Netherlands will look to take another step towards Euro 2020 qualification on Sunday when they face Belarus. Kick-off in Minsk is at 5pm BST.

The performance left much to be desired but Netherlands defeated Northern Ireland 3-1 on Thursday. The result moves Netherlands to the top of the group and with only three games left.

On Sunday, Netherlands travel to Minsk to take on Belarus, knowing a win would put them within touching distance of their first major tournament since 2014.

Speaking at his press conference, Ronald Koeman stated his hope that they learned from the tough match against Northern Ireland, “Frenkie was continuously shadowed and we didn’t find a good solution for that. We talked about that, we need to improve that. You need to be able to do something different at such a moment than you are used to, that is a point where we as a team can still improve considerably. It could just be that Belarus is going to do the same tomorrow, because they have of course also seen the game against Northern Ireland. “

Belarus currently sit fourth in the group with only one win from five games, which was against bottom of the table Estonia in September. On Thursday, Belarus hosted Estonia but this time could only manage a 0-0 draw.

Team News

Koeman is without his star forward Memphis Depay, who has a thigh issue meaning a new centre-forward is needed. Donyell Malen is the logical replacement, but Koeman could also opt for Quincy Promes.

Other changes could also be made with Donny van de Beek pushing to start ahead of Marten de Roon.

Possible Netherland line-up: Cillessen, Dumfries, Blind, Van Dijk, De Ligt, De Jong, Van de Beek, Wijnaldum, Promes, Bergwijn, Malen

Possible Belarus line-up: Gutor, Matveichyk, Polyakov, Politsevich, Marytnovich, Maevski, Yablonski, Savitskiy, Stasevich, Dragun, Skavysch

Odds

Belarus 16/1 Draw 13/2 Netherlands 1/5

Previous Meetings

In March, Netherlands won the reverse fixture in this group 4-0 in a comfortable evening.

That was Netherlands’s seventh win in nine previous meetings, while Belarus have triumphed twice against Oranje.

What to expect from Sunday’s match

Netherlands got rightly criticised for their performance against Northern Ireland. They were poor for over an hour and fell behind, before scoring three late goals.

However, Belarus are a very poor side and should not be able to cause this Netherlands side any real issues. The loss of Memphis is a blow but in Donyell Malen, Koeman has a perfect replacement.

A win is expected for Oranje but a good performance will also be wanted and especially a good start. Koeman’s side have been poor in the first half of matches in recent internationals and he will be keen to see that change.

The most important thing for Netherlands is of course the three points which will put them in a great position to win the group in November’s final two qualifiers.




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