Netherlands 4-0 Lithuania: Hosts' second-half flurry seals World Cup spot
The Netherlands rounded off their qualifying campaign with a big win and sealed top spot in Group G in the process.
Cody Gakpo starred for the Netherlands as they earned a 4-0 win over Lithuania, which sends them to the 2026 World Cup.
Ronald Koeman's side had all but secured their place at next year's tournament, but three goals in four second-half minutes ensured there were no nerves in their final game.
Lithuania were caught playing out from the back in the 16th minute, with Tijjani Reijnders spinning to meet Frenkie de Jong's throughball and rifle his effort into the top-left corner.
He arguably should have had a second shortly after; he broke through the defence once more, only to bend his outside-of-the-boot shot off the left post.
Lithuania offered very little threat, but a second-half collapse ensured there was no way back into the game after Artemijus Tutyskinas was penalised for a handball.
Gakpo confidently swept home the resulting penalty in the 58th minute, and Xavi Simons added a second just two minutes later. He latched onto Gakpo's low cross and curled his effort around the defender and into the roof of the net.
Donyell Malen then added some gloss to the scoreline, racing forward down the right after a Lithuania corner was cleared, and he cut inside to poke a powerful shot past a helpless Edvinas Gertmonas.
Substitute Emmanuel Emegha hit the post late on, but the job was already done for the Netherlands. They finish three points clear in Group G of Poland, who beat Malta 3-2 to secure their play-off place.
Data Debrief: Premier League stars shine for the Oranje
For the first time ever, four Premier League players have found the net in one single game for the Netherlands, who rounded out their qualification campaign in style.
Despite dominating the first half with eight shots and 78.9% of the ball, they struggled for goals. But they found their solution after the break, generating 2.2 expected goals (xG) from 12 efforts.
The Netherlands are now unbeaten in their last 17 World Cup qualifiers, their longest unbeaten streak in the competition (since at least 2010).
