{"id":1811,"date":"2026-06-26T14:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1811"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T06:06:15","slug":"dutch-march-into-world-cup-knockouts-as-group-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/dutch-march-into-world-cup-knockouts-as-group-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutch march into World Cup knockouts as group winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Netherlands beat hapless Tunisia 3-1 on Thursday to top World Cup Group F and avoid a last-32 clash with Brazil, setting up a meeting with Morocco instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronald Koeman’s men flew into a two-goal lead in soggy Kansas City thanks to some shoddy defending from the North African side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellyes Skhiri sliced Denzel Dumfries’ cross into his own net and minutes later Sunderland forward Brian Brobbey lashed home from close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That apparently sealed the deal for the Netherlands, whose orange-clad fans were entertaining themselves with Mexican waves midway through the first half at Arrowhead Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunisia pulled a goal back in the second half but the Dutch restored their two-goal lead courtesy of a Jan Paul van Hecke header shortly after the hour mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Netherlands, who finished their group fixtures with seven points, pipped Japan to top spot in Group F, and will face Morocco in the second round in Monterrey on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan drew 1-1 with Sweden in Arlington, Texas, to confirm second spot though the Scandinavian side also advanced as one of the eight best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netherlands coach Koeman warned against thinking too far ahead, with a potential last-16 tie against South Africa or co-hosts Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We need to prepare for Morocco first because it will be a big game,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s a good team with a lot of quality and they can score easily. We know that from Dutch football.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Stormy Kansas City –<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday’s game started on time after a lightning storm had threatened major disruption earlier in the American Midwest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunisia went close in the opening moments when Ismael Gharbi fired over from close range but that proved a false indicator of what was to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead Skhiri turned the ball into his own net in the third minute to put the three-time finalists in front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just four minutes later Brobbey smashed home his third goal of the World Cup after Virgil van Dijk headed across the area following a Tijjani Reijnders free-kick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunisia threatened to unravel further but managed to reach half-time without conceding again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North Africans pulled a goal back in the 54th minute when Hazem Mastouri headed home from Hannibal Mejbri’s corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But any potential jitters were quickly dispelled minutes later when Van Hecke’s header from Reijnders’ corner found its way into the net via a deflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunisia will go home with their tails between their legs after an embarrassing campaign in which they shipped 12 goals in three games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veteran French coach Herve Renard was hired last week after Sabri Lamouchi was sacked following the team’s 5-1 hammering by Sweden in their opening match in Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he was unable to stop the rot as Tunisia, who romped through qualifying without conceding a single goal, collapsed 4-0 against Japan before their defeat by the Dutch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 57-year-old delivered a frank assessment of Tunisia’s lack of quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We were not at the level for this World Cup,” he said. “This is clear. There is no discussion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It’s a big tournament with very good teams, especially in this group. It was a very tough group. And now, the federation of Tunisia needs to sit down and analyse everything.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Netherlands beat hapless Tunisia 3-1 on Thursday to top World Cup Group F and avoid a last-32<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1813,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811\/revisions\/1813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}