Netherlands begin their World Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday with a difficult trip to face Sweden.
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Looking to avoid another embarrassing qualification campaign, Netherlands begin their quest to reach Russia in 2018 on Tuesday. However, with France, Sweden and the likes of Bulgaria in their group, the Dutch can afford no mistakes if they are to make it to the World Cup.
On Tuesday, Netherlands begin with a trip to Sweden but the pressure is on Danny Blind after a disappointing defeat at home to Greece last week. The Oranje seemed to have left their Euro campaign behind them until Greece came out on top 2-1 in Eindhoven and questions are once again being asked of Blind and the KNVB.
Team News
Danny Blind stated he would not make too many changes from the team that was beaten by Greece on Thursday. Jasper Cillessen may replace Jeroen Zoet in goal, while Virgil van Dijk may come in for either Jeffrey Bruma or Daley Blind in the centre of defence. Ron Vlaar will not take part after suffering an injury in training.
Possible Netherlands XI: Zoet/Cillessen, Veltman, Willems, Bruma, Blind, Strootman, Sneijder, Wijnaldum, Berghuis, Promes, Janssen
Sweden’s squad has been overhauled after a disappointing Euro 2016 campaign with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kim Kallstrom, and Ola Toivonen no longer available. Ex PSV midfielder Oscar Hiljemark and striker Markus Berg may feature as well as ex-Feyenoord forward John Guidetti.
Previous meetings
Netherlands and Sweden have met on 18 occasions since their first official match in 1903. Both nations have recorded seven wins each against each other, but Sweden came out on top in the last meeting, a 3-2 victory during the qualifiers for the 2012 European Championships.
Odds
Sweden: 12/5 Draw: 11/5 Netherlands: 6/5
Can the Netherlands start with a win?
Netherlands began their ill fated Euro campaign with a defeat away to Czech Republic and Danny Blind will be eager to avoid a poor start, which would probably cost him his job. The Oranje’s away form has been good recently and Sweden have no longer got Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front. A good performance and win could set Netherlands on a course to Russia.
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Blind go u r hoooooooome plz change this mngr other wise we left 2018
No I believe the Nederland team will prevail
With No Robben , No De Vrij, Janssen not scoring, No natural left winger, Strootman & Sneijder not in form, No solid CB partnership & Blind still prefer Veltman as RB- I sadly have to say Oranje have slim chance of winning. However, Oranje have a tendency to bounce back everytime after a humiliating home defeat. So maybe Oranje will win…..maybe
This manager is a great one and he is willing to change, at least he is putting out the old fashion non sense players and getting a new fresh players, It will take some time to perform but they will , I can see the old orange coming back
netherlands vs sweden for the world cup qualifiers at bit.ly/2czwvF9