Tunisia
NetherlandsThe match settled before either side had warmed up. Two defensive errors in the opening seven minutes — Skhiri's clearing deflection and Brobbey converting Van Dijk's aerial knockdown — gave Netherlands a comfort that Tunisia, for all their early promise, could never realistically threaten. Mastouri's debut header made it 2-1 in the 53rd and gave the match a brief pulse, but Van Hecke's headed corner in the 62nd restored the two-goal margin immediately, and from there the Dutch managed the game with the composure of a side that knows exactly where it is going. Tunisia's 0.23 xG across ninety minutes told the honest story of a group campaign that produced no points and twelve goals conceded.
Tunisia
Tunisia arrived for their final group match with elimination already confirmed and the tournament verdict already written, yet found individual moments worth taking home. Aymen Dahmen was magnificent in goal — multiple fine saves against Gakpo, Dumfries, and Van Dijk kept the scoreline from becoming a statement — and Hazem Mastouri, making his World Cup debut, rose to redirect Hannibal Mejbri's corner into the net in the 53rd minute for a goal that briefly made Arrowhead Stadium sit up. The structural problems that had plagued Tunisia throughout remained incurable: Skhiri's deflection into his own net in the 3rd minute and Brobbey's tap-in from Van Dijk's aerial knockdown in the 7th condemned them before the match had found its footing.
Netherlands
The Dutch arrived in Kansas City with the organised authority of a team that had already demonstrated its best and needed only to confirm it. Brobbey scored his third of the tournament from close range in the 7th minute, De Jong and Reijnders controlled the middle third without urgency, and Jan Paul van Hecke headed in from a Reijnders corner in the 62nd to settle matters — a player who would not have featured in any pre-tournament spotlight piece quietly becoming one of the competition's most composed performers. The corner delivery that produced two of their three goals underlines set pieces as a genuine Dutch weapon entering the knockout rounds, and Gakpo's five group-stage goals now equal Robin van Persie's Dutch record at a single World Cup.