With an air of revenge for both, with pending issues to settle and a certain acquired aspect of a world classic, Netherlands y Argentina they meet again in Qatar 2022 with the semifinals of the World championship in sight.
Seven matches, five of them in different editions of the competition, several of them at peak moments in the tournament, They have enlarged the legend of a clash that has usually brought together one of the stars on each occasion.
Also now, with Lionel Messi still in force and focused on speeding up his last chance to lift the cup to put the icing on the cake of an incomparable career already immersed in its final stretch.
It is the Netherlands that talks the most about revenge. It still stings on the campus Louis van Gaal the elimination in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, from the penalty spot to resolve a match that ended goalless and that had as its prize the final that Albiceleste reached and later lost against Germany at the Maracana stadium.
It was the last time that both teams met on a pitch. Numerically, it is the Dutch team that has the most victories in the face-to-face. But the Argentine victories are of more value. In one, that of 1978 helped him to achieve his first World title. The other, the one from eight years ago, to dispute the title.
On this occasion, in Qatar, the duel also brings a big prize for the winner: the semifinals of a title that both long for. Netherlands because they have never achieved it despite having played in three finals, always without success. For the South American team because it intends to put an end to the curse and the shots into the air given since they lifted the Cup for the second time, in Mexico 1986. And, above all, because it is Messi’s last bullet in a World Cup.
Argentina arrives plagued with physical setbacks. Netherlands with divided popular opinion and current style theory.
A Rodrigo de Paul contracture is the last mishap he has encountered Lionel Scaloniwho has been awaiting the recovery of Ángel Di María, also with muscle ailments suffered in the match against Poland in the group stage, and Alejandro ‘Papu’ Gómez, who is still recovering from a sprained ankle.
Thus, pending the evolution and what the medical examinations to which he was subjected require, the Atlético Madrid player will be out against the Netherlands just like the Sevilla footballer.
De Paul’s absence is a setback for Scaloni. It is a fixed. The only player who had played every minute of the competition alongside Messi and Nicolás Otamendi, as well as porter ‘Dibu’ Martínez. Leandro Paredes is the one with the most options to replace him.
Ángel Correa may have his moment. Without ‘Papu’ Gómez, the Atlético Madrid man can debut in the World Cup in the Ángel Di María square, who will have minutes with the game started.
In the Netherlands the only absence due to injury is that of Stefan de Vrij. Louis Van Gaal, who has been undefeated for nineteen games, already has central defender Matthijis De Ligt at his disposal, who already had a few minutes in the round of 16 match against the United States.
On this occasion, he could already start as one of the three members of the five-man defense with which the coach has played almost every game in the World Cup and which is not seen with favor by the Dutch environment.
For the first time, Scaloni will face off against Louis Van Gaal in the bench duel. The youngest coach in the competition, at 44, compared to the oldest, the Dutchman, at 71, who is enjoying his third spell at the helm of the ‘Oranje’ team and his second World Cup.
Probable lineups of the Netherlands and Argentina:
Netherlands: Andries Noppert; Matthijs De Ligt, Virgil Van Dijk, Nathan Ake; Denzel Dumfries, Marten De Roon, Frenkie De Jong, Daley Blind; Davy Klaassen, Cody Gakpo and Memphis Depay.
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Acuña; Enzo Fernández, Leandro Paredes, Alexis Mac Allister; Ángel Correa, Julián Álvarez and Lionel Messi.
