Argentina is flying under Lionel Messi. Despite stumbling against Saudi Arabia, the Albiceleste returned to their usual form in the next three matches. Argentina confirmed the ticket to the quarter-finals by playing great and great. Messi himself is in the best rhythm. They beat Australia 2-1 in the last sixteen matches. On the way to winning the title after 36 years of grief, their opponent in the quarter-finals is the Netherlands. Let’s take a look at who is ahead in the statistics of Argentina and the Netherlands
Messi will face the Netherlands at 1 pm on Friday (December 10) at the Lucille Stadium.
Argentina is one of the favorites in the 22nd season of ‘The Greatest Show on World Cup. They have won 36 matches in a row and crossed the line. In addition to defeating the top-ranked team Brazil in the Copa America final, they defeated the Euro champions Italy. Due to this many football experts put Messi in the book of worthy contenders for the title.
However, Albiceleste did not get off to a good start in the Middle East. They were in danger of getting knocked out of the tournament after losing against Saudi Arabia. However, under the leadership of Lionel Messi, the Albiceleste turned around. Scaloni’s students beat Australia 2-1 in the last sixteen matches after becoming the group champion.
Looking at the statistics, it can be seen that the Albiceleste may have to sweat to beat the Dutch. The two teams have met 9 times in international football so far. Among them, Argentina won only 3 matches against the 4 wins of the Netherlands. The result of the remaining two matches is a draw. The Netherlands has won both of the five matches between the two teams in the World Cup. In contrast, the Argentinians won only one. On the other hand, in the last two appearances, both teams scored zero goals.
The two teams first met in 1974 in an international friendly. Cruyff-led Netherlands won that match 4-1. A month later, the Dutch defeated Argentina 4-0 on the FIFA World Cup stage again.
Argentina took revenge for that loss in 1978. Albiceleste defeated the Dutch 3-1 under the leadership of Mario Kempes. In 1998, world football saw the Netherlands-Argentina fight in the FIFA World Cup again. In the quarter-finals of the tournament organized in France, Argentina left the tournament with a 2-1 defeat against the Dutch.
After 20 years, Argentina met the Netherlands again on the World Cup stage in 1998. The Dutch also won the service 2-1.
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Again, eight years later in 2006, the Albiceleste faced the Dutch in the World Cup. This time the two teams drew zero goals. Eight years later in 2014, the Dutch met Messi again. The result was a goal-nil draw.
With such difficult statistics, Messi’s army has to enter the fight to secure the ticket to the semi. So, the fear of losing and winning are equal. Is there any reason to think that the Dutch will leave the Argentinians?
In the World Cup in Qatar, no team can be kept ahead. Argentina moved up five places in the power rankings. However, the reason for Messi’s fear of the eighth-placed Netherlands is the impenetrable defense made up of Virgil von Dijk, De Licht, Jurien Timber, and Nathan Ake. Although they don’t have the world’s best attackers like Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben in this tournament, Gakpo, Klaassen and De Pires are not lacking. Louis von Gaal’s men are unbeaten in their last 19 matches.