The third and final match of a busy Sunday at Euro 2020 concludes in Amsterdam when one of the many hosts in the tournament, the Netherlands, get their campaign up and running when they face off against Ukraine in Group C.
The general consensus is that these two will be battling it out for the group title and the favourable draws which come with it so it will be interesting to see if either side are prepared to go out and look for the win or whether they set their stall out not to lose.
Where to watch
This match will be shown live on ITV1 for us in the UK. The programme for this match begins at 7.10pm and then the game itself will kick off at 8pm.
Netherlands
It is almost like you have to pick a side with this Netherlands outfit. You either rate them or you don’t. They’ll either go very well or they’ll bomb out and there may not be a quest for anything in between. I’ve already laid my stall out that I don’t rate this Dutch side anywhere near as strong as the odds and the markets would suggest. It might be that home advantage carries them further than they might have otherwise got but when you rely on that you’re in trouble.
There is just no consistency to the results of the Dutch and that is the one thing which will need to change and need to have done so quickly if they are going to launch any sort of campaign here. The big issue I have with this Netherlands side is the coach. He makes more enemies than he gets results and isn’t as tactically strong as you would have expected a player with his record to be. It doesn’t take much to divide a Dutch side and he is more than capable of it so this is a big match for the Netherlands.
Ukraine
I don’t know whether Ukraine will look at this and thing they’ve got the Dutch at the right time or whether they work their way into the tournament knowing that neutral matches against inferior opposition represents their best chance of getting what is required to get them out of the group. I think if they can offer up a defensive solidity in this match they don’t have a huge amount to fear. Admittedly they still need to do that but they do have it in them.
Often Ukraine go into a tournament with the internal politics the big problem but Andrei Shevchenko has probably got rid of that as well as any coach of Ukraine has done and their recent results under him have been very positive. They qualified ahead of Portugal for this tournament and nothing offers up an insight into their pedigree much more than that. If their playmakers can get hold of the ball and create Ukraine could more than surprise here.
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Team News
The Dutch are said to be making a very late decision on Juventus defender Matthis de Ligt. With Virgil van Dijk a non-runner at this tournament to be without the Juventus man as well would be disastrous for the hosts. Daley Blind is another who is being assessed ahead of the game.
Ukraine are expected to go into this match almost at full strength although they do have an issue with Viktor Tsygankov who has an ankle issue. Shevchenko has a few selection headaches to deal with as he has a number of creative midfielders who can’t all play.
Betting
I keep on saying it but I’m far from convinced about this Dutch side and if Matthis de Ligt doesn’t come through and prove his fitness there are concerns about them at both ends of the pitch. The one thing I would say about them on a positive is that they have the technical qualities to keep the ball and I’m all the more convinced that the longer this tournament goes on the teams that show love to the ball will be the ones who queue up for the title.
That can still only carry you so far if you have issues defensively though and Ukraine have the talent in attacking areas to stop them. I also can’t help but feel these two might be happy to cancel each other out and feast on the remaining group matches and if that is the case this one could easily turn into a bit of a stalemate with the draw a chance. However this one plays out I think these two sides are closer matched than a -1 Asian line would suggest so I’ll back the visitors on that line.
Tips
Back Ukraine (+1AH) to beat Netherlands for a 3/10 stake at 1.99 with Bet365
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