It’s time for the quarter-finals as the Netherlands prepares to face Argentina at the Lusail Stadium. These two teams have met on various occasions on the World Cup stage, and an exciting encounter awaits. The last two games played between the two ended up in a draw, with the last one in 2014 being decided with a penalty shootout which Argentina won.
In the FIFA rankings, the Netherlands is in eighth place, whilst Argentina is in third place. The Netherlands squad has improved a lot since the last World Cup showing, and to be at this stage of the tournament is a great achievement already, but now they face one of the best teams in the competition so far.
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NETHERLANDS
Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands squad have been solid both in the attacking and defensive phase of the game. Virgil van Dijk voiced his concerns regarding the formation as he was not comfortable playing three at the back, but by the looks of it, the system is growing on him now. Having three at the back with flying wing backs has worked like a charm against the USA, as the first two goals came from a cutback from Denzel Dumfries.
The next opponents standing in the Oranje team’s way of making it to the semi-final are Argentina. Any team will be wary of facing the iconic Lionel Messi, and in the form that he is in at the moment, it will be a huge task. The key area for the Netherlands will be the midfield; Frenkie De Jong will be the main protagonist of pushing his side up the field and feeding the ball to Cody Gakpo and Memphis Depay, the latter of whom scored his first goal of the tournament last time out.
The Netherlands are priced at 13/9 (2.45) to score first in the game, with Cody Gakpo to score at any time during the game at 2/1 (3.00). A correct score result of 2-1 is priced at 11/1 (12.00), whilst a 0-0 draw is at 7/1 (8.00), forcing extra time.
ARGENTINA
Argentina managed to avoid a late scare against Australia as the Socceroos pressed for an equaliser thanks to a very important block from Lisandro Martinez. The Albiceleste are a tough team to play against as there is a lot of movement in the front line, and it’s easy for defenders to get dragged out of position to track the runs of Lionel Messi.
One of the most improved aspects of this Argentinian side is that they have world-class players throughout the team, not only Lionel Messi. Emiliano Martinez played a crucial role in between the posts, similar plaudits can be handed out to Rodrigo De Paul, who runs the engine room. The goal conceded against Australia came after a heavy deflection that wrong-footed Emiliano Martinez; that goal came after two consecutive clean sheets against Mexico and Poland, respectively.
A clean sheet for Argentina is priced at 3/2 (2.50), with Argentina scoring first in the game valued at 4/5 (1.80). Lionel Messi to score is at 13/10 (2.30), with a correct score of a 2-0 win for Argentina is at 9/1 (10.00)
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Argentina go into the game as slight favourites at 11/9 (2.22), whilst the Netherlands are valued at 8/3 (3.65), and a draw at 9/4 (3.25)
We have some special bets on this game:
- Lionel Messi to score a goal after Angel Di Maria assist 8/1 (9.00) and Lionel Messi to score directly from Free Kick at 10/1 (11.00)
- Memphis Depay to score a goal from outside the box at 19/2 (10.50)
- Andries Noppert to be the MVP FIFA player of the match at 9/1 (10.00)
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*Odds subject to change. Odds correct at time of publishing