The Dutch national football team has qualified for next year’s World Cup in Qatar after beating Norway 2-0 on their home turf in Rotterdam. 🥳
This victory enabled Oranje to win their group stage. Turkey came second in the pool and will still be able to fight for their ticket in the playoffs, the NOS reports.
This marks the eleventh time in history that the Dutch national team has qualified for the World Cup. ⚽️
Back in the game
The last time that the Netherlands participated in a World Cup was in 2014. Their failure to qualify for the World Cup in 2018 provided this proud football nation with at least two years worth of alternative conversation to complaining about the weather. ☔️
A slow first half
The Netherlands had the initiative throughout the first half but when that halftime whistle blew, the scoreboard still sat at 0-0 — boring.
After the break, Norway returned to the pitch with more Viking energy and had more possession of the ball, but wasn’t able to capitalise. 🙅 Meanwhile, Oranje had opportunities to score but fell short of the goal.
Racing against the clock ⌛️
In the last seven minutes — it was looking tight there — Steven Bergwijn scored that first decisive goal for the Netherlands and the stadium collectively exhaled. Memphis Depay followed this with another goal in injury time — securing that all-important ticket to Doha. 🏆
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Feature Image: Ailura/Wikimedia Commons/CC 3.0
