Benfica's 23-goal striker fumes at Koeman over World Cup exit: Sickened | OneFootball

Ronald Koeman, head coach of the Netherlands, did not escape criticism after the World Cup exit in the round of 32 against Morocco in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Pierre Van Hooijdonk, a striker who played for Benfica in the 2000/2001 season, was one of the voices raised against the coach, especially over the way the penalties were taken.

"You can’t train pressure, but we have a national team coach who scored 1,423 penalties in his career. And he scored every single one, and I never saw him do anything ridiculous. He places the ball down, runs up and shoots. I would have expected the national coach to have said: 'Lads, anyone can miss a penalty. But there’s one way to take it: run up and shoot normally'. All that nonsense makes me sick, it turns my stomach", said the NOS pundit.

The former Dutch international — who has a son playing in Portugal — also gave a more tactical analysis of the match. "Morocco were much better. Before the game, we thought it was a good idea. But when you see it isn’t working, you have to look for another alternative. Morocco have a good team, but they’re not France. They approached the game as if they were playing against France", he said.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was also critical of the coach, who was also at Benfica in 2005/06. "This defeat is Koeman’s fault, because I did not recognise this Dutch team. It lost with an identity that is not that of the Netherlands. That annoys me", he vented.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.