Virgil van Dijk made Dutch footballing history tonight as his nation secured their place at the 2026 World Cup finals.Netherlands rounded off their qualifying campaign with an emphatic 4-0 win over Lithuania in Amsterdam, with the job all but mathematically done prior to kick-off given their goal difference advantage over second-placed Poland in Group G.The defender’s Liverpool teammate Cody Gakpo was among the goals for Ronald Koeman’s side, scoring the second with a 58th-minute penalty, while Ryan Gravenberch was an unused substitute for the Oranje.Van Dijk sets new Netherlands captaincy recordVan Dijk won his 88th senior cap for his country tonight, and as correctly noted by journalist Liam Bekker on X, the 34-year-old is now the outright record holder for the most appearances as Netherlands captain, wearing the armband for the 72nd time.It moves him one clear of the previous benchmark set by Frank de Boer (Reuters), and all but two of his matches as Oranje skipper have come as a starter (Ons Oranje), a phenomenal continuity for the Reds’ number 4.(Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)Van Dijk is an all-time Netherlands greatA decade on from making his Netherlands debut, Van Dijk has long since established himself as one of his country’s all-time greats, and quite possibly the greatest Dutch defender of all time.He could easily have become a centurion tonight if it weren’t for his lengthy layoff from the ACL injury that Jordan Pickford inflicted upon him in 2020 – the Liverpool captain missed 12 games for his country while sidelined for nine months.He should hopefully reach the 100-cap mark over the next year if fortune is kinder to him, and he led by example with his performance against Lithuania.As per Sofascore, the 34-year-old won all five of his duels, completed 91% of his passes, recorded one shot on target, made a team-high eight clearances, played one key pass and created one ‘big chance’.Van Dijk has been criticised by some pundits for his performances at Liverpool this season, but he remains a crucial leader for club and country, and the stratospheric standards he’s set throughout his career see him judged to a higher degree than almost every other player in world football.The Reds centre-back will deservedly play in his second World Cup next summer, so long as misfortune doesn’t preclude him from being involved for Netherlands.You can watch Slot’s full post-Man City press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:The post Virgil van Dijk sets all-time Netherlands record as Gakpo goal helps to clinch World Cup place appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.