One Liverpool player who pulled off a noteworthy feat at the 2022 World Cup could seemingly be facing a tall order to repeat the trick at Euro 2024.
All three of Netherlands’ group matches in Qatar saw Cody Gakpo find the net, although his chances of doing the same in Germany over the next fortnight may now have taken a serious hit.
According to Mikos Gouka for Algemeen Dagblad, the 25-year-old could be facing ‘strong competition’ for a starting berth at the Euros after fellow attackers Donyell Malen and Wout Weghorst both came off the bench to score in the Oranje’s 4-0 win over Iceland on Monday night.
The former actually replaced the Liverpool man in the 75th minute, with our number 18 unable to add to his tally of nine international goals, and he could be hard pressed to score in every group game this summer if he’s left relying on substitute appearances.
Gakpo has a decent scoring record for his country across 24 caps, scoring in three of their Euro 2024 qualifiers and providing two assists in the 4-0 thrashing of Scotland in March, although he’s netted just once in five games for Netherlands since last November (Transfermarkt).
It would be nonetheless be harsh for Ronald Koeman to drop him for the Oranje’s first game of the tournament against Poland next Sunday, as the Liverpool forward still had plenty of positives from his performance last night.
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As per Sofascore, he executed two key passes and created one ‘big chance’, landed one shot on target, posted a 100% accuracy from crosses, made two tackles and won five duels against Iceland.
Gakpo mightn’t always be the most lethal of attackers and can fall onto the periphery of games, but he still netted 16 times for the Reds in total last season, a far from disgraceful return for someone who started fewer than half of our Premier League matches (Transfermarkt).
Koeman has regularly picked the Liverpool man since taking charge of Netherlands for a second time in 2023, and he could make a few alterations to his starting line-up as Euro 2024 progresses, but in our view the 25-year-old has still done enough to merit inclusion in the team to face Poland next weekend.
READ MORE: A history of Liverpool players at the European Championship