Cody Gakpo and Davy Klaasen scored for the Netherlands as they began their World Cup with a 2-0 win against Senegal.
This is Louis Van Gaal’s third stint as Netherlands manager and this result extended his unbeaten run to 16 matches. The Netherlands have never been knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages.
Boulaye Dia and Ismaila Sarr were constant threats for Senegal in the first half, and both had efforts that threatened the Netherlands goal.
The biggest opportunity of the half, however, came when PSV forward Cody Gakpo was unable to find Steven Bergwijn, who had an open goal in the middle of the box.
Netherlands applied early pressure in the second half with Virgil Van Dijk heading over from a corner.
Dia then forced Andries Noppert into a save shortly after the hour mark, which was one of the few chances Senegal had in the second half.
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring in the 84th minute as he timed his run to meet Frenkie De Jong’s cross with his head into the bottom corner.
Davy Klaasen added to the Dutch’s lead in the 99th minute after an error from Edouard Mendy.
Next up for the Netherlands is Ecuador, meanwhile Senegal play hosts Qatar.
