The Netherlands’ elimination by Morocco at the World Cup did not end on the pitch in Monterrey. It ended, as has happened before, in Dutch streets.

Morocco defeated the Oranje on penalties after a dramatic 1-1 draw and qualified for the round of 16. The sporting blow was hard for the Dutch: three missed penalties and another elimination from the spot. But the real problem came when thousands of Moroccan supporters poured into the streets of several cities across the country.

In The Hague, the focus was once again on Schilderswijk, one of the neighborhoods with the largest immigrant populations. The celebration began with cars honking, Moroccan flags, flares, and groups of young people gathering in public spaces. Half an hour after the final whistle, the situation changed.

As could be seen in real time, police officers were attacked with stones and fireworks, riot police intervened, and officers used a water cannon to disperse the groups gathered on Vaillantlaan. Thirteen people were arrested for offenses including public violence and disturbing public order.

It was not an isolated incident. In Rotterdam, police arrested another four people near Kruiskade after further incidents, once the celebration had descended into clashes and disorder. In Utrecht and Amsterdam there were also car convoys, blocked traffic, and scenes of Moroccan exaltation in the middle of the night.

The problem is not that a community celebrates the victory of a national team. That happens in every European country. The problem is the symbolic weight of the celebration when the defeated rival is precisely the country where many of those supporters were born, live, study, work, or receive public benefits. One of them said it bluntly on Dutch television: “Beating the Netherlands is more important than winning the World Cup.” Why? The hatred and resentment are obvious.

That sentence sums up better than any report the failure of an integration model that has been turned into official dogma for decades. For some of these young people, the victory does not appear to be experienced merely as a sporting triumph for Morocco, but as an emotional defeat for the country in which they live. That is where the relevant fact lies: they are not only celebrating their own side; they are celebrating against the country that took them in.

Geert Wilders’ reaction was immediate. The PVV leader called for the streets to be “cleared” and for the rioters to be sent back to Morocco along with their families. His tone was extremely harsh, but politically effective, because it connected with a feeling shared by many Dutch citizens: that the state demands restraint from the local population, while normalizing eruptions of violence whenever an imported identity imposes itself over the national one.

The night did not only leave vandalized cars and spent fireworks behind: it once again left the Netherlands, eliminated from the World Cup, challenged inside its own streets. Football only lit the fuse. The fracture has been there for years, and the same is true across the continent.