The Netherlands brought their World Cup group stage campaign to an end with a 3-1 win over Tunisia in Kansas City on Friday morning (UK time).
An Ellyes Skhiri own goal and Brian Brobbey strike put the Oranje into a 2-0 lead after just seven minutes. However, Tunisia unexpectedly hit back shortly after half-time, with Hazem Mastouri capitalising on some poor Dutch defending to head home on his World Cup debut.
Hope of an unlikely Tunisian comeback was short-lived, though, as Jan Paul van Hecke restored the Netherlands’ two-goal advantage, flicking Tijjani Reijnders’ cross into the far corner from the near post.
Brian Brobbey enhances Golden Boot bid amid Man Utd links
Brian Brobbey entered this World Cup with just one goal to his name in 12 senior international appearances. However, his form for Sunderland in the second half of the 2025/26 Premier League season suggested he could make his presence felt in North America.
That’s been exactly the case, with Brobbey getting on the scoresheet again here following his impressive brace in the 5-1 win over Sweden last time out.
Brobbey doubled the Dutch lead in just the seventh minute at Arrowhead Stadium, firing a powerful far-post effort beyond Aymen Dahmen after Virgil van Dijk had squared an excellent free-kick delivery from Reijnders.
That was, of course, just one moment in another imperious centre-forward performance from Brobbey, whose elite hold-up play produced a match-high three chances created from just six completed passes, while he occupied the opposition backline with five duels contested.
Sunderland fans will vouch for just how effective Brobbey is in this regard, and if he continues this form, the Netherlands’ longstanding striker problem may be solved.
Could that be the case for Manchester United, too? This latest Brobbey masterclass comes amid intense links to Old Trafford, who is sure to attract more potential suitors as he continues his World Cup Golden Boot charge.
Tunisia’s disastrous World Cup comes to an end
Is this Tunisia side the worst we’ve ever seen at a World Cup? All-time, that might be a little harsh, but they’ve certainly done their best to win that unwanted accolade this summer.
The Eagles of Carthage will now exit this tournament with zero points and a massive 12 goals conceded from just three matches.
It really has been a defensive disasterclass from Tunisia, who, at the time of writing, have committed a tournament-high five errors leading to goals, while only four nations have made more errors leading to shots (4).
This was actually Tunisia’s best performance of the tournament, but that only serves to highlight just how poor they’ve been in a campaign that yielded 5-1 and 4-0 defeats and a managerial sacking.
Time to head back to North Africa, lick those considerable wounds, and figure out how to make sure this never happens again.
Netherlands still an enigma
Just how good are the Netherlands? Well, Ronald Koeman’s men have played some of the most exciting attacking football at this tournament so far, with their 10 goals level with Germany as the most of any nation.
Oranje are also third for shots on target (20) and seventh for chances created (34).
However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that they also conceded four goals in three games and have yet to keep a clean sheet.
While optimists will revel in a performance here that yielded 43 touches in the opposition box, 20 shots and three more goals, pessimists will point out that a dreadful Tunisia side breached Bart Verbruggen’s net. The North African side also created three big chances to the Netherlands’ two and came close to netting again on multiple occasions.
The Netherlands struggled when they took on a dark-horse Japanese side in their opener. Next up in the round of 32 is another dark horse in Morocco, who looked excellent in their 1-1 draw with Brazil, are unbeaten at this tournament so far, and reached the semi-finals in 2022.
That will be the true acid test of this Netherlands outfit. Pass it, and they may finally be on course to end their wait for a World Cup.
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