Substitute Klaassen then secured the victory deep in injury time, following up to score after Mendy had saved from Depay, who had also come off the bench.
Late Pretensions by Cody Gakpo and Davy Klaassen gave the Netherlands a 2- 0 palm over African titleholders Senegal on Monday on their return to the World Cup stage. With Senegal missing injured star man Sadio Mane and the Dutch without their main attacking trouble Memphis Depay at kick- off, the Group A hassle in Doha looked set to end in a goalless draw. But with just six twinkles remaining PSV Eindhoven forward Gakpo got up in front of Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to head in a floated Frenkie de Jong cross from the left wing.
Substitute Klaassen also secured the palm deep in injury time, following up to score after Mendy had saved from Depay, who had also come off the bench.
The result leaves the Netherlands position at the top of the group with Ecuador, who beat hosts Qatar 2- 0 in the event’s opening match on Sunday.
Louis van Gaal’s side play Ecuador on Friday, while Senegal now face a must- palm contest against Qatar.
Senegal saw Bayern Munich megastar Mane– who came second in this time’s Ballond’Or– pull out of the team with a leg injury on the dusk of the event.
His absence was easily felt as the contest at Al Thumama Stadium– – played out to the background of thenon-stop drumming and dancing of the Senegal support, but also in front of a considerable number of empty seats– noway lived up to its billing.
Everton midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye came closest to scoring for Senegal with a strike on the half- blitz from the edge of the box that was beaten down by Netherlands goalkeeper Andries Noppert in the 73rd nanosecond.
Noppert, the giant Heerenveen goalkeeper who was making his transnational debut, also bettered with saves from Boulaye Dia and Pape Gueye in the alternate half as the Netherlands played their first World Cup game in eight times.
The three- time runners- up weresemi-finalists under Van Gaal in Brazil in 2014 before failing to qualify for the last World Cup in Russia in 2018.
The Dutch platoon was captained by Virgil van Dijk, who was making his debut at a major transnational event on the occasion of his 50th cap.
With Matthijs de Ligt and Nathan Ake alongside him, they were substantially comfortable at the reverse but had created little going forward before Barcelona forward Depay- – who scored 12 times in qualifying- – came on for the final half- hour.
With Depay not suitable to start after spending two months on the sidelines, it fell to former Tottenham Hotspur striker Vincent Janssen to forefront the Netherlands attack but he failed to make a major impact.
Yet Gakpo eventually broke the impasse and, as Senegal pushed for an equaliser, Depay played his part in Ajax midfielder Klaassen’s thing that settled the points in the ninth added nanosecond. Read More FIFA News…
