His Goal Of Bringing The Netherlands Back To Belgium And Qualifying The UEFA Nations League Semifinals, Van Dijk: Job Done

Dutch national team defender and captain Virgil van Dijk. (Photo: Twitter @OnsOranje)

JAKARTA - The captain of the Dutch national team, Virgil van Dijk, is satisfied that his team can beat Belgium, which is currently ranked second in the FIFA world.

The Netherlands confirmed themselves to qualify for the semifinals of the 2022/2023 UEFA Nations League after a 1-0 win over Belgium in the last match of Group A4 at the Amsterdam Arena on Monday, September 26 early morning WIB.

Van Dijk scored the only goal in the 73rd minute with a header after using Cody Gakpo's corner.

"After that goal, we created more chances and (should have) scored two, three, or four (again). But we will definitely analyze the game and see what we can improve", van Dijk said, quoted by the UEFA website.

This victory made the Netherlands not taste a single defeat in six matches during the group stage.

They won a total of five times and got one result to collect 16 points. The Flying Dutchman is six points ahead of Belgium, who was runner-up in the group.

"We can always improve but it's not easy to play against the number two in the world and one of the best midfielders in the world, Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard", said van Dijk.

"Work done. It was difficult today. Keeping a clean sheet is very important. There is little chance they can turn things around, but we feel confident that we can definitely make sure they don't score three goals."

The Netherlands is one of two teams that have confirmed tickets to the semifinals. Apart from them, Croatia has also advanced to the top four after beating Austria in the last match.