Brian Brobbey's brace puts Netherlands in control of World Cup fate

· Yahoo Sports

HOUSTON —  Swarms of Netherlands soccer fans blanketed city streets and then stadium seats in bright orange on Saturday, June 20, hoping to witness Dutch domination. Brian Brobbey delivered it.

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In his first World Cup start, Brobbey scored two goals in the span of 17 minutes and powered the Netherlands back to the top of the Group F standings with a critical 5-1 win against Sweden on Saturday, June 20.

After the Netherlands drew 2-2 with Japan in its first World Cup game and Sweden routed Tunisia 5-1, Saturday’s match took on high stakes for the Oranje. But the Dutch were poised under pressure, going up 4-0 on braces by Brobbey and Cody Gakpo. After Sweden scored late in the second half, Dutch substitute Crysencio Summerville scored his team’s fifth goal to put the nail in the coffin.

Not only did the Dutch wrest back control of their own fate in the group by securing three points, but they ran up the score enough to obtain a plus-four goal differential advantage.

Brobbey’s early brace was the quickest in Dutch World Cup history – and perhaps will persuade Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman to keep Brobbey in the starting lineup for the team’s next game against Tunisia on Thursday, June 25 in Kansas City.  

In the Netherlands’ opening World Cup game against Japan, Brobbey came on as a substitute in the 85th minute. Against Sweden, Dutch coach Koeman decided he needed more of a central attacking presence and started Brobbey at center forward instead of Summerville, who’d picked up an injury in training.

Summerville took a knee to the head in the Sweden match and left the stadium with stitches in his head. Regardless of Summerville's status for the next game, Brobbey has proven his value.

“What is most important is, I think, he’s become really fit in the Premier League and he’s had a season where, in the beginning, he didn’t play and then later on he got his chances and he took his chances,” Koeman said in Dutch after the game. “He’s developing really well. So I’m very happy with that.”

Brobbey scored seven goals in 31 games played (22 starts) for Sunderland this season, his first in the Premier League since transferring from Dutch club Ajax. Before the game against Sweden, he’d scored just one goal in 13 international appearances for the Netherlands.

Brobbey is known for his ability to play with his back to the goal, which he demonstrated while scoring the game’s first goal in the fifth minute.

On a Netherlands goal kick, Brobbey settled the ball with one deft touch in the center circle. As teammate Tijjani Reinders dribbled, Brobbey sprinted down the middle of the field toward the goal. By the time Gakpo crossed the ball into the box, Brobbey was in the perfect position to smash it into the net on his first touch.

“We as a team knew his qualities all along,” said Gakpo. “He’s very, very strong, and his hold-up play and then coming in on the right time in the box is amazing. So I think we used him very well today. Two pretty quick attacks, and with the first one, he even held the ball in the beginning and then run towards the goal so yeah, he used his quality very well and very happy for him when he scored the goal.”

Twelve minutes later, Brobbey struck again. He slipped between two Swedish defenders and slid to knock in a Denzel Dumfries cross, then ran to the corner flag to celebrate with his arms stretched wide. The Dutch supporters, clad in the traditional color of the royal family, went wild. In that moment, Brobbey was king.

“You can see the impact he has with his physicality,” Dumfries said in Dutch. “I think we have plenty of quality in the squad, players with different attributes, including wingers who like to cut inside. But the space was there today, so I think we just exploited it well.”

Brobbey’s performance also rewarded a sellout crowd of 68,777 fans, the majority rooting for the Netherlands, which last reached the World Cup final in 2010.   

“I think anyone playing at the World Cup feels like they’re on cloud nine; it’s incredible,” Netherlands defender Jan Paul van Hecke said in Dutch. “Just look at the stadium today: seeing so much orange gives you goosebumps. It’s truly amazing.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brian Brobbey might be the Netherlands' key to World Cup success

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