Qatar will host the World Cup for the first time ever in the Arabian Peninsula. After being eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands will return in 2022. Despite being one of the best teams in World Cup history and having a fantastic brand of football, the Netherlands has never experienced victory. After guiding the Orange to third place in 2014 and a semi-final loss to Argentina, Louis van Gaal is back in charge of the team.
Van Gaal’s team will be one of the hot teams headed to Qatar in 2022 after going undefeated in six games in the UEFA Nations League this season, which includes wins against Belgium and Wales. On June 27, 2021, the Czech Republic eliminated the Netherlands from UEFA EURO 2020 in the round of 16. This was the Netherlands’ most recent defeat in the FIFA World Cup.
Netherlands’ Group A Fixtures
21 November
Senegal vs Netherlands (19:00 local time, Al Thumama Stadium)
25 November
Netherlands vs Ecuador (19:00 local time, Khalifa International Stadium)
29 November
Netherlands vs Qatar (18:00 local time, Al Bayt Stadium)
The Strategy and Attitude of Van Gaal
Van Gaal has worked as a top coach for thirty years. He is known for developing defensively sound and tactically sound teams, and he typically deploys a 4-3-3 style that is attack oriented. He speaks plainly and without much emotion. However, he’s opted to play three at the back in recent games, a 3-4-1-2 formation he successfully employed in 2014.
After the Netherlands withdrew from the EURO early, the Dutch FA invited him to succeed Frank de Boer and lead his country for a third time in August 2021. The Orange view the seasoned strategist as a reliable presence with a history of shown success, especially in light of their recent winning streak since that disastrous EURO campaign.
Player of Note: Frenkie de Jong
With De Jong, the Dutch have one of the game’s most elegant midfielders.
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One of the 25-year-old’s strongest qualities is his ability to make decisions. De Jong will effectively link play to the attack by either moving the ball forward on his own or by delivering a pass from a range of distances. De Jong typically receives the puck first from the defense. The Ajax player of the generation confuses defenses with his tendency for long-distance passing and defender-on-defender victories. Van Gaal’s squad will almost certainly advance further in the tournament based on De Jong’s performance in Qatar.
Watch Out for Cody Gakpo
Even though it is unusual for wingers to be tall, Gakpo brings height to the table as one of his strengths. With his direct and combative style of play, which he normally uses from the left wing, the 1.87-meter PSV Eindhoven winger has recently attracted the interest of several of the top clubs in Europe.
The Netherlands’ 2021–2022 Football of the Year, who made his senior national team debut during UEFA EURO 2020, scored the game-winning goal against Poland in the UEFA Nations League in September 2022. One of Europe’s most successful forwards, he is going to Qatar. The Netherlands team has been studied in this article. In each of the 10 World Cups in which the Netherlands has competed, most recently in Brazil in 2014, they have progressed past the group stage.
They are considered as the “nearly men” of the World Cup for good reason. The terrible distinction of participating in the majority of championship contests but never taking home a medal belongs to the Netherlands. The Dutch were unable to cross the finish line in matches against West Germany, Argentina, and Spain in 1974, 1978, and 2010.
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