Valentine Driessen praises him: “He was involved in all the dangerous moments.”

Former PSV player Cody Gakpo prevented a Dutch national team embarrassment on Monday evening Dutch time against World Cup debutant Uzbekistan. Thanks to two penalties by Gakpo, Oranje won 2-1 against the Uzbeks despite an unfortunate red card for PSV player Guus Til.

According to Valentijn Driessen from De Telegraaf, the Netherlands national team is currently too dependent on Gakpo. Driessen says this in the De Telegraaf podcast Kick-off.

''It's not only because he scored twice, but he is also the most dangerous man on the Dutch side. And that is very often the case. Of course that's not good. You'd expect that someone else takes over the baton once in a while, but it all has to come from Cody Gakpo'', says the journalist in the podcast.

Furthermore, Driessen, in contrast to that over Gakpo, is less pleased with fellow attackers Donyell Malen and Crysencio Summerville. ''He put a few balls in, they can certainly be there. That first one with the left from Malen may well go in; he provided a cross at the second post, which was headed wide. He was involved in every dangerous moment,'' continues Driessen.

The journalist also believes that Gakpo feels very comfortable with Oranje. ''Against Algeria he didn't do well, but something clicks as soon as he wears that Oranje shirt. The game may be tailored a bit more to him with the Netherlands than it is at Liverpool. That is also justified, because he is the difference-maker. But in some way, he always feels very at ease with the Netherlands national team. That comes through, I think,'' Driessen said.