The Netherlands are set to lock horns with Spain at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening in what promises to be an exciting international friendly.
The post-Koeman transition has proven to be a bumpy ride for the Netherlands with new coach Frank de Boer still winless in the three games since he took charge, with a loss to Mexico in a friendly followed by back-to-back draws against Bosnia and Italy in the Nations League. De Boer’s men find themselves third in Nations League Group A1, two points behind leaders Poland, whom they take on next week after their weekend match against Bosnia.
De Boer has been unlucky on the injury front. Inspirational captain Virgil van Dijk is out for the season. Mathis de Ligt and keeper Cillessen are also out with injuries.
The Dutch, known for their brand of attacking football, have surprisingly struggled on that end too, with Donny van de Beek’s equalizer against Italy last time out being their only goal in the last 4 matches. De Boer will be keen to use this friendly to try and rediscover some of that punch up front.
Unlike their hosts, Spain, who also underwent a change of managers, have been performing splendidly under Luis Enrique. La Roja breezed through their qualifying group for the European Championship and they’ve been pretty solid across all competitions with their shock 1-0 defeat at Ukraine in the Nations League last time out being their first in two years!
They top group A4 with 7 points, a point clear of both Germany and Ukraine who are tied on 6 points. Their focus going into this friendly will be upcoming games against Switzerland and Germany.
Even though they only scored one goal in three games, Luis Enrique will be thrilled by the club form of his forwards, with both Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal doing well for Juventus and Real Sociedad respectively thus far into the season.
Ordinarily, this fixture would be viewed as a potential goal-fest. However, the reality may be far from it. The Dutch have struggled to get anything going up front in their recent matches. Conversely, Spain have also been one of the more solid teams defensively. If we juxtapose these two, you realize that the game is pointing a low scoring affair as the likelier outcome. Considering also the multiple changes that both teams are likely to deploy, we are looking at a game that will be lacking the usual pace and flow these teams are accustomed to. In light of this, we are backing Under 3.5 goals @ 1.33 with 22Bet as our first betting prediction.
Overall, Spain have a bit of an edge. Their frontmen are coming into the game, high in confidence following great performances in their recent matches. With the Netherlands lacking key pieces of their defence, it is likely that La Roja will have a go at them right from the start. We fancy them to break the ice in this game by scoring the first goal @ 1.95 with 22Bet for our final shout here.
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