Rafael van der Vaart's Critique of Netherlands' Tactics Against Morocco
Rafael van der Vaart did not bother with diplomacy. Live on Dutch broadcaster NOS, the former Real Madrid midfielder watched the Netherlands unravel and let his frustration pour out, piece by piece, at a team that, in his eyes, tore up its own progress in one reckless tactical gamble.
This was not about effort. It was about structure. And about a midfield that simply ceased to exist.
“What goes on in your head?”
The Netherlands had fought their way through a difficult group, not spectacular but stable, and had finally begun to look like a side with rhythm. Then came Morocco – and with it, a radical reshuffle from Ronald Koeman that left Van der Vaart bewildered.
“You get through a difficult group stage reasonably well. Then things start clicking a bit,” he said. “What goes on in your head that makes you change everything against Morocco? I don't understand it one bit.”
The change was clear: a lighter central unit against a team whose greatest strength lies precisely in that zone. Morocco’s midfield, technically sharp and relentlessly industrious, found acres of space. The Dutch, stripped of numbers and balance in the middle, never got close to controlling the game.
The pressure told early and often. Orange shirts chased shadows; the supposed “engine room” stalled.
Frenkie de Jong, starved then sacrificed
No player embodied the collapse more starkly than Frenkie de Jong. Van der Vaart did not spare him.
“Frenkie played the absolute worst game I’ve ever seen from him today. Truly disappointing. But is that because of the system?”
That question cut to the heart of the analysis. De Jong, usually the metronome of this team, needs the ball to dictate, to glide past markers, to connect defence and attack. Instead, Koeman’s set-up left him and his partner hopelessly outnumbered against Morocco’s strongest line.
“I think Morocco's midfield is their strongest asset. And then you decide to play against them with just two men? I didn't study to be a manager, but that seems a bit clumsy to me,” Van der Vaart said.
The result was brutal. De Jong barely saw the ball. When he did, the options ahead of him were limited, the distances too big, the pressure immediate. His influence evaporated. The man billed as the heartbeat of the side drifted to the periphery, then off the pitch altogether, substituted for Marten de Roon after 110 minutes, long after the damage had been done.
“Frenkie is only effective when you have the ball, but we didn't have the ball at all today, so Frenkie was completely invisible. And he is supposed to be our main man...”
Gakpo’s goal, and little else
Even the one bright moment carried a sting. Cody Gakpo scored, as he so often does for the national team, but Van der Vaart pointed out how little he featured beyond that.
“Plus, Cody Gakpo scored the goal, but of course, he was barely involved either.”
That line summed up the Dutch performance. Isolated flashes. No sustained control. Forwards cut off, midfielders overrun, defenders exposed. A tactical plan that played directly into Morocco’s hands.
The story of the match became the story of a system that never gave its best players a chance to influence it.
Fallout for Koeman and an ageing core
As Morocco look ahead, buoyant and organised, to a last-16 clash with Canada in Houston, the Netherlands head in the opposite direction – onto a plane home and into a storm of their own making.
The criticism is not limited to one bad night. Koeman’s tactical direction now sits under a harsh spotlight. Questions over his willingness to gamble with structure, his reading of opponents’ strengths, and his use of the squad will dominate the post-mortem.
Inside the camp, uncomfortable truths await. Key figures have come up short under pressure. The age profile of the squad, already a concern, has been brutally exposed over the course of the tournament. Legs looked heavy. Ideas looked old.
Significant changes feel less like an option and more like a necessity before the next international cycle begins. The only real unknown is how deep Koeman – or whoever leads the rebuild – is prepared to cut.
