Various soccer experts predicted almost unanimously that Group B would be Spain’s to lose, but in a shocking turn of events, the Netherlands and Chile are the ones who are safely through to the knockout stage with a game to spare.
The Dutch continued their free-scoring ways with a 3-2 win over Australia, while Chile handed defending champions Spain a 2-0 defeat to boot them out of the World Cup. For those who predicted that result in their World Cup pool, congratulations.
Despite locking up qualification, there’s still the matter of the group winner to be decided, which both teams will be eager to lock up considering their possible opponents in the next round. Read on for everything you need to know about this decisive Group B game.
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Netherlands vs. Chile, World Cup 2014, Group Stage Betting Preview and Prediction
The winner of this game takes top spot in the group. But due to a superior goal difference (goals scored minus goals allowed), a draw will be enough to see the Netherlands emerge as group winners.
The second place team in Group B faces the winner of Group A, which could possibly be Brazil, in the round of 16.
Betting on Netherlands
The Netherlands were definitely made to work by a very spirited Australia side that was not afraid to go at them. The Aussies even managed to overturn a deficit to take the lead, but it was short-lived as the Dutch came back to snatch a 3-2 win.
[sc:Soccer240banner ]The prolific duo of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben were both on target once again, taking their tally for the tournament to three goals each. However, van Persie will be suspended against Chile after picking up his second booking of the tournament against Australia.
van Gaal changed up his 3-5-2 formation against Australia to the more famous Dutch 4-3-3 after the injury to defender Bruno Martins Indi. van Gaal will likely stick with this formation against Chile in order to add some extra firepower with van Persie out.
The prolific Klass-Jan Huntelaar (34 goals in 62 caps) or Jeremain Lens will likely take van Persie’s place in the starting lineup. Meanwhile, young Memphis Depay, who scored the winning goal in the Dutch comeback against Australia, should also be inserted into the first 11 to provide width opposite Robben against Chile.
The Dutch were caught a little off-guard by Australia’s directness, but they should be well-prepared for Chile’s heavy pressing, as they are also known to use the same system. Their knowledge of this threat, which they will no doubt gameplan for, potentially takes away one of Chile’s main strengths.
Betting on Chile
The Chile bandwagon is very quickly filling up after their very impressive 2-0 win over Spain to knock the World Cup holders out of the competition. The sizzling South Americans basically did what they do best – heavy pressing and lightning-quick attacking – to great effect against the defending champs Spain, who, despite their incredible ball retention skills, couldn’t handle the Chilean pressure.
They could be able to coax similar mistakes from the Dutch, who have young, inexperienced defenders and midfielders not as adept at passing out of pressure. The speed of Chile’s forwards will also be very dangerous against the Netherlands’ high defensive line.
What’s even more impressive about Chile is that they do it as a team. Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal (who has not been operating at 100% due to lingering injuries) are the recognizable names, but they’re getting contributions from the entire team. Their four goals so far have come from four different players.
The defense is an obvious weakness, but Robin van Persie’s suspension means Chile won’t have to deal with one of the Netherlands’ two biggest goal threats. And if their vaunted pressing is executed to maximum effect, which it has been for the first two games, then that suspect defense instantly becomes much less of an issue.
Writer’s Prediction
With both teams still highly-motivated for a result, highly-skilled in attack and questionable at the back, this has all the makings of a very entertaining, high-scoring game. But with van Persie missing for the Dutch, the edge goes to Chile to win a shootout. Create a betting account today and wager on this very intriguing Group B decider.
