The Netherlands crashed out of the 2026 World Cup on Monday evening as they suffered an agonising penalty shootout defeat to reigning AFCON champions, Morocco.

Ronald Koeman’s side were one of the most impressive teams at the tournament in the group stage, scoring 10 goals and going unbeaten across their three matches.

Despite finishing top of Group F, they were handed a very tricky last 32 tie against Morocco.

The Netherlands looked like they were going to go through when Cody Gakpo gave them the lead with 18 minutes remaining. However, Oranje couldn’t hang on as Issa Diop’s goal in stoppage-time restored parity.

The match went to a penalty shootout and the Netherlands crashed out after Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Crysencio Summerville were unable to score their spot-kicks.

Pawel Andrachiewicz/PressFocus via Reuters

The Netherlands, despite being so impressive in the group stage, decided to play a completely different way against Morocco. Instead of playing a free-flowing, attacking style of football, Koeman’s side decided to defend deep and let Morocco have the majority of the ball.

That style of play limited the Netherlands to 30% and just three shots on target. Ultimately, it didn’t play off as the Netherlands crashed out of the competition.

Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk, who played the full match but did not take a spot-kick, is adamant that the game plan worked. He told NOS just after the game, per vi.nl: “[It’s] Very difficult to analyze it now.

“If you look at almost all the big teams at the World Cup: they also just drop back and they also wait for the right moment to apply pressure. We trained hard on this for two days; at times it went well. Of course, there are always things that can be improved, but anyway: that doesn’t help us right now.”

Van Dijk’s belief that the game plan worked has not gone down well with football fans. One said: “Tone deaf from someone of his caliber.” Another commented: “What major teams are dropping deep? The only teams dropping deep I’ve seen are the true underdogs without the quality.”

A third wrote: “Yes Virgil, gameplan succeeded greatly! Much success! Managed to get a draw after parking the bus for 90 minutes, conceding after going 1-0 up and then missing 3 pens. Good process!”

A fourth said: “What a clown”, while a fifth called the Liverpool star “Virgil Van Delusional.”

Ronald Koeman Defends Defensive Tactics

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Koeman has come under fire following the Netherlands’ defeat, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic blaming him for their exit. Despite the criticism, he is adamant that he was right to set up his side to play defensively.

He said after the match, per the Guardian: “You can think whatever you like but we gave away much less against a team that was stronger than [group stage opponents] Sweden and Tunisia. If I had to do it again I’d do it all the same way. As the Dutch coach when the equaliser is scored I am always going to be scolded for the fact I chose five defenders.

“But you criticise, which is your right. You watch from the sidelines, I’m here with the team and, once again, I’d do it again.”

Morocco will now play co-hosts Canada for a place in the quarter-final. The match will take place at Houston Stadium on Saturday, July 4.

In today’s day and age, the boxing world has some fantastic competitors across multiple weight classes. However, it is, and has always been, the heavyweights that have drawn the most attention and money towards the sport over the years.

Boxers like Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, and Anthony Joshua are some of the biggest names in the sport today, and are establishing themselves as household names who will go down in the list of greats in boxing history. However, how do they compare to some of the greats, and do they make the cut just yet?

Well, according to AI, only two of them are worthy of making the top 15 list of greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. So without further ado, let’s see who is worthy of making said list.

10

Rocky Marciano

Boxing record: 49-0

Rocky Marciano is one of two members of this list to have gone his entire career undefeated. After defeating Joe Louis for his heavyweight championship, the only way was up for Marciano, who went on to retire with a career record of 49-0.

Of those 49 wins, he won 43 of them via knockout, and could stake a claim higher on this list. For only six fights to go the distance is quite remarkable, so it’s only right that the American lands in the top 10 on the list of greatest heavyweights in the sport’s history.

9

Mike Tyson

Boxing record: 50-7 (2 NC)

Iron Mike Tyson takes home a record of 50 wins, with 44 of those coming via knockout, and seven losses to his name. The 58-year-old found himself going into a fight most recently in a situation where he was not the sole centre of attention. Both fighters were the subject of conversation for his meeting with Jake Paul, where the 29-year-old won via unanimous decision in what many blasted as a lacklustre event.

However, we cannot forget just how good Mike Tyson was back in his prime, and we mustn’t let the shambles that was the Jake Paul fight cast a shadow over his iconic and legendary career.

8

Evander Holyfield

Boxing record: 44-10-2 (1 NC)

Evander Holyfield goes down as one man who made boxing history, but it’s not for actions of his own in the ring despite being an undisputed champion.

Holyfield boasts victories over names like George Foreman and even Mike Tyson, with one of his victories becoming one of the most infamous boxing moments ever as Iron Mike bit his ear, taking a chunk out of it in the process. A run of defeats when past his peak harmed his chances at ranking higher on the list, with Holyfield scoring 29 knockouts, finishing with a record of 44-10-2.

7

Lennox Lewis

Boxing record: 41-2-1

Lennox Lewis was an astounding combination of a man who could be agile and light on his feet while standing six feet and five inches tall. Lewis won gold at the 1988 Olympics and boasted an impressive statistic of beating every man he had ever faced in the ring, including Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

The 58-year-old has differed from some of the greats of his time as he has never been swayed by the temptation to return for one last dance the way some of the greats from his era have. Before Oleksandr Usyk achieved it by beating Tyson Fury, Lewis was the last undisputed heavyweight champion of the boxing division, which happened way back in 1999.

6

Joe Frazier

Boxing record: 32-4-1

The year 1971 saw Joe Frazier compete in what many labelled as the ‘Fight of the Century’ when he met Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden. Until he met George Foreman in Jamaica, Frazier had been on an unprecedented streak of 29 fights where he claimed victory, but results soon began to drop following that defeat.

Boasting an impressive record of wins, the heavyweight only won three of his final seven fights, losing three and drawing his final meeting with Floyd Cummings.

5

George Foreman

Boxing record: 76-5

George Foreman has managed to be the face of more than just boxing, being the marketing face of the Foreman Grill. However, he was part of one of boxing’s most legendary nights, known as the “Rumble in the Jungle.”

After a 10-year hiatus from the sport, he returned with an astounding accomplishment of 24 straight victories, 22 of which came through knockout. Sadly, however, his career ended in defeat when he lost to Shannon Briggs in 1997 by majority decision. That doesn’t take away from the fact, though, he was incredibly 40-0 heading into the huge fight with Muhammad Ali, which he lost via knockout.

4

Oleksandr Usyk

Boxing record: 25-0

Ahead of his apparent final-ever fight in a truly illustrious career, Oleksandr Usyk comes in at fourth, according to AI.

After dominating the cruiserweight division and unifying all the belts in the process, the Ukrainian decided to follow in the footsteps of legends before him and move up to heavyweight, where he then went on to dominate and unify all the belts once again.

Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Derek Chisora, Daniel Dubois have all shared the ring with Usyk at heavyweight and all have fallen to The Cat.

With just one fight left, likely to be Deontay Wilder or even MMA’s Jon Jones, Usyk has already cemented himself as one of the true heavyweight greats.

3

Larry Holmes

Boxing record: 69-6

Larry Holmes may have felt some pressure on his shoulders with the expectations placed on him to emerge in the world of boxing. Holmes was once a training partner of the great Muhammad Ali, and his sparring sessions must have come in handy as his skill gets him on this list, too.

His crowning achievement comes through his 19 consecutive title fight victories over seven years. Just like Foreman, he also built up an incredible unbeaten run, heading into his fight with Michael Spinks with a record of 48-0. However, what followed was three straight defeats, two to Spinks and one to Mike Tyson. He did then recover and win six in a row before losing to Evander Holyfield. His last fight came in 2002, which was a victory against Eric Esch.

2

Joe Louis

Boxing record: 66-3

Joe Louis goes down in the sport’s history as not only one of the greatest ever heavyweights to lace up a pair of gloves, but also one of the hardest punchers to ever take up the sport.

After racing to a 24-0 record, Louis would lose his first fight in 1936, before then going on a 14-year unbeaten streak to take his record to an incredible 58-1. Defeat to Ezzard Charles was then followed up by eight consecutive wins, before his final appearance in the ring took place in 1951. Ironically enough, his final fight in the sport came against the man featured before him on this list, Rocky Marciano, with the contest ending in defeat for Louis via TKO in the eighth round.

1

Muhammad Ali

Boxing record: 56-5

Who else but this man to top this list? The words float like a butterfly sting like a bee rang true with so many in the world of boxing, and still do to this day.

Ali not only goes down as one of the greatest to ever compete in the world of boxing, but he goes down as one of the greatest sporting personalities. Facing off with some of the greatest in the sport, some of whom are on this list, was exactly how Ali made himself to be a name that would circulate for generations to come. No one likes boxing without liking Muhammad Ali.

Jurgen Klopp’s comments about Arsenal after Jonathan Tah had a goal controversially ruled out by VAR in Germany’s World Cup exit vs Paraguay have gone viral.

Germany were easily expected to overcome Paraguay in their last 32 tie at Boston Stadium.

However, despite having the lion’s share of possession in the first 45 minutes, it was the underdogs who took the lead just before half-time through Julio Enciso.

Germany needed to up their game in the second half, and it didn’t take long for them to restore parity as Arsenal’s Kai Havertz found the back of the net.

There were no further goals for the remainder of regulation time as the game went to extra-time. Jonathan Tah thought he had given his side the lead in the 103rd minute, only for his goal to be controversially ruled out.

The match went all the way to penalties, and it was the South American side who emerged victorious thanks to Jose Canale’s sudden death winner.

REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

The decision to rule out Tah’s goal was extremely controversial. Moments before Tah headed home, Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill briefly fell to ground following contact from Germany substitute Waldemar Anton.

Gill had got to his feet by the time the ball reached Tah, but he could not do anything to stop the Bayern Munich defender from finding the back of the net.

Fortunately for Paraguay, VAR deemed that Anton had committed a foul on Gill and disallowed the goal, leaving Germany incensed. Julian Nagelsmann in particular was outraged and was shown a yellow card for his protests.

Former Liverpool manager Klopp was covering the match as a pundit for Magneta TV, and he did not agree with the decision as he made reference to Premier League champions Arsenal. He said:

He added: “There are worse things than defeats in sports. But there was only one goal, one dream, and that has been shattered. It was dramatic. There are 500,000 ways to win a football match. You just have to find one.”

Alan Shearer Slams Officials

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Winslow Townson

Alan Shearer slammed the decision and claimed that Gill had ‘conned’ the referee. He said, per the BBC: “I don’t agree with that decision at all. The keeper falls to the ground on a slight touch and it’s very soft. I thought it was a terrible decision.

“You have to understand it is a contact sport, the goalkeeper has conned the referee and the VAR. The way he went down was pathetic.”

Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann also believed the goal shouldn’t have been ruled out. Just before the decision was made, he said:

“This is soft, in my opinion. But judging by what we’ve seen in the tournament so far, it wouldn’t surprise me if they do rule it out. We’ve seen two or three goals ruled out for very small offences. This is hardly anything.

“It’s a small block on the goalkeeper, but for me, it’s not enough. I suspect they will be ruling this out. We feel this should not be disallowed.”

Paraguay will now take on either France or Sweden in the last 16 of the competition. The match will be played at Philadelphia Stadium on Saturday, July 4.