The Netherlands will be desperate to bounce back from a 4-0 thrashing in France when they welcome Bulgaria to the Amsterdam ArenA for Sunday’s World Cup qualifier.
That defeat in Paris leaves the Oranje three points adrift of a play-off spot with just three games left to play in Group A, although they are clear 23/100 (1.23) favourites with BetSafe to keep their qualification dreams alive with victory here.
In contrast, Petar Hubchev’s men gave their own chances of making it to Russia a real boost by beating Sweden 3-2 on Thursday, but are 19/2 (10.50) outsiders to build on that result by coming out on top in this one.
GettyJust one of the two sides’ combined 14 fixtures this qualification campaign have resulted in draws, but you can get odds of 123/20 (7.15) on them cancelling each other out on this occasion.
Although clearly disappointed, Dick Advocaat could not have been too shocked to see his defence given such a rough ride by a star-studded attack including the talents of Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar and Kylian Mbappe.
With their only clean sheet in six group matches prior to the trip to Paris having been achieved at home to Luxembourg, it was always going to be difficult to keep Didier Deschamps’ men at bay.
However, he would have been more disappointed by his side’s own failure to make any inroads at the other end of the pitch, having recalled record goalscorer Robin Van Persie to a squad that had scored 10 goals in the two previous matches.
Nevertheless, the hosts should be far more confident of having some joy when they take on a team that has conceded nine goals in three away games so far this qualification campaign, and let in three at home to lowly Luxembourg.
On the other hand, having only failed to find the net once in their seven qualifiers, a Bulgarian side that won the reverse fixture 2-0 are well worth the 24/25 (1.96) odds to join a defensively suspect Dutch team on the scoresheet.
| Both teams to score for a 2.5pt stake at 24/25 (1.96) with Betsafe |
