Ireland vs Netherlands. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more

Ireland will host Netherlands in the UEFA EURO 2024 6th qualification round of Group B match at the Aviva Stadium. The fixture will take place on Monday, September 11, beginning at 00:15 IST.

Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Ireland News & Current Form: 

The Irish national team is a rare participant in major international tournaments. After the selection draw for Euro 2024, it was immediately clear that the Boys in Green would find it incredibly difficult to qualify for the final part of the competition, as they had the French and the Dutch in their group, who are incredibly hard to beat. In reality, that’s exactly what is happening. 

In the four starting rounds the Irish got only one victory, beating the main outsider Gibraltar – 3:0, and all three goals they scored after the break. In addition, wards of Stephen Kenny have already lost twice to France – 0:1, 0:2 and Greece – 1:2.

In the previous round, Kenny’s wards lost to France. The Irish were able to make only a few shots in the opponent’s goal. They created half chances, but it was not enough even for a goal. The French materialized their advantage in goals in each half and won 2:0. Thus, the team from Ireland slipped to fourth place in the Group B standings.

Coach of Irish national football team – Stephen Kenny

The main problem of the current Ireland squad is the inability to play in attack against strong teams. The reason is the lack of world-class masters. The defense is not perfect either, conceding 3 goals from the French and 2 from the Greeks only highlighted the problems in defense.

The main loss of the Green Army is 18-year-old Brighton & Hove Albion FC striker Evan Ferguson, the second top scorer in the current English Premier League. Other top performers are present at the September training camp. In particular, representatives from Burnley FC, Sheffield United FC, Brentford FC, Southampton FC  and the rest of the English teams.

In the match with the Dutch, even a draw does not give the hosts anything special. They need only a win, and they also need to hope for a point loss to the Greeks. Otherwise, there will be almost no chance of getting out of the group. Therefore, the Greens are forced to play actively in attack.

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Netherlands News & Current Form: 

The Dutch national team continues to undergo a constant succession of head coaches. Four coaches have been at the helm of the national team in the last five years, with Ronald Koeman already in his second term.

His latest appointment has been a very difficult one. In the first game of qualification for Euro 2024 his charges lost to France – 0:4, then beat Gibraltar – 3:0, and in the play-offs of the UEFA Nations League the Oranje lost to Croatia and Italy – 2:4 and 2:3, respectively, taking the last place. 

However, the team played the first game in September much better, sending three unanswered goals into the gates of the Greek national team already in the first half, and then brought the game to a 3:0 victory, rising to second place in Group B.

Gaffer of the Oranje – Ronald Koeman

At the last FIFA World Cup, the Dutch showed themselves well, falling out in 1/4 and losing to the future champion – the national team of Argentina. For such a high-profile national team to miss another major tournament would be a disaster. Therefore, the Dutch should be as focused as possible on the upcoming matches. 

The Oranje are 9 points behind France, but have 2 games in reserve. Hence, in terms of points lost, they will lose by only 3 points. That is, by winning these two games, as well as beating the French at home, Koeman’s wards will equalize with them on points. In addition, second place also gives a ticket to the Euro 24 finals.

In addition, we see a renewal of the Dutch national team. Frenkie de Jong, Wout Weghorst, Virgil Van Dijk, Xavi Simons, Cody Gakpo are playing the main roles in the national team. Of course, there are problems in the organization, the game with the French showed it. But the Dutch deal with less titled teams quite confidently.

Ireland form guide: L-L-W-L

Netherlands form guide: L-W-W

Ireland vs Netherlands Head-To-Head Record:

• June 5, 2004: Netherlands 0 – 1 Ireland (International Friendly);
• August 16, 2006: Ireland 0 – 4 Netherlands (International Friendly);
• May 27, 2016: Ireland 1 – 1 Netherlands (International Friendly).

Ireland vs Netherlands Predicted XI:

Ireland’s possible starting lineup (3-4-3): Bazunu; Collins, Egan, Duffy; Browne, Cullen, Molumby, McClean; Ogbene, Idah, Knight.

Netherlands’ possible starting lineup (3-4-2-1): Flekken; Geertruida, De Vrij, Van Dijk; Dumfries, De Roon, De Jong, Blind; Simons, Gakpo; Weghorst.

Statistical preview of the match Ireland vs Netherlands:

• Ireland’s First XI average age is 26.6 years. The team is ranked 53rd in FIFA world ranking.
• Netherlands’ First XI average age is 28.4 years and the team occupies 7th position in FIFA rating of the teams.
• Four times in their last six matches, the Irish have conceded at least twice.
• Ireland have lost three of their last four matches. 
• In the last four matches in a row the Netherlands scored at least two goals. 
• Seven consecutive matches involving the Netherlands have seen a total of more than 2.5 goals.
• In three of the last four personal meetings between Ireland and the Netherlands there was no exchange of goals. 
• The Oranje have scored a total of 29 goals in the last seven meetings (4.14 average per game) and have scored 15 goals (2.14 average per game).
• Netherlands didn’t lose in the last 5 matches.
• Netherlands have not lost in 5 of their last 7 away games against this opponent.
• Netherlands conceded an average of 2.20 goals per game and scored an average of 2.00 goals per game in their last 5 games.
• Netherlands conceded in the last 4 games.
• In the last 5 games, Ireland conceded an average of 1.40 goals per game and Ireland scored an average of 1.40 goals per game.

What has been said before the match:

“We’ve just got to get ready for Sunday. We knew if Holland beat Greece tonight (3:0) and we beat Holland, we would be level on points with them, and then we’ve got Greece at home and Gibraltar away. It’s that big for us. We’ve had to dig in, we’ve lost players and we’ve lost some more tonight.”

Coach of the Green Boys Stephen Kenny after losing to France

“The players, I can’t be overly critical of them tonight because they gave absolutely everything for themselves and it’s about recovering now, because that has taken a lot out of them. The energy of the home crowd has been special, it has been special in those real games. It’s been electric at home in those games and we need that again on Sunday, to pull out the performance of our lives, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

“France defended well and got goal-side of our players. It was our next phase. Once we set-up, we needed to penetrate, we kept possession a little bit rather than penetrating after that. That was an issue for sure.

“To be fair, obviously France are a world class team, a really top class international team, one of the best teams in the world if not the best. They didn’t have really clear cut chances in the goal. I can’t fault my players. I thought they gave everything really in the match, we were beaten by a better team for sure.”

“For a lot of the players it’s the best team they have played against. Of course, we could have done better at times, for sure. Everything gave everything of themselves.”

“We could have conceded more goals. All the players put their body on the line to do that. We lost 2:0. The first time in a competitive game we’ve lost by more than one goal. We were comprehensively beaten, I wouldn’t say otherwise. Our players weren’t going to give up without competing.”

Ireland vs Netherlands Prediction:

Ronald Koeman’s men are making progress from match to match and now they are also going for victory and nothing less. The Netherlands have already managed to defeat their main rival for second place in Group B, Greece, in a head-to-head match, and they did it in a confident and convincing manner. Now they need to consolidate their success and get away from them in the standings to feel safe in qualifying for Euro 2024. With one match to spare and a better GD, it’s a great foundation to resolve the qualification issue as early as possible to save resources and nerves.

The class of the Irish players will allow them to challenge, to fight, but it will hardly be enough to counter the likes of De Jong, van Dijk, Gakpo, Dumfries. The Irish have only beaten Gibraltar in this qualifying cycle, and the situation for the Greens is aggravated by numerous personnel losses, some of which occurred already in Paris. And the Irish have made it only six times in their history to play at major tournaments, which is a very sensitive indication of their average level of play and ambition.

And the Oranje are coming up with a good winning streak showing quality unflappable football. The defence bossed by Virgil van Dijk is unlikely to even allow the home attack to score. But as for their own goalscoring efforts, we can expect around 2 effective strikes, which is their standard output over the last 15 matches.

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Netherlands will win with an individual total over 1.5 – Yes.

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