Will the Dutch spoil coming home party?
Football
England meet Netherlands in the semifinal at the BVB Stadion Dortmund tonight at 21:00.
England and the Netherlands will take each other on tonight at 9 in the second semi-final of the Euro 2024 in what is expected to be an intense battle. The English fans have been singing at every Euro that football and the trophy is coming home, their national team has however gone through a major trophy drought for over decades.
They are coming up against a Netherlands squad that edges them in terms of a number of victorie.
While these teams have had a face-off in 22 matches, the Netherlands had won seven compared to England’s six.
The two teams have also played to nine draws in their 22 meetings they have played so far.
On paper the England poses a team with talent, including Champions League winner Jude Bellingham.
“This one is going to be complicated because these two teams have not been really firing on all cylinders.
“In terms of talent, I think the English look the better but in terms of force, the Dutch have been playing better football.
“I think the pressure in this match will be more on the English because they are expected to bring the trophy home,” former footballer Rudie Louw said.
The English last big triumph was in 1966 when they won the World Cup.
The furthest they have gone in this competition was when they ended the Euros 2020 competition as runners up. The Dutch however come with a better record in the Euros after having won the 1988 competition with a famous talented team.
Netherlands progressed to the semi-final after beating Turkey 2-1, while England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in normal time.
These are the possible line ups as featured by Aljazeera:
Netherlands: Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Schouten, Simons, Reijnders; Malen, Depay, Gakpo
England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi; Saka, Mainoo, Rice, Shaw; Bellingham, Foden; Kane