Brilliant Cody Gakpo Receives Urgent Advice for Oranje at World Cup

You can set your watch by it at every major tournament for Oranje: Cody Gakpo will, sooner or later, find his way onto the scoresheet. Against Sweden, he opened his account with two goals and an assist. When confronted with the fact that this is his third consecutive tournament scoring, Robert Maaskant can't help but chuckle.

"There's no doubt about him, is there? I haven't heard anyone question whether Gakpo should play or not. He's probably the first name on everyone's team sheet," Maaskant believes. Yet, he still sees a significant area for improvement for the Oranje left-winger.

"He cuts inside a few times, and then he actually still has the option to play a combination. A player trained at FC Barcelona would do that, but then, coming from the Liverpool system, he goes for personal glory. He shoots." Maaskant thinks he can do better.

Although Oranje's attack seems lethal with a scoring Gakpo, Brobbey, and Crysencio Summerville, there shouldn't be premature celebrations in the Netherlands. The assertion of whether the attack can compete with the world's elite is firmly answered with 'no.' "It's incredibly impressive that we scored seven goals in two matches, but it was against a defensively weak Sweden. Ultimately, it's about matches against France, Argentina, Morocco, and England," Maaskant outlines.

Seuntjens fully agrees, quickly comparing Oranje's attack to that of France. "If you can still bring on Olise, Mbappé, Doué, and Barcola, then you're talking about world-class. It's going to matter in the knockout phase. That's when the tournament truly begins. You should be happy with the many goals. But for me, the absolute world elite are Real, Barça, Bayern, and Paris. Those kinds of attackers..." Seuntjens concludes.

In the new episode of the Sportnieuws.nl World Cup football podcast, Ralf Seuntjens and Robert Maaskant discuss the euphoria following the Netherlands' 5-1 victory over Sweden. Ronald Koeman receives high praise for his bold lineup choices.

Brian Brobbey is the celebrated man for Oranje, but Robert Maaskant still foresees a role for Memphis Depay in the next match against Tunisia. Cody Gakpo also receives advice, and they discuss the royal family's attendance at the match. All that and much more in the new episode of the Sportnieuws.nl World Cup football podcast.