After both teams won their last group stage matches on Tuesday, the Netherlands and the USA will face off in the round of 16 in Qatar.
The Netherlands comfortably won their last game in Group A against Qatar. Cody Gakpo once again proved his importance for Oranje with another goal. He became the first Dutch player to score three times in his first three WC matches. Just after the break, Frenkie de Jong made it 2-0. That meant a first place finish in their group, finishing above Senegal and Ecuador.
USA had to beat Iran to make it past the first stage of the tournament. Captain America Christian Pulisic was the player to put the USA ahead, a couple of minutes before half-time. When doing so, he collided with Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand and had to be taken off but the USA held on to their lead and secured second place in Group B, behind England.
It’s been a while since this fixture has been played. Out of the last five meetings between the two, the Netherlands have won four – the last game between Oranje and the USA in 2015 ended 4-3 in favour of the Americans.
Last five matches:
Netherlands: W-D-W-W-W
USA: W-D-D-D-L
Team News: The Netherlands have fully fit squad available to start the knock-out stages. Memphis Depay was the only player that wasn’t at full fitness before the last group game, but he started against Qatar, so there’s no reason to doubt another appearance against the USA. It is expected that he’ll once again start alongside Netherlands’ player of the tournament until now: Cody Gakpo. Christian Pulisic went off after he collided with the goalkeeper after scoring and the state of his fitness remains to be seen but he is currently his team’s only injury concern.
Predicted line-ups
The Netherlands (3-5-2): Noppert; Aké, Van Dijk, Timber; Dumfries, De Roon, Klaassen, De Jong, Blind; Gakpo, Memphis.
The USA (4-3-3): Turner; Dest, Carters-Vickers, Ream, Robinson; Musah, Adams, McKennie; Weah, Sargent, Pulisic.
Jurre van Wanrooij | GWCFN
