On Wednesday, 18 June 2014 (9:00 AM), Netherlands vs Australia will take place at Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre on what will be the opening match for the second round of Group B.
After their vintage performance against Spain last Friday, there isn’t much left for Holland to do to impress both the pundits and football supporters. The Dutch team pulled rank and almost ridiculed the current World and European champions on a match that will certainly enter on the World Cup tournaments’ hall-of-fame.
Louis Van Gaal offered Spain a tactical lesson they will surely never forget as he managed to almost freeze the awe-inspiring tiki-taka and transformed it into merely inoffensive ball possession. The Dutch tactical expert presented a tactical style quite similar to the 5-3-2, with Daley Blind offering a close coverage for the midfield trio composed of de Guzman, Nigel de Jong, and Sneijder.
Moreover, there was the front man duo, composed of Robben and Van Persie, that annihilated all Spanish hopes of grabbing something positive of the match, as their efforts were more than enough to disrupt La Roja’s apatic defensive quartet.
Despite their top quality display, it is very likely that the next Manchester United’s manager will perform some changes in his team, particularly due to the frailties of their opponent. Holland will probably return to their usual 4-3-3 approach, with Van Persie acting as a poacher inside the box supported by two versatile forwards/wingers, a task that will probably be awarded to Robben and Jeremain Lens.
For the match against Australia, Van Gaal will quite certainly have all his players at his disposal since there aren’t any names on the injury list.
As for Australia, the match against Holland might mean the end of the World Cup tournament for them in case of lost. The Socceroos failed to find a way to defeat Chile during their first Group B match and will now be forced to defeat both Holland and Spain if they want to proceed to the next stage of the competition.
During their match against Chile, Australia proved to be the weakest link of the group. Ange Postecoglou’s boys tried to take advantage of the Chilean attacking game style by exploiting the breaches of their defence line through quick counter-attacks and by constantly pumping the ball into the box.
Their strategy managed to cause some damage in Chile’s defensive line but it was not enough to prevent them from allowing the third goal on the dying moments of the match.
Possible Line-ups
Netherlands (4-3-3) – Cillessen – Janmaat – Blind – Vlaar – Martins Indi – De Jong – De Guzman – Sneijder – Robben – Lens – Van Persie
Australia (4-3-3) – Ryan – McGowan – Spiranovic – Wilkinson – Davidson – Jedinak – Milligan – Bresciano – Leckie – Oar – Cahill
Netherlands vs Australia Prediction
With a colossal difference between both sides, it is fair to say that Van Gaal’s clockwork orange are firm favourites for next Wednesday’s match, especially after what they did against Spain. Therefore Netherlands should grab a comfortable victory over Australia.
Netherlands 3 – 0 Australia
Netherlands vs Australia Television
The Netherlands vs Australia match will be televised in the USA on ESPN3 (stream) and Univision Deportes at 9:00 AM Pacific.
