Frenkie de Jong’s World Cup Ends in Disappointment
Frenkie de Jong’s World Cup ended not with a flourish, but with a grim walk to the touchline and a seat on the bench as everything unraveled without him.
The Netherlands are out, beaten on penalties by Morocco after a tense, tactical struggle that dragged beyond 120 minutes. Frenkie started, carried the armband, and stayed on until deep into extra time. Then he watched the collapse from the sidelines.
For a player who had spoken confidently about his influence and understanding of the game, this was a brutal night – and the reaction back home matched it.
Van der Vaart’s verdict: “Worst match I have ever seen from him”
In the Dutch studio, the knives were out. On NOS, Rafael van der Vaart did not bother with soft landings. His assessment cut straight to the bone:
“Frenkie de Jong played the worst match I have ever seen from him.”
No nuance. No caveats in that line. Coming from a former Oranje star, it landed with real weight, especially given Frenkie’s recent comments that many people watch football “without truly understanding it.”
This time, the critics felt they understood plenty.
Van der Vaart did, though, widen the lens. He pointed to the framework around De Jong, and to Ronald Koeman’s choices on the night.
“It was really disappointing, but that is also because of the system. I consider midfield to be Morocco’s strongest point, and even so we decided to play against them with only two midfielders.”
That was the core of the complaint: the Netherlands walked into Morocco’s strength with too few bodies and paid for it.
Koeman’s gamble backfires
The Dutch had navigated the group stage with assurance. Structure, control, and a sense of things slowly clicking into place. Then came Morocco – and a different plan.
Van der Vaart could not hide his disbelief.
“I am very disappointed with Holland. We got through the group stage quite well. Things were starting to work, so what goes through your mind for you to suddenly have to do things completely differently against Morocco? I do not understand anything at all.”
The shift left De Jong exposed in the very zone where Morocco thrive. With only two midfielders tasked with covering ground, building play, and resisting pressure, the Oranje never truly settled. Morocco swarmed, squeezed space, and turned the middle of the pitch into a trap.
De Jong, usually the outlet and the escape route, struggled to impose himself. The Dutch lacked control, lacked numbers, and never found a steady rhythm.
“Too cautious” for the occasion
Jan Mulder added another layer of criticism, focusing not on Koeman, but on De Jong’s own choices.
“He was too cautious, I only saw sideways passes.”
For a player celebrated at Barcelona for breaking lines, carrying the ball past opponents, and dragging his team up the pitch, it was a damning observation. The game demanded risk. De Jong, in the eyes of his critics, retreated into safety.
That caution fed the wider perception of a midfield that never dared to grab the match by the throat. Morocco’s intensity dictated the terms; the Netherlands reacted rather than controlled.
One bad night, not a new reality
Strip away the emotion of an elimination, though, and the broader picture remains. This performance does not redefine Frenkie de Jong. It stains a tournament that, until this point, had showcased his quality.
He had been outstanding in the group stage – calm under pressure, progressive with the ball, constantly knitting defence and attack. The traits that make him so valuable to Barcelona and to the national team did not vanish overnight; they were simply smothered by a plan that left him outnumbered and out of sync.
Against Morocco, the overload in midfield was real. The structure did not protect his strengths, and it did not mask his weaknesses. On a night when the margins were thin and the stakes brutal, that combination proved fatal.
Barcelona will not change their view because of one knockout tie. They know what he gives them: ball-carrying through pressure, the ability to resist the press, progression between the lines, and a natural link from the back line to the forwards.
The Netherlands, though, fly home with a different question lingering: was this just a bad night in a bad system, or a warning about how easily their midfield can be overrun when Frenkie de Jong is left to fight that battle almost alone?
