In a World Cup qualifier held early on September 8th Beijing time, the Netherlands narrowly defeated the underdog Lithuania 3-2 away. In this match, 31-year-old Dutch forward Depay, who now plays in Brazil far from Europe's top five leagues, scored twice and was the key figure securing all three points for the Dutch team.

• Statistics show that Depay’s goals have given the Netherlands the lead 20 times in matches, placing him first in the team’s history.
• Depay has scored 15 times in matches where he broke the deadlock for the Netherlands, second only to Van Persie’s 19, ranking him second in the nation’s history.
• After scoring twice in this match, Depay’s total goals for the Dutch national team have reached52, surpassing Van Persie’s 50 goals to becomethe all-time top scorer in the team’s history.
• Depay also shares the record for most assists in Dutch history,with 33 assiststied with Sneijderas the Netherlands’ all-time assist leaders.
• Depay’squalifying goals (World Cup + European qualifiers)total27, surpassing Van Persie’s 26 to rank first in Dutch history.

The Netherlands is considered a strong European team, yet they struggled so much just to beat Lithuania. Depay’s stats are impressive, but they cannot hide the fact that he has left Europe’s mainstream leagues to play in Brazil. This also highlights the lack of successors in the Dutch forward line, with Depay’s peak only during his time in Ligue 1, reflecting the overall weakness of Dutch football currently.