Netherlands captain, Virgil van Dijk has hit back at criticism accusing European teams of being cowards at the World Cup. He recently revealed that nations have been accused of having no backbone after they decided against wearing the OneLove armband, and fans have been reacting.
According to him, he plays in a position where a yellow card is not useful in such crucial World Cup games, therefore he had to do what is best for his nation and teammates at this particular time.
Van Dijk added that Netherlands players just want to play football, even if they would have preferred doing it with the armband.
His words, “I play in a position where a yellow card is not useful. I became a football player and I want to play these kind of tournaments.”
“There are people who say we don’t have a backbone, but that’s not how it works.”
“We just want to play football. I would have loved to play with that band, but not at the expense of a yellow card.”
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