Memphis Depay again showed why he is a player that needs to be reckoned with, as he scored a hat-trick against Turkey today. The Netherlands thumped them 6-1 at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam where the manager of the Dutch team, Louis Van Gaal first came into the limelight.
đ đ. Got what we wanted đ„â°
3⣠points in the bag!#WCQ2022 #NEDTUR pic.twitter.com/sHo0NspUjB
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) September 7, 2021
It was the first international hat-trick for the 27-year-old striker, who joined Barcelona as a free agent this summer transfer window and has been already been in goal-scoring form with them too. This big win has put them on 13 points from six games and positioned them above Turkey at the head of the group. Earlier in March, they lost to the same team 4-2 in Istanbul in their first qualifying match, of course, under Frank De Boer who was dismissed after the team got knocked out from the Round of 16 in the Euros. Van Gaal, meanwhile, has made this team rediscover its touch and that was seen today.
Davy Klassen scored in the opening minute to make it a dream start for the Oranje. Klaassen had combined with Depay to score that goal. An aggressive Dutch strategy led to Klaassen providing the assist for Depay’s first goal during the 17th minute as they doubled the scoreline and it was 3-0 at halftime as Depay converted a penalty in the 38th minute of the game. Caglar Soyuncu conceded the penalty after fouling Klassen and got sent off after a second card before halftime.
Depay scored his hat trick goal with a diving header from a Steve Berghuis cross at the 54th minute. Til and Malen scored the last two goals to seal the match. An errant pass from the Dutch goalkeeper Justin Bijlow allowed Cengiz Under to score the solitary Turkey goal.
Overall, it was a smooth match for Netherlands and Louis Van Gaal who has led the team to emphatic wins over Montenegro and Turkey to set a path for automatic qualification to the 2022 World Cup.
