The qualification period for UEFA Euro 2020 has begun, and that alone should be cause for excitement. The World Cup is in the rearview mirror and, quite frankly, we think it’s time to start thinking about the future. This game moves quickly and before you know it the next tournament will be right around the corner, with the one year anniversary of the WC itself being just a few months away. There are teams across Europe that have already made quite the impression in the qualifiers, and tomorrow night, two of the big juggernauts are going to lock horns in what should be one hell of a game.

We are, of course, referring to the Netherlands and Germany. These two nations, from a footballing perspective, just outright do not like each other – and that’s a fact. They’ve had a series of fantastic wars and tussles over the years, and it seems as if that’s going to continue for many years to come (and we’re not mad about it). The dynamic of the relationship or ‘rivalry’ between the two countries has certainly changed over the course of the last few years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a burning intensity in both sets of players to win.

The Netherlands are coming off the back of a disappointing summer, in which they did not appear at the World Cup due to an abysmal qualifying campaign. Despite that, however, they seem to have bounced back as well as anyone could’ve possibly anticipated. They’ve got a fresh direction with a new crop of superstars, and it seems as if they could be real players at Euro 2020 if they keep up this current pace. Of course, we shouldn’t act as if they can run before they can walk, but things are trending in the right way.

Germany, on the other hand, forfeited their title as world champions in a pretty shocking way in Russia. They failed to get out of a group that they really should’ve won, with a loss to South Korea summing up just how bad their tournament was. They seem to have recovered fairly well, but there’s still a long way to go before they can be viewed as contenders again. The World Cup certainly would’ve been a great wake up call for them, but now, they need to realise that they can’t just walk into everyone tournament and expect to go late into the knockout stages. International football doesn’t work like that anymore.

The Dutch’s last six game stretch may have begun with a 2-1 loss to France, but ironically enough, their next game was a bit more positive – against the Germans. They beat them 3-0 before registering a 1-1 draw with Belgium, which kind of confirmed that they’re back with a vengeance. They then beat world champions France 2-0, before drawing 2-2 with Germany in the reverse of their Nations League fixture. They then went on to batter Belarus 4-0 in their Euro 2020 qualifying opener, so yeah, you could say they’ve had a good time of it lately.

Germany’s last six game run began with a narrow 2-1 win over Peru, which certainly brought up a few warning signs. They then lost 3-0 to the Netherlands, before a narrow defeat against world champions France. They beat 2018 WC hosts Russia 3-0 in a convincing friendly triumph, before once again failing to beat the Netherlands. In their last game just a few days ago they drew 1-1 with Serbia, and if that result isn’t enough to convince you that there’s something seriously wrong with this squad, then we don’t think anything will. That sounds harsh, but it’s just true.

As we’ve noted, the Netherlands have had a pretty good time of things in their last few meetings with Germany. They’re unbeaten in three games against them, and in the last 10 meetings between the two nations, Germany have actually only won twice. In the overall head to head standings the Germans do have the 15-11 lead with 16 draws, but as we all know, fans don’t really seem to care all too much about ‘history’ these days. Instead, they want to talk about the here and now – and we all know which of these two nations is going to be getting more attention in the next few months.

Ronald Koeman went all out and named a really strong starting XI against Belarus, as he should. He’s expected to do the same in this outing, although there’s a chance Hans Hateboer could make his way into the first team after replacing Kenny Tete. Marten de Roon was subbed off which could be an indication that a change will be made, but in reality, Koeman won’t want to mess with the status quo too much. He seems to have built a system that is working, and in international football, the smart thing is often to stick with something like that.

Manuel Neuer has had the definition of a disappointing year or so, but Joachim Low has confirmed that he’s going to stick with him no matter what. Timo Werner didn’t really perform to the best of his abilities against Serbia, which could open the door for Marco Reus to start. Leroy Sane will be available again in this one with Joshua Kimmich being tipped to start as well. Rudiger will be hoping to start after he didn’t come off the bench against the Serbians, although there are question marks over what formation Low will go with.

Netherlands vs Germany Betting Prediction

We’ve just got a funny feeling that this is going to be a really good game, to be honest. There are three valuable points on the line, with the winner taking control of the group for qualification. The Dutch are at home and will likely generate a great atmosphere in Amsterdam, which is likely going to take them quite far in this game. We can see them taking the lead fairly early on, and from that point, they’re going to dictate the pace of the game both in an attacking sense and at the back. Because, you know, that’s what they’re doing these days.

Unfortunately, the longer they go without scoring a second, the more nervous they’re going to be. We can see some kind of defensive error leading to a German equaliser, because let’s face it, that’s definitely how they’d get back into a game like this. They’ll end up sharing the spoils with both nations walking away with a point, and if we’re honest with ourselves, that’s probably what both teams will be happy with. The Dutch won’t like that they’ve surrendered the lead, but at least they know they can hang with their rivals.

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