The Socceroos of Australia tutored by Ange Postecoglou has been able to infuse young but inexperienced players into the team with Mike Jedinak as the captain to the team. Jedinak is expected hold the midfield and pull the strings from that postion. The Aussies will be looking forward to the Crystal Palace star to bring in the needed confidence and stability as they face the uphill task of upsetting the team from Netherlands.
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You can’t talk about the Socceroos without making mention of Tim Cahill. He has been the danger man for the Aussies and is the leading goal scorer with 33 goals from 69 games. With a goal recorded against Chile, expect him to go all out as he attempts muscle his way through the Dutch defense. Tim Cahill has scored in three consecutive world cups and will be saddled with the responsibility of getting the goals.
A player to watch out for is Matthew Ryan who has been named the Belgian league’s goalkeeper of the season in his first stint in European football and is seen as an able successor to the old warhorse Mark Schwarzer.
The loss of qualifiers leading scorer Josh Kennedy has made the world cup task quite difficult in addition to other injured players like Robbie Kruse. It’s up to the likes of Matthew Leckie, and Adam Taggart to step up their game and Mark Milligan to prove himself to be of more relevance to the Australian team.
Odds:
Netherlands
As expected, the Dutch has started the tournament on a strong note with a surprise thrashing of the supposed best national team in the world. On the 18th of June, the 2010 world cup finalist will do all they can to cement their place in the knock out phase of the tournament. With the absence of Kevin Strootman, other younger players have stepped in and are now proving their worth. Louis van Gall has been able to tinker the team with formations that will give the opposition so many things to worry about
Captain Robin van Persie led the line so well against Spain and is expected to keep his place as his team files out against Australia. The top marksman netted 11 goals in nine qualifiers on the road to Brazil.
Another key player is Arjen Robben who was also instrumental to the European Champions league triumph of Bayen Munich in the 2012/2013 season. The speedy winger was a thorn in the flesh of the Spanish defense and he will be looking forward to wreck more havoc when he faces the Australian defense this coming Wednesday
Emerging as another star is Daley Blind who has become a toast of many football pundits and this versatile and talented player will look to consolidate on his stellar performance against the Spaniards.
Head to head, the Aussies have not lost in their last three meetings with the Netherlands. Australia has scored three goals while the Dutch have been able to get two goals past the Australians
Australia: Win-1 Draw – 2 Lost – 0
Netherlands: Win – 0 Draw – 2 Loss – 1