http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Netherlands-c753 versus Austria, international friendly, preview
Netherlands
Runners up of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, thanks to Andres Iniesta’s extra time goal, take on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Austria-c2844 in an exciting encounter at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, Holland, as a part of their preparation for next month’s Euro 2012 qualification campaign.
Netherlands have been in brilliant form since the 2010 World Cup, sometimes Bert Van Marwijk’s men have been criticized for being overly cautious in their approach but their philosophy has been successful thus far.
Since making it to the final of the FIFA World Cup in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/South-Africa-c757, the Dutch football team has been on a spectacular run of form.
Van Marwijk’s team have not lost a single match out of their last five international encounters. In this winning streak they have netted 13 goals in total, against the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015. Holland also won their last international friendly
match against Turkey by a single goal.
The Dutch team’s defence has been impregnable as well. In their last five encounters, Holland have only conceded four goals.
Bert Van Marwijk will be hoping that his team continues their present form as the friendly match against Austria looms large.
Surprisingly, Van Marwijk has excluded http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arjen-Robben-c6521 from the Dutch squad, which is scheduled to take on Austria in Eindhoven. In his pre-match notes, the Dutch national team coach stated, “Arjen is just back on the pitch after a half-year absence. He needs
time to get used to playing regular matches physically and mentally and that is why I didn’t invite him”.
Austria
Everyone expected Austria to perform in the European Championships of 2008 when the country hosted the tournament itself but in the end it was a false dawn for Austrian football.
Currently, Austria are going through a terrible run of form, thus the tie against Netherlands does not come at an ideal time for the Eastern European nation. Out of their last five matches, Austria have only won two against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kazakhstan-c2931.
In their last international friendly encounter, Austria experienced a football master class at the hands of the Greek national team as the former European champions won by two goals to one in the end.
Austria will look at the encounter against Netherlands as a preparatory match for their up-coming European Championship qualification matches in the month of March, 2011.
Team news
Netherlands have recalled their record goal scorer http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ruud-van-Nistelrooy-c31966. The Dutch striker has been on a fiery streak of form for Hamburg in Bundesliga.
However, Bert Van Marwijk has decided to leave out Robben as the winger has just returned from a serious knee injury, which kept the ex-Real Madrid man out of action for the past five months. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robin-van-Persie-c31380 was called up to the squad but Arsenal’s target
man pulled out due to his fitness issues with the English club.
Klaas Jan Huntelaar is included in the Dutch squad and therefore he might start the match ahead of Ruud Van Nistelrooy. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Turkey-c3026 in
2010.
Moreover, Sneijder has been included as well in the 20 man squad that faces Austria on Wednesday night.
Expected line-up: Stekelenburg, Van Der Weil, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Eljero-Elia-c12318
Alternatively, Austria welcomes back their veteran defender, Emmanuel Pogatetz. The Hannover defender has been out with various fitness issues since November of 2010.
Austria’s coach, Dietmar Constantini, has apparently excluded the experienced striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Wallner-c31654. F.C Red Bull Salzburg’s striker faces
an extended period on the sidelines due to aggravated muscle problems.
Expected line-up: http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marc-Janko-c23484, Stefan Maierhofer
Key players
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan’s attacking midfielder was a standout performer for the “Oranje” when they progressed to the final match of the FIFA 2010 World Cup. He is expected to start the
encounter against Austria.
Sneijder will be the main man for Bert Van Marwijk’s side due to his eagle eyed vision from the centre of the park.
On the other hand, Pogatetz will be a crucial cog in the Austrian defence if they are to achieve a clean sheet on the night against the runners up of 2010 World Cup.
Pogatetz, who used to play for Middlesbrough in the English Premier League, now plays for Hannover in the Bundesliga. He has been a consistent performer for Austria on the international level, thus his return from injury will give them a significant boost
against Netherlands.
Predictions:
Netherlands are outright favourites to win this encounter. Austria do have the capability to spring a surprise or two but the Dutch are masters at disposing of lesser ranked teams. Prediction: 2-0 to Netherlands.
The views expressed by the writers are his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of
http://www.bettor.com/
Tags: