Let Memphis, who prefers to be known by his first name only, explain the celebration that followed the beautiful finish that sent Netherlands on their way towards the quarter-finals of World Cup 2022.
“My goal celebration means to be blind and deaf to the world. I don’t feel anything, I don’t see anything, I only focus.”
Fair enough, but that will probably raise the eyebrow of the odd Manchester United fan who bumped into Memphis in the city’s nightclubs during his 19 months in the Premier League.
But he was a young man then, moving to Old Trafford having just turned 21 in 2015 and enjoying the glamour of being at one of the world’s biggest clubs.
It did not work out in England, Memphis scoring a couple of goals in 29 Premier League appearances in his first season but finding himself unwanted in his second season and leaving for Lyon in January, 2017.
Coincidentally, the United manager who signed him was Louis van Gaal and one of his Old Trafford team-mates was Daley Blind, who confirmed the Dutch passage to the last eight in Qatar 2022 with a neatly-taken goal just before half-time.
Memphis has since been critical of Van Gaal’s style of management during the United days but the pair seem to have settled any differences since the 71-year-old took charge of the national team in August, 2021. The sweet hit in the Khalifa International Stadium was his 15th goal in 17 appearances for the Netherlands under Van Gaal.
And there was much more to his performance here than his goal - he was a threat to the United States defence every time he had possession, one second half effort bringing out a very decent save from Matt Turner.
That effort came on the counter-attack, which is clearly the way Van Gaal likes to play and which does not always go down too well in Holland. If you thought the press pack who cover England can be a negative bunch, you haven’t met our Dutch counterparts.
From afar, Van Gaal comes across as a likeable sort - he was always interesting to deal with during those United days - and has been pretty full of himself out in Qatar.
Too full of himself, according to some sections of the Dutch media, who were surprised to hear his positive reaction when it was suggested he might hop to the Belgian job at some stage.
After a couple of wins and a draw in the group stages, you might have thought Van Gaal's stock would have been higher coming into this game but it seems a lot of Netherlands supporters see his football as negative. Sound familiar, English fans?
To be fair to Van Gaal, such was the vibrancy of the Americans’ start, his team had little choice other than to be negative and it will be source of great regret for Gregg Berhalter, the United States coach, that Christian Pulisic could only find the legs of Andries Noppert when presented with a juicy early chance.
Both player and manager were certainly ruing that miss when a 20-pass package of throwback total football gave Van Gaal’s team the lead.
Memphis - now in the final year of his contract with Barcelona - was involved at the start and end of the move, contributing two neat touches before applying a studied, intelligent, brilliantly-executed finish to a precise cut-back from Denzel Dumfries, who would later provide Blind with the Netherlands’ second.
A flukey finish from Haji Wright made it interesting for a short while but the American defence was in dreadful form at the wrong time and Dumfries himself volleyed in a Dutch third to settle matters once and for all.
With ten minutes to go, that was the signal for Memphis to come off and to have a long chat with Van Gaal. Presumably, they were not talking about the old days at Old Trafford but of their plans to go further in this tournament. And with Memphis in this sort of form, there is no reason why they cannot.
