In the third minute of second-half injury time on Saturday, Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal made a tactical substitution to ensure his side safely reached the World Cup quarter final.
He took off Manchester City defender Nathan Ake, who has started every game so far in Qatar, and replaced him with a centre-back further down the pecking order. That replacement was Bayern Munich's Matthijs de Ligt - a player once strongly linked with City before Ake had even joined.
Three years ago, De Ligt was one of world football's hottest properties and touted as a key player in the future of Dutch football. Ake was playing for Bournemouth and struggling for games for the Netherlands, however it is to his credit that few are complaining that Ake is now undisputedly ahead of De Ligt for his country.
