Netherlands - USA: The first shock in the 1/8 round?
* Netherlands - USA: 10pm today 3/12, on MetaSports.
The Netherlands - one of the football powerhouses that have never won a World Cup - did not perform as well as expected, or just barely managed to top Group A with an undefeated record. Meanwhile, the US - a young team looking for a place on the biggest stage of football - finished second in Group B after England, with two draws and one win.
After reaching the goal of passing the group stage, now is the time when the US expects to cross the dance floor without any pressure. "We've been watching the Netherlands for the last 11 months, watching all of their games," coach Gregg Berhalter said at a pre-match press conference at Khalifa Stadium. "We have a lot of people watching their matches in the group stage, even watching them live. We know the Netherlands very well."
Sitting next to Berhalter, captain Tyler Adams praised the Netherlands, also pointing to the shock results in the group stage as proof that things don't always go as they should on paper. "We can watch a lot of the past matches at the World Cup and use that as motivation," Adams emphasized. "A lot of teams that could have been judged as weaker won. It shows that in these games it's a matter of timing, whether you can stay focused for 90 minutes."
According to Berhalter, the knock-out round is a different and more intense challenge than the group stage, forcing him to adjust his squad and substitution pattern to suit the course of the game and the possibility of going into extra time. . The 49-year-old coach also emphasized that he has made a list of penalty kick players, and will continue to sharpen until the time the ball rolls.
The issue of interest to American fans is not the expertise, but the status of Christian Pulisic - their most dangerous attacking star. The 24-year-old striker slammed his abdomen into the knee of Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand when scoring the only goal in the Iran match. He then tried to play again, but had to leave the field at half-time to go to the hospital. Berhalter is optimistic about Pulisic's return, but is uncertain.
For the Netherlands, passing the group stage is just the beginning of their ambition to win the Gold Cup in Qatar. Before the match, coach Louis van Gaal responded to criticism of the Netherlands' overly pragmatic and boring approach. He emphasized that he had heard similar criticisms during his journey to the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup.
The 71-year-old coach said he did not watch the US play before the World Cup, but was impressed with the opponent's performance in the three group stage matches. "The US has an excellent team, runs smoothly and even has one of the strongest teams in the league," Van Gaal said. "It's going to be a tough game. But there's nothing the Netherlands can't overcome."
Van Gaal went on to praise the US for its cohesion under Berhalter. He pointed out that some teams advance based on the mutant ability of a few stars, while the US finds strength in unity and willingness to fight for the collective. Van Gaal once again spoke about his ambition to win the title, when he stressed that the Netherlands "will prepare with the attitude of kicking four more matches".
Opta's supercomputer rated the Netherlands' chances of winning as higher at 51.9%, while the US was at 22%. The probability of the two teams drawing and then taking a penalty shootout to determine the winner is 26.1%. But as Adams pointed out, many times in this year's tournament, it's the teams at the bottom that enjoy the fun.
