Netherlands 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign comes to an end on Tuesday with a tie against Sweden in Amsterdam.

The chances of Netherlands making it to Russia were all but ended on Saturday with Sweden running out 8-0 winners over Luxembourg, a result that basically guarantees them at least second place. Netherlands could only muster a poor 3-1 win at Belarus, meaning Dick Advocaat’s side need to run out at least 7-0 winners against Sweden to take second spot.

Despite the huge task ahead, Advocaat is refusing to give up, “It will be difficult to win 7-0.

”It is a football match and everything is possible. It will be a difficult game because Sweden have shown in recent months that they are a difficult team to beat but you never know.”

Sweden still have a chance of pipping France, who host Belarus, to top spot in the group. However, they would need to better France’s result in order to automatically qualify for Russia.

Team News

All eyes in Amsterdam will be on Arjen Robben, who would not confirm or deny that Tuesday could be his final Netherlands game before announcing his international retirement. The 33-year-old will definitely start the game, but there is question marks over a number of players who were poor in Belarus.

It remains to be seen whether Tonny Vilhena, Vincent Janssen, Ryan Babel, Daryl Janmaat and Georginio Wijnaldum keep their places after poor performances on Saturday.

Possible Netherlands line up: Cillessen, Tete, Blind, Van Dijk, Rekik, Propper, Wijnaldum, Vilhena, Robben, Memphis, Janssen

Sweden have a number of players who will be familiar to Dutch football fans with John Guidetti, Marcus Berg and Ola Toivonen all part of the squad. Berg goes into the game in red hot form, having netted four against Luxembourg.

Possible Sweden line-up: Olsen, Lustig, Augustinsson, Lindelhof, Granqvist, Claesson, Forsberg, Larsson, Johansson, Toivanen, Berg

Previous meetings

Netherlands kicked off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw in Sweden, a game which easily could have been an Oranje win if Bas Dost’s late header wasn’t ruled out for a soft foul.

Both nations have met on 19 occasions with Sweden winning eight, Netherlands seven and four matches ending in a draw.

The last win for Netherlands came in 2010 during the 2012 Euro qualifiers. Oranje won 4-1 that day with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay both netting doubles.

Odds

Netherlands: 5/6 Draw: 31/10 Sweden: 16/5

Football-Oranje editor Michael Bell’s prediction

I think we can all agree that Netherlands won’t beat Sweden 7-0 on Tuesday, and after Saturday’s performance against Belarus, I am not even confident that Oranje can win this game at all.

Netherlands will not be at the World Cup next year and once again all eyes will be on the KNVB to see what they are going to do to rejuvenate Dutch football. The next year or so are gonna be tough for Dutch football fans and it’s important that Netherlands at least gives fans some hope on Tuesday.

However, Sweden are a nation full of confidence and looking to take first place in the group from France. I can definitely see the visitors scoring but I hope that Arjen Robben can light up what could be his final Netherlands international. I see the winger netting a double to edge out the Swedes.

Netherlands 2-1 Sweden




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