This was a bump in the road on Louis van Gaal’s farewell tour. The 71-year-old’s retirement should still be postponed for a week or two but, when the Netherlands had the chance to become the first team to book their place in the knockout stages, they encountered resistance in an unheralded but excellent Ecuador side. The Dutch lost a lead and their way, were outshot by a huge margin – 14-2 – and could count themselves fortunate they were not outscored. After the recent love-in for Van Gaal, this was a reminder he can oversee some ponderous, tedious football and Ecuador were the more enterprising and energetic team.
The scourges of Qatar have been one of the tournament’s welcome surprises. Ecuador rub shoulders with the Netherlands at the top of the group and are on course to equal their best-ever performance in the World Cup. Avoid defeat against Senegal and they will make the last 16 for just the second time. The blight on them involved their history maker. After Enner Valencia joined Eusebio, Paolo Rossi and Oleg Salenko in a select band to score six successive goals for their country on this stage, he was stretchered off. After an explosive start to his World Cup, it threatens to be a cruel and premature end.
