Denzel Dumfries was the hero for the Netherlands in their World Cup Round of 16 outing but made a calamitous mistake in their quarter-final clash with Argentina.
The 26-year-old Dutchman scored a goal and provided two assists in the Oranje’s first knock-out stage game against the United States, shining on the world stage. His performances clearly drew the focus of Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who clearly set-up his team to limit Dumfries’ attacking contributions.
In the 70th minute of the match, Marcos Acuña dribbled the ball into the Netherlands box and came up against Dumfries, who made a lazy challenge and brought down the Argentina wing back.
Seven time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi scored the resulting spot kick, sending Argentina 2-0 up and allowing them to put one foot in the semi-finals against Croatia.
Dumfries will undoubtedly be frustrated with his performance in this World Cup quarter-final, struggling to find results with his attacking efforts.
Never a PK.
Argentina and Portugal been given soft PK’s. Ditto the PK awarded to Brazil versus South Korea.
Here you lost 10m of the 20 he gained from the USA-match!