The United States of America President Joe Biden joined in the wished all the best to his country's men’s national team ahead of their Round of 16 future against the Netherlands at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Saturday, December 3. The video was posted by the leader of America on his official Twitter account, and President Biden can be seen wishing the team while also making a cheeky joke, saying the sport is called soccer and not football.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands would love to start playing well, but beating the United States and reaching a World Cup quarterfinal is their primary focus. This has so far been an underwhelming tournament from the Oranje, although they still advanced top of Group A with two wins and a draw from their three matches.
Coach Louis van Gaal told the media to fly home if the football was "so terribly boring", but there is no doubt it is effective.
Discounting penalty shoot-outs, Van Gaal is unbeaten in his 10 World Cup matches as a coach. Only Felipe Scolari (12) and Mario Zagallo (11) have enjoyed longer undefeated streaks to start their finals careers.
The coach appears to have his players on board, as Marten de Roon said: "We are searching, that is clear. We hope it gets better, we all hope so.
"But the first goal is to get through to the next round. We are not deliberately playing badly here. Maybe one of you has the solution? Of course, we would prefer to play everyone off the carpet and win 5-0 every time and become world champions, but it is not that simple. Winning counts on Saturday, but how we do it matters less. Even if necessary through penalty kicks," he said.
(With Opta inputs)
