World Cup: Senegal vs. Netherlands Preview, Odds, Prediction

Senegal and Netherlands open the second day of the World Cup in Qatar, and for us, this is one very exciting matchup. Senegal is possibly the strongest African team in the tournament, projected to go to the knockout stage and possibly reach even the quarterfinals. The same is proposed for the Netherlands, whose players crave some big success following a few disappointing campaigns, the most recent at the last year’s EURO.

Preview

Senegal (+450) has the most sounding roster of all the African teams, which involves the likes of Sadio Mane, Eduard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly and Idrissa Gueye. They are one solid unit, with perfect physic and a strong approach to each event.

The midfield is extremely tough to compete with due to its raw physical power, and we already saw in the past that Senegal almost always outperforms its rivals in that aspect of the game. What is problematic are blackouts that tend to happen in the back line, even though it overall plays pretty well.

Four of the past five games this team played were with under 2.5 goals, as well as two African zones World Cup playoff events against Egypt, where they lost the opening game on the road, 1-0 and after that, beat the rivals at home, 1-0 and eventually progressed to Qatar following the penalties.

Netherlands (-160) had quite a solid run in the UEFA Nations League, where they finished first in their group ahead of Belgium, Wales and Poland. For the moment, Oranje is without a loss in the last 15 games, presenting fantastic football with lots of dynamic and energy.

That has been the case for the Dutch units throughout history, and Van Gaal didn’t want to change anything here. The team is very fluid in the midfield, with the fantastic transition when needed, but also, Van Dijk and the guys from the back often organize the plays when there is a need for that.

The Netherlands had five games with three or more goals in the past eight, and they both scored and conceded in six clashes during that period. We have to admit, sometimes their philosophy of play leaves the defense overexposed, but the attack covers up the mess.

Latest News

For the moment, there isn’t any big news apart from the fact that Sadio Mane should be ready to compete, as his injury earned in Bayern isn’t too big.

On the other side, the Netherlands comes lock and loaded, fired up with all the players at their disposal.

Head to Head Games

There wasn’t an official encounter between these two sides in the past, and we couldn’t find any friendly meeting either.

Prediction

We should see plenty of goals in this one, despite the fact that Senegal plays tough football. The thing is here that the Netherlands’ style of play is highly offensive-minded and as such, it will force the rivals to open and accept it, otherwise, Oranje might hit them first, which puts Senegal into a pretty poor situation. That’s why we take over 2.5 goals in this event, with the odds of that set at +110.

Pick: Over 2.5 goals +110