Netherlands vs Greece
International Friendly.
Date: Thursday; 1-September-2016
Kick-off: 01:45 GMT +7
Venue: Philips Stadion (Eindhoven).
International Friendly.
Date: Thursday; 1-September-2016
Kick-off: 01:45 GMT +7
Venue: Philips Stadion (Eindhoven).
Netherlands look for a win on Thursday against Greece ahead of the beginning of their World Cup Qualification campaign. Our free betting predictions suggest that Greece’s attack will continue to struggle.
Reason For Betting Tips
The Netherland’s infamous unpredictability came into play during qualification for Euro 2016. They ended up finishing 4th in a group that they were clear favourites to top, with Czech Republic, Iceland, and Turkey all outperforming them, as they slumped to a 13 point total. This included two defeats to Iceland and Czech Republic and a 3-0 defeat to Turkey, whilst in-between their competitive matches, they beat Spain and followed their failed qualifying campaign with wins against Poland and England.
Now it’s time for them to turn their attention towards the World Cup in Russia in two years time. They have been drawn in a qualifying group including France and Sweden, whilst they shouldn’t have any issues against Belarus, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. They will need an excellent campaign to achieve automatic qualification ahead of France though, and if they perform as poorly as last time, they could face a challenge for 2nd position from Sweden.
Netherlands did look good during their summer friendlies though, and they have a host of new talent emerging that will be given a chance. A strike-force including Luciano Narsingh, Luuk de Jong and Vincent Janssen could prove formidable, whilst Wesley Sneijder still has the eye for a pass from midfield and Georginio Wijnaldum proved his worth in the Premier League last season.
Greece are a country in turmoil, and their football during the Euro 2016 qualifiers reflected this. They had a relatively easy group, including Northern Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Finland and Faroe Islands. However, they picked up a measly six points and finished bottom of the group, having lost six of their ten games.
Their defence is traditionally very sound and remains so with a host of top European based defenders in the back line. However, they are lacking creativity and talent in the midfield area and have no real striking threat. If they can go back to grinding out wins they might have a chance of claiming 2nd place in a World Cup qualifying group that includes Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus, Estonia and Gibraltar.
Netherlands’ defence isn’t the greatest you’ll ever see, but Greece’s attacking threat is negligible. They have scored in just five of their last 14 away days and, to be fair, the Netherlands have kept a clean sheet in seven of their last 15 home matches. These include matches against teams such as France, Mexico, Argentina, Wales, Chile and Spain as well, who are all much better attacking teams than Greece. Greece have only scored one goal in their eight meetings with Netherlands as well.
I fancy Netherlands to get a win as well here, as they tend to do well in friendly matches. Odds of 11/10 for Netherlands to Win to Nil look good value to me, so I’m backing that along with a 2-0 correct score prediction at 5/1.
Head To Head
Netherlands have won seven and drawn one of their eight prior fixtures with Greece, scoring 19 goals and conceding just once.
Stats
Greece have failed to score in 64% of their last 14 away days and have only scored in 12% of their matches against Netherlands.
Team News
Veteran striker Klaas Jan-Huntelaar hasn't been included in the squad, with Netherlands favouring a younger strike-force, including Luciano Narsingh, Luuk de Jong, and Vincent Janssen. There is no place for Arjen Robben in the squad either, although the likes of Wesley Sneidjer and Kevin Strootman retain their place. Georginio Wijnaldum is also in the squad, whilst youngster Riechedly Bazoer is hoping to add to his six previous caps.
The likes of Roma dup Vasilis Torosidis and Kostas Manolas along with Borussia Dortmund's Sokratis Papastathopoulos provide a formidable back line for Greece. Attacking wise there is little on offer though, with Benfica striker Kostas Mitroglou the top scorer in the squad with nine goals in his 47 international appearances.
