NETHERLANDS VS. ARGENTINA

Lusail Iconic Stadium is the venue as the Netherlands and Argentina battle it out for a place in the 2022 World Cup semi-finals in this mouth-watering quarter-final tie.

It’s been plain sailing for the Netherlands in Qatar thus far, with Louis van Gaal’s team making it out of the group stages without losing (W2, D1) before comfortably beating the United States 3-1 in the first knockout round. Yet to lose any of their 19 internationals during van Gaal’s third stint in charge (W14, D5), the ‘Oranje’ will be confident of avenging their 2014 semi-final defeat to Argentina. Extra time excluded, they have only lost one of their nine matches against the Argentines (W4, D4), with their last two World Cup H2Hs yielding a drab 0-0 scoreline in regulation time. If you’re looking for an omen, the Dutch have progressed from their last three appearances in the World Cup quarter-finals, while they’ve never lost a game in this tournament under van Gaal (W8, D3).

In the meantime, Argentina’s adventure in Qatar suffered a stuttering start as Saudi Arabia stunned them 2-1 in a curtain-raising fixture. However, the South American heavyweights have gone from strength to strength since being knocked down from a 36-match unbeaten streak, racking up three straight wins via an aggregate score of 6-1, including a 2-1 triumph over Australia in the round of 16. On a less positive note, since losing to Uruguay in the 1930 grand final, each of Argentina’s last nine eliminations from the World Cup knockout rounds has come at the hands of European countries. On top of that, ‘La Albiceleste’ have failed to navigate their World Cup quarter-final ties in three of their last four attempts, though they did win their most recent such match-up against Belgium in 2014. With nine of their last ten wins in all competitions coming ‘to nil,’ Lionel Scaloni’s men will be keen to open the scoring.