Charles Barkley’s “guarantee!” that the U.S. Men’s National Team would beat the Netherlands and advance to the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal seemed to give one of the Dutch goalscorers a bit of added motivation ahead of the match.
Memphis, who scored the first goal in the Netherlands 3-1 win over the USMNT, apparently saw Barkley’s proclamation on NBA on TNT and took to Twitter to blast Barkley after the final whistle.
Barkley took the liberty to exude his patriotism during the week between the USMNT’s win against Iran and its loss in the round of 16 to the Dutch on Saturday. He might regret it now after the U.S. was outclassed from the start by a more experienced and more talented team.
Lots of Twitter users had some fun at Barkley’s expense.
“I GUARANTEE THE NETHERLANDS IN TROUBLE" 🗣⚽️
Charles is all in on the @USMNT pic.twitter.com/QL5Idqydrk
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 30, 2022
Lotta bark, no bite. pic.twitter.com/a43wWacY9v
— Memphis Depay (@Memphis) December 3, 2022
🤡🤡🤡
— Patrick Weah (@weah526) December 3, 2022
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) December 3, 2022
Memphis Depay hitting send tweet like pic.twitter.com/V1oD0D3TYC
— Christopher Reive (@ChrisReive) December 3, 2022
Memphis also shared a text exchange he had with Family Feud host and legendary TV personality Steve Harvey. Memphis was previously engaged to Harvey’s stepdaughter Lori.
USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter offered Memphis, who plays for Barcelona in La Liga, as the difference between teams like The Netherlands and teams like the U.S. He said the U.S. needs a guy like Memphis who is “scoring in Champions League,” in order to compete with the top teams at the World Cup.
The Netherlands plays on Friday in the quarterfinal against Lionel Messi and Argentina.
