The third tie of the group stages takes place in Budapest where the first placed Netherlands from Group C face off against the second-placed Czechs from Group D.
The Dutch breezed through round one with a maximum of three out of three wins but all ties took place on home soil in Amsterdam, whereas the Czech Republic picked up a win, draw and loss and will be looking for their second win of the tournament.
In their last five previous meetings Czech Republic has W3, L2 scoring eight and conceding nine between 2004 and 2015.
Netherlands are 1/70 to win the game and Czech Republic are 5/50 to win the game.
- Previous defensive record:
The Netherlands won 2-0 against North Macedonia last time out and have gone through the group stages with two clean sheets after conceding two in matchday one. Whereas the Czech Republic fell to a 1-0 defeat to England last time out but have only conceded twice in three of their group stage matches.
Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands) has contributed to 33 goals (25 goals, eight assists) in his 78 international caps and his brace last time out put him above Marco van Basten in the all-time standings. Whereas Patrik Schick (Czech Republic) could equal Milan Baros’ record for most goals at a single Euro finals with two more goals.
Luuk De Jong (Netherlands) is out with a knee injury. Jan Boril (Czech Republic) misses out due to a racking up of yellow cards. While Michal Sadilek (Czech Republic) is a doubt.
Misses next match if booked: De Roon (Netherlands)
Misses next match if booked: Hložek, Masopust (Czech Republic)
Netherlands possible line-up: Stekelenburg; Dumfries, De Ligt, De Vrij, Blind, Van Aanholt; F. De Jong, De Roon, Wijnaldum; Depay, Malen
Czech Republic possible line-up: Vaclík; Coufal, Čelůstka, Kalas, Kadeřábek; Souček, Holeš; Masopust, Darida, Jankto; Schick
Managers view:
Frank de Boer, Netherlands: “We will have to be top notch to get a good result against the Czech Republic. They showed what they can do in the group stage; we will have to work hard.”
Jaroslav Šilhavý, Czech Republic: “The Dutch have a lot of quality. We were just studying them in detail: how hungry they are for goals and the great individual skill, they have a lot of pace. They know their game and play in a simple manner and get the ball forward as fast as possible to the forwards. If they lose it, they instantly press and it’s very difficult. So, if we want to think about advancing, we have to give 100% – 150% – and if a few individual performances can be replicated like in the game against Scotland, when Tomáš Vaclík and Patrik Schick performed brilliantly, we have a good chance of winning.”
Last six form guide:
Netherlands: WWWDW
Czech Republic: LLWWDL
Frank De Boer’s men are no doubt flying after the slight scare they had during matchday one but having won three out of three and scoring eight goals along the way they too will be favourites for this tie and the tournament as they go quietly about their business.
They won’t be confident if they are superstitious though as the last time they won all three group games and scored eight or more group goals (Euro 2008) they were knocked out in the very next round after extra time.
The Czechs have qualified as one of the best third-placed sides and they face each other for the third time at the Euros since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. They will be looking to cause an upset here however De Boers men should have enough firepower to wipe out the Czechs.
The winner of this tie will then take on either Wales or Denmark in Baku.
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