NETHERLANDS take on African Cup of Nations champions Senegal in a World Cup Group A blockbuster and the match is UNDERWAY.
Dutch star Virgil Van Dijk is playing in defence while in-form PSV star Cody Gakpo is in attack while Memphis Depay is out.
Senegal icon Sadio Mane has been ruled out of the World Cup with a leg injury but Watford’s Ismaila Sarr is in attack as Chelsea pair Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly are also starting.
- Kick-off time: 4pm GMT
- Live stream: ITV hub
- TV channel: ITV 1
- Senegal XI: Mendy, Koulibaly, Cisse, Diallo, Sabaly, Mendy, Kouyate, Gueye, Diatta, Sarr, Dia
- Netherlands XI: Noppert, Dumfries, De Ligt, Van Dijk, Ake, Blind, De Jong, Berghuis, Gakpo, Janssen, Bergwijn
BETTING SPECIAL – GET £66 IN FREE BETS WITH BET UK
Follow ALL the action with our live blog below…
Senegal 0-0 Netherlands
5 Netherlands are dominating tempo and possession in the opening few minutes of the match.
Holland are pressing high up and are looking to get a quick opener
Senegal 0-0 Netherlands
4 What a chance!
Netherlands come just a whisker away from an opener as Gakpo breaks inside the area and passes to Bergwijn, who has an open net in front of him, but his timing is wrong and doesn’t get the touch
Senegal 0-0 Netherlands
3 Word from our man on the field Neil Custis!
More fans coming in but we’re still nowhere near to a full house
It has filled up more now as kick off approaches but still a lot of empty seats. The Dutch normally travel in their tens thousands to bring colour to a major tournament but not this time.
Neil Custis
Senegal 0-0 Netherlands
2 Another quick reminder:
Senegal manager Aliou Cisse appears to have opted for a 4-3-3 formation against the Netherlands.
Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy starts in goal with Youssouf Sabaly at right-back and Abdou Diallo on the other side.
Captain Kalidou Koulibaly of Chelsea teams up with Pape Abou Cisse at centre-back.
Nottingham Forest’s Cheikhou Kouyate, Leicester’s Nampalys Mendy and Everton’s Idrissa Gueye link up in midfield.
Watford’s Ismaila Sarr, Krepin Diatta and Boulaye Dia spearhead the attack
Senegal 0-0 Netherlands
1 Just a quick reminder:
The Netherlands’ manager Louis van Gaal appears to have opted for a 5-3-2 formation against Senegal.
Andries Noppert starts in goal with Denzel Dumfries at right-back and Daley Blind on the other side, while Matthijs de Ligt, Manchester City’s Nathan Ake and captain Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool team up at centre-back.
Frenkie de Jong, Cody Gakpo and Steven Berghuis link up in midfield.
Steven Bergwijn and Vincent Janssen spearhead the attack
Senegal 0-0 Netherlands
Peep!
Off we go in Qatar!!!
Stadium “half full”
Doesn’t look like we have a sold out crowd for today’s game either…
Just like with the opener between hosts Qatar and Senegal
The teams are about to come out at the Al Thumam Stadium for the Senegal v Holland game and it is fair to say the ground is at best half full.
Neil Custis
Here come the teams!
The Al Thumama Stadium is ready to host the World Cup clash between the Netherlands and Senegal.
Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk leads Holland out to the pitch whereas Chelsea ace Kalidou Koulibaly dons his country’s armband.
The two sides line up in front of the fans for the ceremonial national anthems.
And it is fair to say the ground is at best half full, as per SunSport’s Neil Custis.
Not long to go now…
Van Gaal confident
Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal was in confident mood in the lead up to this game claiming his side can beat the Dutch curse that has seen them reach three finals but never win the tournament.
Van Gaal told SunSport’s Neil Custis in Doha: “I think we could become world champions.
“This is to do with the fact that I believe in this group of players.
“Together with each other they are well connected. They work together in a professional way”
Qatar World Cup controversy
This year’s World Cup in Qatar has been marred by controversy due to serious allegations of human rights breaches.
The Guardian claimed last year that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had died since the Arab country’s successful World Cup bid.
The number is based on figures provided by the respective countries’ embassies in Qatar.
However, the Qatar government said the total was misleading, claiming accident records were 37 deaths among labourers at World Cup stadium construction sites between 2014 and 2020, and only three of which were “work-related”.
However, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that was an underestimate
One Love statement
A joint statement from England, Wales, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark read: “Fifa has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play.
“As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have aslked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games.
“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong comitment to wearing the armband.
“However we cannot put our players in a position where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.
“We are very frustrated by the Fifa decision which we believe is unprecedented – we wrote to Fifa in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response.
“Our players and coaches are disappointed – they are strong supporters of inclusion and will show support in other ways”
Credit: PA One Love row
The Netherlands are among seven countries, including England and Wales, forced not to wear the One Love armband in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
Homosexuality is considered a crime in the World Cup host nation of Qatar and is penalised with incarceration and even execution.
But should Dutch captain and Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk wore that armband, he would be immediately booked with a yellow card.
Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark also had to pull out of the initiative
Credit: EPA Senegal formation
Senegal manager Aliou Cisse appears to have opted for a 4-3-3 formation against the Netherlands.
Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy starts in goal with Youssouf Sabaly at right-back and Abdou Diallo on the other side.
Captain Kalidou Koulibaly of Chelsea teams up with Pape Abou Cisse at centre-back.
Nottingham Forest’s Cheikhou Kouyate, Leicester’s Nampalys Mendy and Everton’s Idrissa Gueye link up in midfield.
Watford’s Ismaila Sarr, Krepin Diatta and Boulaye Dia spearhead the attack
Netherlands formation
The Netherlands’ manager Louis van Gaal appears to have opted for a 5-3-2 formation against Senegal.
Andries Noppert starts in goal with Denzel Dumfries at right-back and Daley Blind on the other side, while Matthijs de Ligt, Manchester City’s Nathan Ake and captain Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool team up at centre-back.
Frenkie de Jong, Cody Gakpo and Steven Berghuis link up in midfield.
Steven Bergwijn and Vincent Janssen spearhead the attack
Senegal subs
1 S. Dieng, 23 Gomis, 2 F. Mendy, 7 Jackson, 10 M. Ndiaye, 11 Ciss, 12 Ballo, 13 I. Ndiaye, 14 Jakobs, 17 P. Sarr, 19 Diedhiou, 20 C. Dieng, 24 Name, 25 Ma. Ndiaye, 26 P. Gueye
Netherlands subs
26 Frimpong, 2 Timber, 6 De Vrij, 16 Malacia, 15 De Roon, 20 Koopmeiners, 24 Taylor, 14 Klaasen, 25 Simons, 10 Memphis, 19 Weghorst, 9 L. De Jong, 12 Lang, 1 Pasveer, 13 Bijlow
Senegal XI
16 Mendy; 21 Sabaly, 3 Koulibaly, 22 Diallo; 6 N. Mendy, 8 Kouyate, 5 Gueye, 4 Cissse, 15 Diatta; 18 Sarr, 9 Dia.
Netherlands XI
23 Noppert; 22 Dumfries, 3 De Ligt, 4 Van Dijk, 5 Ake, 17 Blind; 11 Berghuis, 21 F. De Jong, 8 Gakpo; 18 Janssen, 7 Bergwijn
The team sheets are in!!!
Netherlands stats
This is the Netherlands’ 11th appearance at the World Cup and first since 2014 when they finished third under current manager Louis van Gaal’s second spell at the helm.
Holland are the only team to have played at least three World Cup finals and never won the trophy in 1974, 1978 and 2010.
The Dutch should be feeling confident as they have never been eliminated in their eight appearances in the group stage of the tournament.
The Netherlands have lost only one of their last 14 World Cup matches and they are currently the only team entering this year’s competition that has kept a clean sheet in each of its last three matches in the tournament
Credit: Getty Senegal stats
Senegal should be feeling confident as they have won their opening match in both of their two World Cup campaigns; that was a 1-0 win against then world champions France in 2002 and 2-1 against Poland in 2018
The Senegalese national team holds the joint record of best result by an African side at the World Cup as they also reached the quarter-finals in 2002 after Cameroon in 1990 and before Ghana in 2010.
The African champions have scored seven of their 11 World Cup goals before half-time and conceded seven of their 10 goals in the second half or extra time.
Manager Aliou Cisse has been involved in all of the country’s World Cup campaigns as he was captain in 2002 and head coach in 2018 as well as 2022
Credit: AP
Head-to-head
This is the first ever time Senegal and the Netherlands lock horns across all competitions throughout their entire history.
In fact, this is the first time the two nations make it to the World Cup on the same year as Holland failed to qualify in 2002 and 2018 when the African champions appeared.
But Aliou Cisse’s men will want to be careful as the Netherlands are undefeated in all their four matches against African teams at the World Cup and won three times along the way.
But all of Senegal’s three World Cup victories – out of eight matches, of which they lost two – come against European opposition
Credit: Getty Credit: Getty Good afternoon from Qatar
Welcome to our live coverage of the key World Cup clash between Senegal and the Netherlands at the Al Thumama Stadium.
Ecuador have set the pace in Group A after Sunday’s 2-0 victory over hosts Qatar and the other two teams are looking to catch up and set the tone of their own.
But Senegal will have to do it without star man Sadio Mane, who has joined the long list of elite players that have been sidelined from this year’s competition.
Bayern Munich superstar – and former Liverpool talisman – Mane is out with a knee injury, even though he made the squad for the tournament.
The African champions’ manager Aliou Cisse may also be without RB Leipzig ace Abdou Diallo, who is also dealing with a knee issue of his own.
Monaco’s Krepin Diatta and Marseille’s Bamba Dieng are in line to replace Mane against today’s opponents, who are among the favourites to win the trophy.
Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal is dealing with his own key absences as he will be without Barcelona ace Memphis Depay due to a hamstring injury.
Former Manchester United ace Memphis, who played under Van Gaal at Old Trafford, is a major absence as he scored 12 goals in the qualifiers.
Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries poses as a doubt whereas Atalanta’s Marten de Roon is dealing with back issues
Credit: AFP
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
