…With tactical moves to bag the ticket to world cup semifinal
Netherlands and Senegal move to round of 16 from Group A
The Oranje boys of Netherlands ranked 8 in the world have a herculean task to beat 3rd ranked Argentina on Friday night when both sides meet in the 2nd quarterfinals of the 2022 world cup at the Lusail Iconic Stadium in Qatar for an historic ticket to the semifinals.
Both may be elite teams at the world cup but records show there is seniority in standings. Argentina have been in five world cup finals winning it twice in 1978 and 1986 while being runners-up 1930; 1990 and 2014. They pathetically lost four times at group stages in 1965; 1998; 2006 and 2010 in South Africa.
Netherlands never lifted the trophy but were three times runners-up in 1974; 1978 and 2010. The Oranje boys won the Bronze in 2014 and placed 4th in 1998. The team lost at the Quarterfinal stage in 1994. So Argentina has better credentials.
On current forms, both teams won their groups. Netherlands beat Senegal 2-0; drew with Ecuador and gave hosts Qatar just 2-0. In the round of 16 the Oranje boys edged out the Yankees of America (USA) 3-1 to get to set up to meet old foes in Argentina.
Argentina got their bearings very wrong in the first game losing to Saudi Arabia 1-2 and the Arabs declared a public holiday for defeating their Goliath. Leo Messi motivated the Argentines not to allow a disgraceful group exit and so beat local rivals, Mexico 2-0 and sent parking Lewandoski led Poland 2-0. They struggled from another attempt to stifle them by Australia who they beat 2-1 in the round of 16.
The truth is that Argentina is not in her elements in this tournament the way they were shoved by Saudi and then the Kangaroos of Australia who were just unlucky as they stressed the Argentines. The 8 goals scored so far by Netherlands and 7 for Argentina shows they have equal strength at goal scoring but for Argentina to concede 3 goals as against 2 of Netherlands shows Gakpo may come rampaging again. He and Messi have three goals to their names each.
If the Dutch can find a way to neutralize Messi in the match on Friday night and turn him to a ‘passenger’ on the field, then Netherlands would surely win the day, Messi can convert a quarter chances, not half into goal. An Iconic Ballon D’or winner, Messi is rated the best player in Qatar.
Past meetings shows Argentina’s upper hand with 4 wins, 2 draws and Netherlands 3 wins. On 26th May 1974 Ned won 4-1; at the 26th June 1974 world cup Ned lost 0-4 and the next match which was a world cup encounter on 25th June 1978 Arg dazed Ned 3-1. There was a FIFA celebration match on 22nd May 1979 where both sides played goalless. Ned won a world cup quarterfinal match on 4th July 1998 2-1.
Then came two friendly matches on 31st March 1999 they drew 1-1 and Ned won on 12th February 2003 by a lone goal. A world cup match was played on 21st June 2006 that ended goalless and their last meeting at the 2014 world cup on 9th July ended goalless after extra time only for Argentina to win on penalties 4-2. Shall we have an encore of this on Friday night?
Friday night will be very tough and tactical. Any mistake by any side will spell doom. Both sides do not play missile shots to score but believe in walking into goal tactically. Argentina were twice lucky to move on against Poland and Australia but this Dutch set want a better record and would not throw the chances into the Qatar dust bin.
FIFA has not released names of officials as at Wednesday 1700 hours West African Time. The match is Friday at 6pm. On that day at 10pm Netherlands will file out against Argentina in the second quarter finals. We expect names of the officials for Friday matches to be released by 1500 hours West African Time of Thursday.
On Saturday at 6pm Morocco will play Portugal in the 3rd quarters while at 10pm England will meet defending Champions France in the 4th quarters.
Eniola Olatunji reporting.
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