| Opponent | Score | Date |
|---|---|---|
Norway
|
L | 16/11/2021 |
Montenegro
|
L | 13/11/2021 |
Gibraltar
|
L | 11/10/2021 |
Latvia
|
L | 08/10/2021 |
Turkey
|
L | 07/09/2021 |
| Club | MP | W | D | L | GD | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ecuador |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
 Netherlands |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
 Senegal |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
 Qatar |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Group A
29/11/2022
Stadium
STARTS AT
16:00 GMT+0100Al Bayt Stadium
The famous orange jerseys of the Netherlands will be back at the World Cup having failed to qualify last time around. This current squad is an interesting mixture of young and experienced players united under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal.
Automatic qualification was always going to be a challenge after being drawn in a group with Turkey and Norway, but an impressive campaign (which included a thumping 6-1 victory over 2nd place Turkey) saw the Netherlands finish top.
The more established names of the squad – Virgil van Dijk, Daley Blind, Gini Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay – will be hoping to inspire their side to advance deep into the tournament, especially after being drawn in a very favourable group alongside Senegal, Ecuador and Qatar.
The enigma that is Louis van Gaal has returned for his third stint as Netherlands manager after previously being in charge from 2000–2001 and 2012–2014. Although his first spell was disappointing, he did guide the side to a third-place finish at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Having officially retired from the game after leaving Manchester United in 2016, Van Gaal was lured back after a poor showing by the national team at Euro 2020. However, despite an impressive qualifying campaign, serious illness means that the finals in Qatar will definitely be his last appearance in the hotseat of any side.
Virgil van Dijk is the captain of the Dutch national team, being awarded the honour back in 2018. At this point in his career, van Dijk had signed for Liverpool in a £75 million deal and had quickly established himself as one of the best defenders in the world.
Starting his career at Groningen in the Eredivisie, he impressed so much after transfers to Celtic and Southampton that Liverpool were willing to stump up such a big fee for a centre-half. Success has followed naturally for Van Dijk on Merseyside, collecting each a Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup medal, as well as the 2018–19 PFA Players’ Player of the Year.
Among Netherlands’ national team, their top scorers are:
Among Netherlands’ national team, players with the most assists are:
all with 5 assists each.
Quite remarkably, the Netherlands have never won the World Cup despite producing some of Europe’s best ever players. However, they have finished as runners up on three occasions – 1974, 1978 and 2010.
Wesley Sneijder is the Netherlands all-time leading appearance maker with 134 caps. Quite surprisingly, he eclipses players such as goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and defender Frank de Boer for the record which doesn’t look like being broken any time soon.
In a change of tradition, the Netherlands’ game against Senegal will be the opening match of World Cup 2022 on the 21st November. The hosts usually compete in the flagship game, but this time Qatar will play their match vs Ecuador as the third fixture that day.
