Netherlands kick off their World Cup qualifying double header with a trip to Estonia on Friday night.
- By Michael Doodeman
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Netherlands just need two more wins to book their spot in Brazil next summer, and hope to do so in the next week with Estonia and Andorra in their way.
Daryl Janmaat, Jetro Willems, Jeffrey Bruma, and Stijn Schaars have all received another call up from Van Gaal, while Rafael van derVaart and Georginio Wijnaldum have pulled out leaving room for Adam Maher and ex-captain Wesley Sneijder to fill their spots.
Van Gaal still claims Wesley Sneijder is not fully fit, but he has stated Wesley will start the game for the Oranje. The former Ajax, Real Madrid and Inter man will be very eager to perform at his best and will look to prove Louis Van Gaal wrong for not selecting him. Sneijder has started his season with Galatasaray in fine form, scoring goals, and creating chances, and he is hopefully on track to become Holland’s main man again for Brazil 2014.
Van Gaal will most likely opt to start Michel Vorm between the sticks after strings of impressive performances for Swansea. Jetro Willems seems likely to start at left back with no Daley Blind in the squad, and battling it out for the right back position will be either Paul Verhaegh or Daryl Janmaat. The two feyernoord men, Martins Indi and De Vrij look likely to start as center backs, but Jeffrey Bruma or Ron Vlaar could easily claim a spot after their fine runs of performances with PSV and Aston Villa.
The Midfield will most likely consist of Swansea man Jonathon De Guzman, Kevin Strootman and Wesley Sneijder playing behind the the front men. Up front will certainly be captain Robin Van Persie, and on the two flanks, Arjen Robben and Jeremain Lens. Hopefully Mr.Van Gaal will start Robben on the right opposed to last game against Portugal where he was stuck to the left side and proved to be less dangerous.
Netherland’s are six for six in their qualifying campaign, and unbeaten since a friendly defeat to Belgium last August, with confidence high in the Oranje camp. While opponent’s Estonia have had a disappointing campaign, with only two wins against Andorra to show from their efforts so far.
Estonia will be motivated to gain a result at home, and should be a well organised outfit that will try to frustrate the Dutch attack, before looking for chances to counter. Augsburg defender, and captain Ragner Klavan, and Legia Warsaw striker Henrik Ojamaa are two of the most talented players in the Estonia squad.
In the return fixture in Amsterdam, Netherlands claimed a comfortable 3-0 win, with goals from Rafael van der Vaart, Robin van Persie, and Ruben Schaken.
Likely Line up;
Vorm, Janmaat, DeVrij,Martins Indi, Willems, De Guzman, Strootman, Sneijder, Robben, Lens, Van Persie
All in all this match vs Estonia should be a convincing win for the Netherlands Elftal, and it should put them a game away from crossing the finish line for Brazil 2014.
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Holland did not deserve this penalty! Guess they were feeling the heat and were for sure going to loose to Estonia but their luck was that referee was on their side!