Dirk Kuyt’s marathon run comes to an end

In World Cups it is the glamour players demand and receive our attention. But it is also the stage for the less heralded professional to pursue the footballer’s ultimate dream.

Players like Dirk Kuyt. The Dutchman divides opinions. He is loved at the four clubs through which he has passed. But a certain lack of technical refinement, like that possessed by a Robben or Van Persie say, means many remain to be convinced of his merits.

Yet here he was, a Dutch centurion contesting his second World Cup semi-final against Messi's Argentina. Unlike Arjen Robben who has an impressive haul of club honours to console himself with, Kuyt has a League Cup medal with Liverpool and a Turkish league one with Fenerbahce.

How this campaign– his last - must have filled him with hope at a final valedictory send off.

Some would say his small haul reflects the level he reached in his career but Kuyt in his own way represents the modern face of Dutch Total Football. He started life as a free-scoring striker at Utrecht but at Liverpool Rafa Benitez transformed him into one of the hardest running right-wings in football.

Appreciated

His versatility was also appreciated in his homeland. After the World Cup quarter-final in South Africa against Brazil when Kuyt started on the right then filled in on the left and found time for a stint up front during a 1-0 victory Johan Cruyff, the epitome of Total Football, described the player as “worth his weight in gold”.

He won his 100th cap in the second round match against Mexico when during Louis van Gaal’s tactical masterclass he again showed his versatility starting this time as left-back before being switched to right-back and finishing the game like half his team-mates in his old role up front.

Considering he had lost his place in the side and did not feature in the first two games of this tournament it speaks volumes of his dedication and enduring worth that he had reestablished himself in Van Gaal’s mind as a certain starter.

Last night’s setting was kinder than the brutal sun of the Mexico game in Fortaleza when it seemed his head was visibly radiating heat through his blond mop. But this chilly winter’s night in São Paulo when the drizzle left many behind the goals damp might have reminded the boy from Katwijk-on-the-North Sea of home.

Stationed out right Kuyt had the dual task of helping his defender Stefan De Vrij with watching Ezequiel Lavezzi while pushing up and trying to suppress the forward runs of Marcos Rojo. This provided one of the tactical subplots of a cautious first half– Kuyt ensured Rojo had one of his quieter halves of the month.

Inevitably Kuyt was involved as van Gaal took the necessary action and withdrew Bruno Martins Indi. With Daryl Janmaat now occupying his starting position on the right he switched to the left-wing and commenced battle with Pablo Zabaleta and Enzo Perez who motored past him with surprising when he was still finding his bearings. Find them he did and the Dutch left was less profitable for Argentina in the second half than it had been in the first.

Tactically disciplined

A forward playing first as right and then left back in a tight, cautious, nervy affair that the game increasingly became was perhaps never going to grab the spectator’s attention. Kuyt’s contribution was diligently going about his task: tactically disciplined, nothing flash, calmly helping play the ball out from his own corner flag in the 86th minute, always willing to be part of the platform that would allow his forward colleagues to shine.

He almost personally helped one do so when he played in Robben in the final minute, his best pass of the night, but he denied by a last ditch tackle by Javier Mascherano.

In an extra time that flickered but never caught fire Kuyt stuck to his task on the left leaving Zabaleta with a bloodied gob after some more shoulder-to-mouth contact.

When Vlaar missed the first spot kick Kuyt was the man to run down and console him. He was there again when Sneijder missed his. He was up next and as all through his career when faced with a big spot kick tucked it away confidently.

Just a pity his colleagues did not show the same calm and professionalism.