Beautiful moment Cody Gakpo breaks down after Netherlands players celebrate crucial goal

After putting the Netherlands in the lead in their Round of 32 fixture against Morocco, Cody Gakpo was beautifully flocked by teammates as he broke into tears.

Earlier this week, Gakpo announced that he and his partner, Noa van der Bij, lost their child during pregnancy, taking to social media to express his pain.

The 27-year-old winger made the decision to stay with the national team's World Cup camp despite the heartbreaking news and declared himself available for the Round of 32 match against Morocco.

Just two days after making the post on social media, the Dutch winger netted a crucial opening goal for the Netherlands against the AFCON champions to put the Oranje into the driving seat for a spot in the last 16.

Gakpo's emotional celebrations joined in by Netherlands teammates

The breakaway goal saw Crysencio Summerville race away and slide the ball into the path of Gakpo, who slammed the ball home and immediately fell to his knees.

Before the ball had even rippled the net, Gakpo was flocked by his teammates with the emotions streaming out of the winger.

Visibly in tears once he got to his feet, the Dutchman pointed to the heavens in respect of his recent loss.

"The emotions are clear to see"

What a moment for Cody Gakpo, who puts the Netherlands in front against Morocco pic.twitter.com/bHZrgSKwmF

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 30, 2026

Gakpo's goal makes him the joint second-highest World Cup scorer in Dutch history, joining Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Dennis Bergkamp, Rob Rensenbrink, and Robin van Persie on six. Only Johnny Rep, with seven World Cup goals, has more.

Liverpool and Netherlands captain Virgil Van Dijk showed his support before the game, revealing that 'football is secondary' and that he respected how Gakpo and Noa van der Bij had handled the heartbreaking news.

"The most important thing is to ask: ‘What do you need?’ It’s awful news, and it shows that football is secondary," Van Dijk said in a press conference yesterday.

"There are more important things in life. It’s very sad, but Cody deals with it, and he’s keen to go to the next round. He’ll do whatever he can (for the Netherlands), and that’s where the focus lies right now.

“It’s not that I learned anything new (about him), but of course the situation - You don’t want to have to experience it, but from what I saw from Cody, it fits him. He’s very mature, very adult. I have lots of respect for the way he and his family are handling this. However awful it is, I respect it very much."

The same sentiment was echoed by the Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman, who added that he is a 'powerful' man.

"It was very sad news that we learned and that Cody and his family learned,” Koeman added.

“We have done what was within our power in terms of support, as players, as staff. Of course, the first few days he had the freedom to go out to his family and be with them. He dealt with it very well; there was never a moment when he said, ‘I want to go back, I want to be with the family’.

"So that was the way he took it and the way he approached it, and that shows his maturity. I don’t think it’ll be a heavy weight on his performance. He deals with things with his family in his own way, and it’s very powerful. It’s beautiful, and we’ve left it there. We’ve been his support; he can count on us, on the other players, and the players handled it in their way.”