The Socceroos will look at the positives from their 3-1 defeat to Chile. After a difficult start to the game, which saw them trailing by two goals in the opening quarter of an hour, the Australia impressively steadied themselves and managed to stage a bit of a comeback. It may not have been enough to win the game but it was certainly enough proof that they can dominate superior opponents.
The stakes are high for Australia as another loss will virtually extinguish their hopes of getting past the group stages.
Netherlands come into this game brimming with confidence after Louis Van Gaal masterminded a complete thrashing of Spain. That win set the Dutch in pole position to finish first in Group B.
Van Gaal will have a contrasting task to that of Ange Postecoglou; while the Socceroos boss will be hard at work to boost his side’s confidence, Van Gaal will be guarding against complacency. They know they still need to concentrate on finishing first in their group to avoid Brazil, so they will be all out for maximum points.
Australia team news
- Right-back Ivan Franjic is a doubt for this game after he suffered a hamstring injury and was forced out of the Chile game. If the Brisbane Roar man does not recover in time then Postecoglou will probably turn to Ryan McGowan.
Netherlands team news
- Van Gaal has no major injury concerns and is tipped to pick the same players who started in the epic win against Spain.
- Netherlands have never beaten Australia, they met three times before with the Oranje losing once and drawing the other two.
Prediction
Postecoglou will no doubt have been fully aware of what Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie can do to a team that plays with a high defensive line and open flanks before the tournament. The thrashing of the defending champions only emphasised that Postecoglou will have to suspend his attacking philosophy.
He is likely to ask his side to drop deep and defend as a unit to deny Robben and Van Persie the space to run in behind his defence.
Offensively, the Socceroos boss will fancy his side against a Netherlands side that likes to play with wing backs. Both Tommy Oar and Mathew Leckie have pace to burn and Postecoglou will probably start with them again as they can easily exploit the space that Netherlands’ wing-backs leave during attacks.
Australia’s chances of getting a result in this encounter will increase if their wide attacking midfielders manage to frequently round the Orange defence and supply Tim Cahill with quality crosses.
In Robben and Van Persie, Van Gaal does not just have forwards who are dangerous on the break; both these players have excelled at club level in offensive systems and will still be dangerous against a compact Australia side as well.
The important thing for Postecoglou’s side is to limit the supply to these players. Australia will struggle as a defensive unit without an established right-back and the Dutch should have enough quality to win, but they can expect a spirited challenge from the Socceroos.
