Brian Brobbey, the Dutch striker whose brace sank the Swedes 5-1, was at the right place at the right time. Yet, four years ago, he was at the wrong place at the right time, a happenstance that would have cost not only his career, but his life when he met a school friend who he did not know was a gangster.
After the saga was settled, he told the Dutch press: “I have unknowingly brought a lot of shame to my club (then Ajax) and country. One day I will make you proud,” he said.
He fulfilled the promise in Houston on Saturday with two classic fox-in-the-box strikes. A flick and a deflection, goals that would not be immortalised, but invaluable for a side clanking to find its rhythm.
The two goals captured the virtues of Brobbey, an Ajax alumni with mid-table Premier League side Sunderland, but with covetous glances lurking towards him. He is a muscular barge-into-the box striker, but with dexterous feet. He wins the battle of the muscle with his markers, just as he outmuscled Isak Hien, holding off his elbow embrace and laying off the ball to Cody Gakpo, who reciprocated with a pass.
It was not a made-to-measure pass onto his feet. But Brobbey, sprinting into the box, stretched his right foot and in-stepped the ball goalwards. Seemingly a routine strike but one that involved far more nuance than just being there like an immobile receptor. Brobbey had to beat the off-side trap, judge the pace, the weight, the bend, the bounce, and decide the ball’s route and destination. Dissect the replays and one sees him snap his ankles, so that he gets the ball on the inside of his boot.
As his spiritual predecessor Pippo Inzaghi would say, “You need more than just two feet to score a goal. You need the intuition of millimetres.”
It was a quip to Johan Cruyff’s denigration that, “Look, actually he can’t play football at all. He’s just always in the right position.” This was a goal from the Inzaghi album of run-of-the-mill deception.
Story continues below this ad
Brobbey’s second goal was even more Inzaghi-esque. Right-back Denzel Dumfries’ cross was low and a tad over-hit, but he slithered in to stick out his foot and squeeze the ball to the far corner. The balance was so immaculate that his supporting left leg did not collapse in the momentum.
The most striker-esque vibe he gave was when he tried to steal the ball off Gakpo to complete his hat-trick in the second half. Gakpo scored the goal and Brobbey grinned sheepishly.
Underrated
He will never fire the imagination in the manner of captivating Dutch No. 9s such as Robin van Persie, Patrick Kluivert and Marco van Basten, but his clinical finishing is a comparable thing of beauty. The sniper analogy sits well, because they operate in the shadows, pounce from nowhere, and anonymity is a virtue.
Dutch manager Ronald Koeman employing him as a striker was in sync with the tournament’s revival of old-fashioned tactics such as the 4-4-2 mid-block and set-pieces. In scorching heat, teams have become direct and vertical. The resurrection of the striker was inevitable. It turned out to be a masterstroke, rendering the Dutch a focal point after their disjointed outing against Japan. Koeman’s backline is one of the most robust in the league, the suspicion lingered on his frontline. Much of the fog has now been vipered.
Story continues below this ad
Brobbey is not often classified as a striker because of the structural demands of the teams he has played for. But the true calling is scoring goals. “I am not spending sleepless nights worrying about my best position. I am happy just to play and contribute to the team,” he said last year.
Platitudes, but in his life, more than just hollow words. In 2022, he was attending a music festival in his hometown. A man who once lived in the same locality dusted up old acquaintances and told him that he had saved his life from a feared Moroccan gang and he needed to be compensated accordingly.
Little did Brobbey know that his supposed friend was a dreaded criminal wanted for murder and drug-peddling. He revealed the details of the strange meeting with his friend and showed his photograph. When the police were informed, the criminal’s true whereabouts were revealed.
The tale only got murkier. Unidentified assailants shot his friend, and emergency surgeries were performed to save his life. Bombs were hurled at his sister-in-law’s car. She had a narrow escape. Fireworks were dropped through the letterbox of his mother-in-law. An explosive was flung at Brobbey’s car days later. He got a text message from an unknown number demanding 150,000 pounds. Whether he paid or not, whether the police nabbed the criminal or not, the scandal drifted from public memory. He shifted to Sunderland in 2025, and a change of scenery rejuvenated Brobbey, who adapted to the English style seamlessly.
Story continues below this ad
At 24, he is a late bloomer by modern standards. But he is at the right place at the right time, after nearly being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
