Qualifiers preview: The Netherlands

Qualifiers preview: The Netherlands

After our incredible win against the Irish in Aviva Stadium we welcome the Netherlands in OPAP Arena- Agia Sofia, with only one quest to beat them in order to have the upper hand in our Euro 2024 qualification dream. Today we will preview Monday’s clash against the Dutch.

The Netherlands have a rich footballing history, winning the Euros once in 1988. Despite playing in the World Cup final 3 times (1974,1978 and 2010), they have never lifted the prestigious trophy.


Greece and the Netherlands have faced each other 10 times, with the Netherlands winning 8 games, while we won 1 game in 2016. With the most recent game being a 3-0 defeat to the Dutch in September 2023.


Manager: Ronald Koeman



Ronald Koeman began his managerial career in 1998 as an assistant in the Netherlands set-up and in 1999 in Barcelona. His first managerial job as a number one came in 2001 when he was appointed as Vitesse’s manager, leading them in a UEFA Cup spot finish. In the summer of 2001 he joined Ajax, where he stayed for 4 years winning 2 Eredivisie titles and 1 Dutch Cup. After a handful of spells at Benfica, PSV (where he won the Eredivisie title in 2006/07 season), Valencia and AZ Alkmaar Koeman moved to the Premier League and Southampton in 2014 replacing Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, in his first season he helped them finish 7th. In the 2015/16 season Southampton recorded their highest ever league finish finishing 6th and qualifying for the Europa League group stage. 


After a pretty disappointing spell at Everton Koeman became the Netherlands national team boss in February 2018 after a disastrous qualifiers campaign, which saw the Netherlands finishing 3rd behind France and Sweden resulting in not qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. 


With Koeman, the Netherlands qualified for the 2022 World Cup, their first major tournament appearance since the 2014 World Cup. In 2020 Koeman became the manager of FC Barcelona after the 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich which resulted in Quique Setien’s sacking. In Barcelona despite winning the Copa Del Rey Koeman broke many records no Barcelona manager would like to break, with the most noticeable being the first Barcelona manager to lose 3 consecutive El Clasicos since 1936. In January 2023 and after Van Gaal’s retirement, he became the Netherland’s boss again. 


In March 2023 he managed his first game back as a Dutch national team coach losing 4-0 to France with 3 of the goals coming in the first 20 minutes.


The Netherlands’ players to watch:

Ronald Koeman might have lost Frenkie De Jong, Cody Gakpo, Memphis Depay, Noa Lang and Mark Flekken to injuries but the Netherlands team is filled with stars ready to step up. 


Let's see some of them.


  1. Bart Verbruggen (Goalkeeper)

Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen is first on the list. The Seagulls goalie replaced Brentford’s Mark Flekken in the starting line up in the 2-1 defeat to France a couple of days ago and he’s set to start again on Monday. Signed this summer from Anderlecht, the Dutch shot stopper has started 4 games for Brighton so far conceding 7 goals. 


For Anderlecht he made 46 appearances keeping 13 clean sheets. He was also part of the Netherlands U21 team, who finished 3rd in their group in the most recent U21 Euros. Expected to start on Monday with experienced and World Cup starter Andries Noppert in the squad as well.

 

  1. Virgil Van Dijk (Center-Back)

Liverpool’s and the Netherlands’ captain Virgil Van Dijk debuted for the Dutch national team in 2015, in a 2-1 against Kazakhstan and so far he has made 61 appearances scoring 6 goals, captaining the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup. Where despite coming back from 2-0 down, they lost to the eventual champions Argentina on penalties in the quarter finals. Signing in January 2018 Van Dijk was part of Liverpool’s UCL and title winning squad. Van Dijk has many qualities including his great playmaking abilities making him one of the best ball-playing defenders in the world.

 

  1. Xavi Simons (Winger)

Xavi Simons is up next, with the on-loan to RB Leipzig PSG winger taking the Bundesliga by the storm with 3 goals in 4 assists in 7 games for the Red Bulls. Xavi made his debut at the World Cup coming on as a sub against the USA in the Round of 16. So far he has started all 5 of the Netherlands Euro qualifying games. Last season Xavi finished alongside our own Tasos Douvikas as the Eredivisie top scorer with 19 goals, winning the 2023 Dutch cup with PSV. Explosive winger Xavi has many qualities which makes him one of the best upcoming wingers in the world and he’s going to be a real threat for our National Team.

 

  1. Donyell Malen (Striker/ Winger)

With Weghorst suffering an injury against the French and the absence of Gakpo and Depay through injuries, Donyell Malen is set to start for the Dutch in front on Monday. Malen made his debut in a 4-2 win against Germany in September 2019, since then he has made 25 appearances scoring 5 goals. After impressive performances for PSV in the 2020/21 season scoring 27 goals and making 10 assists in 45 appearances in all competitions, Dortmund signed him for a 30 million euros fee to replace English winger Jadon Sancho. So far this season Malen has scored 4 goals in 8 appearances for Dortmund. 


Another quality player, maybe not the same quality as Van Dijk and Xavi Simons, but he’s a very very dangerous player and our defenders should definitely keep an eye on him.


Big match so let’s see if we can get a historic result in Greece. 


Hellas Football 


Follow @BVBNikolas 

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