Netherlands vs Turkey

Johan Cruijff Arena is the venue as the Netherlands and Turkey square off against each other in a massive World Cup qualifying fixture.

After seeing his side play out a dismal 1-1 away draw against Norway on his third managerial debut at the national team, new head coach Louis van Gaal guided the Netherlands to an overwhelming 4-0 home victory over Montenegro. Despite going unbeaten in their last four World Cup qualifiers (W3, D1) since losing 4-2 away to Turkey in their Group G curtain-raiser, the ‘Oranje’ are not yet off the hook. Hoping to return to the World Cup finals after skipping ‘Russia 2018,’ the Netherlands are second in the standings, a point adrift of pacesetters Turkey, with just a single point separating the top-three nations in this section. Ruthless in front of goal, though, the Netherlands have failed to get on the scoresheet just once in their last 15 international games, remarkably netting 2+ goals in 13 of the remaining 14!

Meanwhile, Turkey’s pursuit of their first World Cup finals appearance since their heroic third-place finish in 2002 has seen them go undefeated in all five Group G matches (W3, D2). A comfortable 3-0 victory over minnows Gibraltar last time out means the Turks have bagged 2+ goals in all five 2022 World Cup qualifiers, on an average of 3.00 per match – a record better by just two nations so far. Despite a disastrous Euro 2020 campaign that saw them suffer a group stage exit with all three defeats, back-to-back H2H victories by an aggregate score of 7-2 can provide the visitors with a fair degree of encouragement. Having that said, the ‘Crescent-Stars’ have failed to beat the Netherlands in all three away World Cup qualifying H2Hs (D1, L2), drawing a blank in the last two.