FIFA International Friendly | Monday, 8 June 2026 Icahn Stadium, New York City | Referee: Alyssa Pennington
Guus Til put his hand to the ball in the 87th minute. Handball. Straight red card. Penalty to Uzbekistan.
Up until that point Netherlands were coasting. One-nil up. 65% possession. Uzbekistan barely threatening. Four days from the World Cup, everything fine.
Then Til. Then the red. Then Sergeev stepped up and equalised in the 91st minute. Then eight minutes of stoppage time. Then Uzbekistan fouled someone and Netherlands got a penalty back. Then Gakpo scored it. 2-1. Done.
Ronald Koeman aged about five years in fifteen minutes.
It started straightforwardly enough. Netherlands were on top from the first whistle — this was supposed to be their final confidence boost before the tournament and for 86 minutes it was exactly that. Gakpo won the penalty in the 32nd minute, stepped up, and put it away himself. Low. Composed. Classic Gakpo. Netherlands were in front and never really looked like giving it up.
Uzbekistan tried. Fayzullaev and Shomurodov caused minor problems. Shukurov had a couple of attempts that went nowhere near the goal. Cannavaro’s side sat in a back three and tried to frustrate but Netherlands moved the ball too quickly and too accurately for them to get close in the first half.
Second half started with changes. Brobbey came on for Malen at 65 minutes. Then the injury — Verbruggen went off at 66 minutes. Flekken came on. Another concern four days before Japan. Frenkie de Jong made way for Til at 72 minutes. Brobbey had a goal ruled out for offside. Everything still felt under control.
Then Til put his hand on the ball.
There was no real argument. Clear handball, clear goalscoring opportunity denied, straight red. The referee Alyssa Pennington did not hesitate. Uzbekistan had their penalty and Sergeev sent Flekken the wrong way. Icahn Stadium, mostly empty and strange with a running track around the pitch, suddenly had something to make noise about.
Nine minutes of stoppage time by this point. Netherlands with ten men. Reijnders had a shot on target. A corner in the 90+7th. Then Uzbekistan gave away a foul inside the box — contact from behind on a Netherlands player — and Pennington pointed to the spot again.
Gakpo. Again. Same coolness. Same finish. 2-1 in the 98th minute.
He walked away without celebrating much. The whole thing had been too chaotic to enjoy. Netherlands had won. Just.
For Koeman the worry is not the result — it is everything around it. Verbruggen off injured. Til suspended for the World Cup opener against Japan on June 14 after the red card. A goalkeeper already being managed. A squad that had also lost 1-0 to Algeria the previous week. These are not catastrophic problems. They are small things that pile up.
Gakpo at least. Two penalties in the same game, both converted under pressure. He is the focal point of this Dutch attack and when the bigger moments come — Japan, then Brazil or France potentially later — he will need to be exactly this player. Settled. Clinical. Reliable.
Uzbekistan go to their first ever World Cup having made Netherlands very uncomfortable for fifteen minutes. That matters. Cannavaro has built something organised and hard to break down. Sergeev’s penalty was a clean, confident finish from a player who did not look nervous for a second. They face South Korea first on June 14. The Group H opponents will have noted this.
First ever meeting between the two nations. Strange venue. Chaotic finish. Netherlands win anyway. That is how preparation matches go sometimes.
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Netherlands 2-1 Uzbekistan FIFA International Friendly | Monday, 8 June 2026 Icahn Stadium, New York City | Referee: Alyssa Pennington
Goals: Cody Gakpo 32′ pen, 90’+8′ pen (Netherlands) | Igor Sergeev 90’+2′ pen (Uzbekistan) Red Card: Guus Til 87′ (Netherlands) Yellow Cards: Summerville 74′ (NED) | Ashurmatov 67′ (UZB)
Netherlands (4-3-3): Verbruggen (Flekken 67′); Van de Ven, Van Dijk, Van Hecke, Dumfries; Reijnders, De Jong (Til 72′), Gravenberch; Gakpo, Malen (Brobbey 65′), Summerville
Uzbekistan (3-4-2-1): GK; defenders; Fayzullaev (Iskanderov 77′); Shomurodov, Shukurov; Sergeev
Stats: Possession NED 65% — UZB 35% | Shots on Goal 4-1 | Attempts 15-8 | Corners 3-3 | Saves 0-1 | Half-time 1-0
