Cody Gakpo is on a hot streak when it comes to goals for club and country and he added another to his tally on Saturday night, though he did so after a little penalty spot squabble.
Gakpo has six goals in his last five outings for Liverpool and the Netherlands combined, with his latest strike coming in a 4-0 win over Dominik Szoboszlai‘s Hungary.
The game was overshadowed by a scary medical emergency which saw Hungary’s assistant coach Adam Szalai require immediate attention before being taken to hospital.
Hungary decided to continue playing, and Virgil van Dijk had some classy words to say about that, but the Netherlands were just too strong on the night with four unanswered goals.
Wout Weghorst scored the first from the penalty spot just moments after play restarted following the emergency, with Gakpo, Denzel Dumfries and Teun Koopmeiners also getting on the scoresheet.
Gakpo’s goal came from the second penalty on the night after Donyell Malen was impeded, though many had expected the Netherlands’ designated taker, Weghorst, to line up for his second.
It was a well-taken spot kick, and Gakpo’s celebration was much more in keeping with the mood of the occasion after what had happened early in the match on Hungary’s bench.
Manager Ronald Koeman confirmed his penalty pecking order after the game but noted how he instructed his captain, Van Dijk, to “decide” who took it as Gakpo and Weghorst ‘fought’ for the ball.
“Well, because we took penalties and it was Virgil, Wout and Cody (designated kickers). So then I also said: ‘Number one for the penalty is Wout’,” Koeman said.
2 – Wout Weghorst and Cody Gakpo are the first @OnsOranje players to convert a penalty within the same match (excluding shootouts) since Jan Klijnjan and Dick Schneider against Peru on 3 May 1972. Spot. pic.twitter.com/wgBXzZnucz
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) November 16, 2024
“Only then a second penalty came and I didn’t see it well. But I think I saw that Wout was arguing with Cody about who would take that penalty.
“I shouted [at] Virgil: ‘You decide who takes it’. And in the end, Cody took it.
“Because they can both take a penalty well, but it never seems as fun and beautiful and good when two players fight about it.”
Gakpo probably saved Weghorst from more criticism had he done another overzealous celebration, he later told ESPN: “Wout had to take the first one, so I thought: ‘I’ll take the second one’.” Fair play!
It was another strong night for Liverpool’s Dutch trio and all, thankfully, came through unscathed, with Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch playing 79 minutes while Van Dijk played the full 90.
The 4-0 win booked the Netherlands their spot in the quarter-finals of the Nations League, while Hungary will finish third in their group irrespective of what happens against Germany on Tuesday.
