The international break has seem many Manchester United stars shake off their club misery to impress in national team colours, except one.
The likes of Bruno Fernandes, Noussair Mazraoui, and Joshua Zirkzee have had standout games for their national teams but Zirkzee’s teammate hasn’t had it so easy.
Matthijs de Ligt started off the break by making a mistake vs Bosnia and Herzegovina which made that game nervy until two late goals saw the Netherlands win comfortably.
He was called out by Ronald Koeman afterwards but the faith was kept and he started against Germany where the situation worsened.
Mistakes continued and this time, Koeman took the nuclear decision of taking him off at half-time and his international career is already being declared, at least for the time being.
Van der Vaart rips into Matthijs de Ligt
It won’t help that the Netherlands didn’t concede a goal in the second half and erased the one-goal deficit to draw the game.
The emotions were running high post-match and former Dutch international-turned-pundit Rafael van der Vaart made a grave prediction about the Manchester United man.
Van der Vaart stood with analyst Pierre van Hooijdonk for NOS and laid into the player, saying that this is one mistake too many and Koeman will finally take a decision.
Van Hooijdonk said: “He had a similar moment in the beginning, where he actually loses the ball in a simple way by means of a pass. And then it happens a second time. That is terrible for De Ligt.
“Ultimately, top sport is very tough, and then it’s over. We all think De Ligt is a great player, but how often has this happened to the Dutch national team? And at almost all crucial moments. At some point it stops, especially when you have competitors who are of a high level.”
Van der Vaart’s three-word response to this analysis had an air of finality to it as he said: “This is fatal”.
Unpacking the situation
While the rival fans and pundits are eager to write obituaries for De Ligt’s career after two bad games, it is worth noting that De Ligt’s international career began in a similar fashion.
He made a horrendous mistake on his debut in a nightmare loss to Bulgaria and the player he has become since then isn’t unknown to anyone.
Moreover, there are mitigating factors here. Man United fans jumped to De Ligt’s defence pointing out the same.
He is working his way back to full match fitness while acclimatising at a new club and playing for the country after a long time.
Ultimately, a player as highly rated as De Ligt doesn’t become bad overnight and if anything, getting dropped from the Netherlands squad benefits United two ways.
He becomes driven to win his place back and impresses at United, and he gets to rest during the international break which is next month again.
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