It was a heavy night for the Dutch side, but Gakpo made it count in the Round of 32. To score like that, so soon after the death of his child, was a kind of release. But if you look past the numbers on the board, there is a much bigger story here.
An emotional night and a decisive finish
The 27-year-old forward made no mistake of it in the 72nd, breaking the deadlock with a well-taken shot. Crysencio Summerville put in a good pass for it during the fourth of these knockout ties at the Monterrey Stadium in Mexico.
Afterwards, you saw him on the ground, head down, with his teammates coming over. When he got up, the tears were there. A fan even put out a video of a parent weeping in the stands after the goal; it says something about how the moment was felt off the field as well as on it.
Personal loss shared publicly
Only 48 hours before, Gakpo and his partner Noa van der Bij put the hard news out there. “With broken hearts, we share the devastating news that our baby boy passed away during pregnancy,” she said on social media. “Thank you for your love and support. Elijah Raphael Gakpo. Forever loved. Forever our son.”
She also wrote of a strange comfort they found in their faith: “We went to church to light a candle. Then we were on the church playground with our son Samuel. There was just one other kid. His name was Elijah. You can’t make up a sign from God like that. He let us know our little boy is not far from us.”
Time away and the decision to play
The national team let Gakpo have some time with his family near the base in Kansas City. Some would have put him on the bench after what happened, but he was there when it came to the Morocco tie.
Voices from the Dutch camp
You get a sense of it from captain Virgil van Dijk. “What do you need? That’s the question. It’s awful, and it puts into perspective that football is second to some things. Very sad, but Cody is handling it.”
“He’s a very grown-up about it,” Van Dijk added. “I have a lot of respect for how he and his family are going about it. No matter how bad it is, I respect that.”
Then there is manager Ronaldo Koeman, who has seen the squad close ranks. “We’ve given him all the support we can, as staff and as players. He had the leeway to be with his family the first few days. He’s been fine with it, never once did he say ‘I want to be with them’.”
Match stakes and late drama
All that aside, you still have to play the game. The 2022 semi-finalists in Morocco made it even in stoppage time with a header from Issa Diop, and the Netherlands’ narrow advantage was gone, sending us to extra time.
A bit of a twist at the end to cap off an evening of feeling. For Gakpo, the goal and the huddle with his mates was a case in point of how the game can be a vessel for both the personal and the communal.
Some of the highlights from a night of mixed emotions:
– The 72nd minute sees the opener go in
– Crysencio Summerville with the assist
– The couple made the announcement two days prior
– Some time off was given to be with family
– An equaliser in the dying moments means extra time
But you can’t put a value on what happens next. As Van Dijk will tell you, some matters are above the sport. Still, the fact that Gakpo was out there and put the ball in the back of the net is a reminder that even in the toughest of times, there is meaning to be had on the pitch and beyond.
