Virgil van Dijk has firmly rejected claims that he was behind the Netherlands' switch to a five-man defence at the World Cup, calling the accusations from journalists simply untrue. After the Dutch were knocked out by Morocco in a penalty shootout, the captain faced criticism in the media for supposedly changing the team's tactics on his own authority. Van Dijk was clear that moving to a back five had not been his decision. He also dismissed suggestions that he had wrecked the game as utterly absurd.
The centre-back pointed out that the planned approach had held up for 89 minutes, even though the Netherlands had looked poor for much of the match. Under the weight of that criticism, the 35-year-old gave serious thought to walking away from international football. Yet a 10-second conversation with Xavi, the national team's new manager, was enough to convince him to stay. Should Van Dijk feature in the Netherlands' next four UEFA Nations League fixtures, he will reach the milestone of 100 caps for his country.
