WORLD CUP PREVIEW Fri: Netherlands v Argentina

After victories in their last-16 clashes, Netherlands and Argentina go head-to-head at the Lusail Stadium with a spot in the last-four of the World Cup on the line.

Louis Van Gaal’s team weathered an early storm against USA, in which Gregg Berhalter’s side took control of the early stages, to fight back and win 3-1 to advance to the quarter-final stage for the first time since 2014.

Cody Gakpo, who is rapidly becoming one of the stars of the tournament for the Netherlands and regularly being linked with a Premier League move, was on the scoresheet once again in that last-16 triumph and is one of the main players that Argentina will be looking to keep quiet here.

Denzel Dumfries also found the back of the net in that game amid rumours linking him with a move away from Inter Milan and potentially with a transfer to the Premier League in January.

Many assumed Virgil Van Dijk would be the titan at the heart of the Netherlands’ defence at this World Cup, but Nathan Ake has arguably outshone the Liverpool defender with a string of extremely impressive performances.

Defender Stefan De Vrij should be fit to return for this match, but he may have a job on his hands overthrowing the established and in-form trio of Ake, Van Dijk and Jurrien Timber.

Netherlands v Argentina
FIFA World Cup 2022 Quarter-Final
19:00 BBC One / BBC iPlayer / BBC Sport Website

LAST FIVE STATS

HEAD-TO-HEAD
JUL 1998 FIFA WORLD CUP Netherlands 2-1 Argentina
MAR 1999 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Netherlands 1-1 Argentina
FEB 2003 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Netherlands 1-0 Argentina
JUN 2006 FIFA WORLD CUP Netherlands 0-0 Argentina
JUL 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP Argentina 0-0 Netherlands

NETHERLANDS
SEP 2022 NATIONS LEAGUE Netherlands 1-0 Belgium
NOV 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Senegal 0-2 Netherlands
NOV 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Netherlands 1-1 Ecuador
NOV 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Netherlands 2-0 Qatar
DEC 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Netherlands 3-1 USA

ARGENTINA
NOV 2022 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY UAE 0-5 Argentina
NOV 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Argentina 1-2 Saudi Arabia
NOV 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Argentina 2-0 Mexico
NOV 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Poland 0-2 Argentina
DEC 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP Argentina 2-1 Australia

Argentina have goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to thank for a vital late save that denied Australia an equalising goal in a tense last-16 clash at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Saturday.

Lionel Messi was once again at the centre of things for Argentina as he produced a dazzling performance, which included him grabbing the all-important opening goal, as he helped Argentina into the quarter-finals.

Argentina won’t have been overly pleased when they found out that their quarter-final clash would be against the Netherlands, though, as Argentina have failed to score in each of their last three matches against the Dutch in all competitions.

However, they should be boosted by the return of experienced creative midfielder Angel Di Maria who has stepped up his recovery from a quadriceps issue and will be hoping to haunt former boss Van Gaal should he be recalled to the side.

Both of these sides’ strengths lie in the attacking areas, particularly with Argentina who have looked especially top-heavy so far at this tournament, so Both Teams to Score stands out as a pick for that reason at even money with starsports.bet.

JOE CITRONE

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PROFIT/LOSS (WORLD CUP 2022): LOSS 44.83 points (after matches on Tues 6 Dec, includes TWO GOOD bonus on CAMEROON v SERBIA 28 Nov)
(Will include returns from both the OUTRIGHT and SPECIALS previews too)

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