Guus Til looks back on his World Cup debut: “That was really awesome”

After a strong season with PSV, Guus Til traveled with the Netherlands national team to the World Cup in North America. After two matches, the Netherlands is virtually certain to advance to the next round.

In the first match against Japan (2-2), Til still spent the full ninety minutes on the bench, but in the match against Sweden (5-1) the PSV player was allowed to come on after more than an hour for Tijani Reijnders. This also meant the midfielder’s debut at the World Cup.

Speaking to De Telegraaf, Til looks back on his first playing minutes at the World Cup. ''That is wonderful. It is a cliché, but this is really what you dream of as a little kid. What I noticed was how big the Oranje support was. I had expected less than that. I did have a hunch that it wasn’t all Dutch people, though. But it helps. Just a whole orange stadium—that was really cool,'' says the PSV player to the newspaper.

At some moments, the team led by head coach Ronald Koeman lost control of the match, and the midfielder thinks he knows what that was due to. ''The match had a bit of a strange switch in momentum the whole time. Those drink breaks play a role in that as well. As a team, you can suddenly start setting it up differently. I also don’t know whether that is really the intention of a drink break'', Til said.

Afterwards, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima visited the dressing room of Orange to select the players, and for Til this meant his first meeting with the king, but not with the queen. ''At primary school, I was in a learning orchestra. An orchestra of children who learned to play an instrument. I played the cello in it. And then we had a visit once from then still Princess Maxima. But the king wasn’t there at the time, so I saw him for the first time after the match,'' the PSV player says about it.

In addition, the select players are picking up other things in North America outside of football as well. ''We went with a few guys to a baseball game of the Kansas City Royals. I do like it, from time to time, to be able to step out of the bubble a bit, so it doesn't become a rut to stay in that hotel every day again and again. It's good to do something else outside of football as well from time to time. That also applies to family days,'' Til concludes.