First-half goals from Netherlands' Memphis Depay and Daley Blind and a late strike from Denzel Dumfries sealed a deserved victory as the Dutch handed out a painful lesson in finishing to their American opponents.
Second-half substitute Haji Wright cut the U.S. deficit to 2-1 in the 76th minute when Christian Pulisic’s cross hit his trailing foot and popped over goalkeeper Andries Noppert and into the net. But Dumfries, who assisted on the first two goals, scored on a volley in the 81st.
Veteran coach Louis van Gaal's men were worthy victors in Saturday's last-16 clash at the Khalifa International Stadium.
Although the USA enjoyed long periods of possession in a bright first-half display, all too often a lack of composure in the final third let them down.
Instead it was the Dutch who calmly bided their time before carving open the Americans with forensic precision.
“When you play a team with so much quality like that and you give them three, four chances, they’re going to put three or four away,” United States captain Tyler Adams said.
“We can show that we can hang with some of the best teams in the world, some of the best players in world, and that’s a lot of progress for U.S. soccer. We’re moving in the right direction, for sure, but we need to keep pushing, because we’re not there yet. But we’re close,” Adams added.
The Netherlands, bidding to win their first World Cup after losing in three previous finals, will face Argentina or Australia in the last eight.
Some information in this report came from Associated Press.
