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The Netherlands and Argentina meet in the second quarter-final at the 2022 World Cup on Friday, December 9.
The game will be played at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail.
What time is Netherlands vs Argentina?
The match kicks off at 10pm local time, which means it will start at 7pm in the UK — the coverage will be shown on the BBC.
In the US, FOX and Telemundo will be showing the match. Kick-off is at 2pm EST and 11am PT.
The Netherlands operates on CEST so kick-off there will be at 8pm, while it is 4pm in Argentina.
Team news
Louis van Gaal will be happy to have come through four World Cup games without any real injury problems. Memphis Depay has been able to build his fitness to a stage where he should be okay to play a full 90 minutes against Argentina.
The Netherlands will almost certainly continue with their tried and trusted three-man defence where Jurrien Timber is preferred to Matthijs de Ligt — who was booked in his only World Cup appearance.
Depay has found fitness — and form — at the perfect time (Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Argentina were without Angel Di Maria for their last-16 victory against Australia. Lionel Scaloni revealed that he suffered a strain during the group stage win against Poland and his fitness will be monitored between now and the quarter-final.
Alejandro Gomez could be the man to make way for the Juventus winger after he was injured against Australia. A sprained ankle saw him withdrawn almost immediately after the players came out from the half-time break so his tournament is in jeopardy.
Predicted line-ups
Netherlands (3-4-1-2): Noppert, Timber, Van Dijk, Ake; Dumfries, De Roon, De Jong, Blind; Klaassen; Gakpo, Depay.
Argentina (4-3-1-2): (Emiliano) Martinez, Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuna; Fernandez, De Paul, Mac Allister; Messi; Di Maria, Alvarez.
The story so far
While there wasn’t a single team to pick up more points in the group stage than the Netherlands, they still weren’t quite at their best. The two wins against Senegal and Qatar were far from their most convincing performances while a draw against Ecuador was a cause for slight concern.
It was more of the same in the last-16 for Van Gaal’s side. A brilliant performance from Denzel Dumfries was enough to see off the USA in a 3-1 win but the Dutch looked shaky at the back on several occasions and, on another day, would have conceded more than just one goal.
It’s been quite similar for Argentina, who have had Lionel Messi to thank for being at this stage of the tournament. They were stunned by Saudi Arabia in their first game before Messi magic rescued them against Mexico.
A very comfortable win against Poland in the final group game led them into a last-16 clash with Australia. Scaloni’s side avoided another shock but only just, as Emiliano Martinez had to make a brilliant save to stop Garang Kuol forcing extra-time right at the death.
Martinez got a vital, strong arm behind Kuol’s late strike (Photo: Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Players carrying yellow cards
Netherlands: Matthijs de Ligt, Nathan Ake, Teun Koopmeiners, Frenkie de Jong.
Argentina: Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuna.
What’s at stake?
A place in the World Cup semi-final.
Both these teams have great history of making it to the latter stages at the World Cup so this will be a tightly-contested affair.
Argentina are the favourites but their hopes rest largely on Messi’s shoulders. He was excellent against Australia but that won’t mean much if he doesn’t recreate that performance in the quarter-final.
The Netherlands were ruthless in front of goal against the USA and that will need to continue in this one as chances may well be at a premium for both sides.
Prediction
Argentina to beat Netherlands.
To progress to the semi-final: Argentina: 58 per cent, Netherlands: 42 per cent.
All of our predictions for the 2022 World Cup are powered by Nielsen’s Gracenote, who have used a proprietary football ranking system to estimate the chances of different results for every possible match through extensive simulations, to assess the chances for each team to reach different stages of the tournament.
Who is likely to await in the next round?
The winner of this tie will face the winner of the quarter-final between Croatia and Brazil.
Given their status at the tournament favourites, it would be fair to assume the five-time winners will come through that particular tie. That would potentially set up a blockbuster all-South America semi-final between Brazil and Argentina.
Although, Croatia have experience of getting over the line in World Cup knockout ties — and the Netherlands are no pushovers either.
Wider reading
We managed to get an interview with the Netherlands’ most iconic supporter while Argentina are receiving huge support from the people of Bangladesh.
Follow the latest Qatar World Cup news, analysis, tables, fixtures and more here.
(Top photo: Getty Images)
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