal differential (plus-four) with Japan, who they drew 2-2 on June 14, after Japan similarly smashed Tunisia 4-0 later on Saturday.
The Dutch currently hold a small advantage over Japan in goals scored (seven to six), which is the next tiebreaker. They face Tunisia on Thursday in Kansas City while Japan simultaneously take on Sweden in Arlington, Texas, with goal differential/goals scored likely to be the tiebreakers which decide the group winner.
For Brobbey, it was just his second and third goals in an international competitive fixture. For Gakpo, it was his fourth and fifth all-time tallies in the competition after scoring once in each Dutch group-stage match at the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Anthony Elanga pulled a goal back for Sweden (1-1-0, 3 points) as his side missed an opportunity to put one foot firmly into the knockout stage.
The Scandinavians weren’t as poor as the final score indicated in their worst World Cup loss since a 7-1 defeat to hosts Brazil in the 1950 final round-robin stage.
Nevertheless, they absorbed the worst swing of results between two matches this tournament after a 5-1 opening win over Tunisia that precipitated the firing of Tunisian boss Sabri Lamouchi.
Brobbey had his brace by the 17th minute.
In the fifth minute, his exceptional hold-up play helped turn a simple ball out of the back into a dangerous counterattack down the left.
From there, he literally outran center backs Victor Lindelof and Isak Hien to reach Gakpo’s low cross and thump in a first-time finish from close range.
On Brobbey’s second, Sweden’s defense gave Dumfries far too much space on the right, allowing the winger time to line up his first-time cross into the path of Brobbey, who again finished with his first touch.
Gakpo had his brace nine minutes into the second half, and after Elanga’s 59th-minute tally, Summerville completed the scoring on a feed from substitute Memphis Depay in the 89th minute.
–Field Level Media
