Virgil van Dijk tipped to make retirement announcement after World Cup heartache

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Former Netherlands star Ronald De Boer believes Virgil van Dijk has made his last appearance for his country after the World Cup penalty shoot-out loss to MoroccoVirgil van Dijk and the Netherlands were eliminated from the World Cup by Morocco(Image: ANP)Virgil van Dijk has been tipped to announce his international retirement after the Netherlands' World Cup exit at the hands of Morocco.Van Dijk and his compatriots looked to be heading for the last 16 as they entered second-half injury time with a one-goal lead, but a 91st-minute equalizer took the game to extra time, and Morocco went on to win on penalties.Former Netherlands star Ronald De Boer believes the game will turn out to be Van Dijk's last for his country, as he expects the 34-year-old to draw the curtain on a 96-cap international career which began in 2015.De Boer also thinks Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman will exit his post.“Let me put it this way, I think he (Koeman) does it (leaves) himself and I think he will because the pressure is high,” De Boer explained.“He said, ‘I’m going to think about it in maybe one night or maybe two nights’, but he’s going to step away for 100 percent sure."He will do it on his own terms because if he’s not doing it, I think Nigel de Jong, the technical director of the federation, will do it."We need a new fire in this Dutch team and starting with the coach, I think that will happen.“I think we’re going to hear that soon and I think also Van Dijk, he had the captain’s armband and he was an amazing captain, I think he will say probably that ‘this is my last game.’Ronald de Boer expects Virgil van Dijk to retire from international soccer(Image: ANP)“Yes a lot of criticism about not taking the team by the hand, but still, all the respect for Van Dijk because he has been a great captain, but sometimes it’s time to go.”Van Dijk ended the game with a calf issue, so he may well have missed the Netherlands' next game had it qualified.Afterward, he said: "[It's] very difficult to analyze it now. I think we were well organized defensively."They basically couldn't find the open man between the lines.

So the game plan worked, of course. I think we scored a good goal."Ultimately, in injury time, you get pushed back.

Then it goes to penalties; unfortunately, we get knocked out."If you look at almost all the big teams at the World Cup: they also just drop back and they also wait for the right moment to apply pressure."We trained hard on this for two days; at times it went well. Of course, there are always things that can be improved, but anyway, that doesn't help us right now."