Memphis Depay was critical of his own performance in the Netherlands’ victory over Turkey in Amsterdam on Tuesday despite the forward claiming a hat-trick in their 6-1 World Cup qualifying win.
The 27-year-old’s first international hat-trick took him alongside Johan Cruyff on 33 goals, but the Barcelona striker was not satisfied with his overall play.
“We were often sloppy, especially me,” he said, adding that he had lost possession the first three times he had the ball.
Photo: AP
However, “if we start like we did, we make it easy on ourselves,” he said. “After going two-up, we expanded our game and then you can afford those sloppy moments, but we should actually try and keep a high level, and I’m talking about myself here again.”
“Everyone might think I’m just jubilant now after the hat-trick. I’m happy, yes, but I expect more from myself,” he said.
Davy Klaassen scored in the opening minute with Depay adding two more in the first half, including a penalty, before Turkey had defender Caglar Soyuncu sent off.
Depay scored his third goal in the 54th minute and the Netherlands then added two more goals for a victory that moved them top of Group G with four matches left to play.
Elsewhere in the group, Erling Haaland scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 rout of Gibraltar, while Montenegro and Latvia drew 0-0.
The Netherlands lead the Group G on goal-difference ahead of Norway, with both teams on 13 points, followed by Turkey (11), Montenegro (8), Latvia (5) and Gibraltar (0).
Only the group winners directly qualify for the World Cup. Second-place finishers face a playoff.
Depay said that he was pleased with moving up the all-time Netherlands scorers list to seventh spot, alongside Cruyff and Abe Lenstra.
“Those are two legendary players, you cannot compare anyone else to them, but for me it’s great that I’m in the top 10,” Depay said after winning his 71st cap. “The top three, that’s what I’m going for now.”
Robin van Persie, with 50 goals, is the all-time top scorer for the men’s national team.
In other qualifiers in Europe, Portugal overcame the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo to comfortably defeat Azerbaijan 3-0 and take the lead in Group A.
Bernardo Silva, Andre Silva and Diogo Jota scored a goal each for visiting Portugal with Ronaldo suspended for accumulated cards.
Serbia had appeared on course to take the group lead before a late own-goal from Nikola Milenkov negated an early score from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in a 1-1 draw against Ireland.
Portugal lead the group with 13 points ahead of Serbia (11), Luxembourg (6), Ireland (2) and Azerbaijan (1).
In Group D, Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema linked up for France.
Griezmann scored twice and was set up by Benzema both times in a 2-0 win over Finland that put the defending World Cup champions in control of their qualifying group for next year’s tournament.
France lead Group D with 12 points, seven points clear of Ukraine and Finland, who have played two games fewer.
Also in the group, Baktiyor Zainutdinov equalized five minutes into stoppage-time for Kazakhstan in a 2-2 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
France lead the group with 12 points ahead of Ukraine (5), Finland (5), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3) and Kazakhstan (3).
UEFA Euro Championship semi-finalists Denmark extended their perfect start in Group F by dominating Israel 5-0.
Also in the group, Scotland put themselves into playoffs contention with a 1-0 win against Austria following a first-half penalty from Lyndon Dykes, while the Faeroe Islands earned a rare victory by beating visiting Moldova 2-1.
Denmark lead the group with 18 points ahead of Scotland (11), Israel (10), Austria (7), Faeroe Islands (4) and Moldova (1).
In Group H, Croatia lead Russia on goal-difference after Croatia beat Slovenia 3-0 and Russia downed visiting Malta 2-0.
Also, Slovakia beat Cyprus 2-0.
Croatia and Russia have 13 points each, followed by Slovakia (9), Slovenia (7), Malta (4) and Cyprus (4).
Additional reporting by AP
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS