DUSSELDORF, Germany — Cody Gakpo scored three goals in the early part of the World Cup in 2022, had the Netherlands feeling good about its chances, grabbed everyone’s attention, and effectively sealed a lucrative move to Liverpool.
Gakpo has scored three goals in the early part of Euro 2024, too. Again, he has the Netherlands feeling good about its chances. He’s been at Liverpool for the past 18 months, but with his efforts so far in this tournament,, he’s somehow grabbed virtually no one’s attention.
Ahead of the quarterfinal between the Dutch and a Turkey side that will enjoy huge support in Berlin, Gakpo has been installed by oddsmakers as the favorite to win the tournament’s Golden Boot.
However, with so much buzz around the stacked top half of the bracket, plus England’s calamitous struggles, both Gakpo and his team have been able to cruise on forward without scrutiny’s eye falling on them too strenuously.
“(Cody’s) maybe our most important player until now,” Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman told reporters. “I hope the rest can come to that level.”
You could argue that Gakpo’s contributions so far have been even timelier than at the World Cup. And that in terms of attacking potency, he is as dangerous as any other player in the tournament.
His first goal of the event was the equalizer against Poland in what would prove to be a comeback win, which assumed even greater significance come the end of Group D play.
Gakpo also pulled the Netherlands level against Austria, but couldn’t prevent them from slipping in the defeat that left the team third in its group — which perhaps turned out to ultimately be a blessing.
His best performance was his most recent, scoring against Romania in the round of 16 with a neat finish, and engineering a delightful move to set up Donyell Malen for the second.
The Netherlands’ showing may have been the best of the round of 16, save for Spain’s. Now the Dutch face a Turkey squad that is seen by some as the weakest of the quarterfinalists, but an opponent that cannot be taken lightly, either in regard to its skill level or the following it will receive at the Olympiastadion from Berlin’s massive Turkish community.
Always understated, Gakpo spoke pragmatically this week about his occasional struggles at Liverpool, where he earned departing coach Jurgen Klopp’s trust, but always seemed overshadowed by the personality and presence of Darwin Nunez.
“Those moments are normal for a player,” Gakpo told a press conference. “It’s not always going very well and going the way you like.
“Sometimes you have a spell where things don’t go your way, but I have a great team at Liverpool, great people that always are there for me and for everybody when you have those moments. They kept believing in me, kept helping me with everything.
“I just took that with me and kept working very hard. I’m very happy that I can be of value for the team.”
If Gakpo does win the Golden Boot, it would match fellow Dutchman Marco Van Basten, who did so in the Netherlands’ 1988 title-winning campaign. Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Kluivert also claimed a share of the accolade in past tournaments.
“We are not yet where we want to be,” Gakpo added.
FOX Euro 2024 analyst Daniel Sturridge, formerly of Liverpool, has been impressed with Gakpo and says he is “a different player” at the international level, compared to with his club.
Attack partner Memphis Depay could also fit into that category. Denzel Dumfries is also a master whenever he wears orange, as the United States found to its cost at the World Cup.
“We are Dutch, we have to play well, play attacking football,” Koeman said. “The performance againt Romania was extraordinary. But we also need a performance like that to have a chance of progressing. If we let up, we won’t make it to the final.”
Turkey always seems to reserve its best at the Euros for the occasions when it is playing in countries with a sizable expat presence. That was the case in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000, and again in Austria and Switzerland in 2008.
“Besides our formation, our gameplan and our tactics I have seen Turkish heart, and that’s what I love about this country,” head coach Vincenzo Montella told reporters.
Montella must cope with two big disappointments, with Merih Demiral suspended over a political gesture, and Orkan Kokcu, a former Netherlands player at youth level, banned for too many yellow cards.
Demiral would have been a big part of the plan to defend stoutly … and to stop the quiet, yet devastating, surge of Gakpo.
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