Netherlands were one of the big teams to miss Euro 2016, failing to qualify for the competition. Their fans were disappointed big time, but the national team players can bring back the smiles of their fans qualifying for the World Cup 2018. But that might not be too easy, with France and Sweden in the same group in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers.
As of now, the Netherlands lie in third place in Group A with one win, one draw and one loss. They will hope to better that record when they face the bottom-ranked team in the group, Luxembourg at Stade Josy Barthel on Sunday.
This could possibly be the easiest fixture for the Dutch in the group, but they cannot afford to take it easy. If things go according to plan, Netherlands should not have any problem in getting past their opponents.
Netherlands have some top stars in their line-up, which includes skipper Arjen Robben, Georginio Wijnaldum and Wesley Sneijder. Coach Danny Blind is lucky to have a players of Robben's class, but he also wants other players to get their A game on Sunday, and contribute for a successful game.
"Arjen is an excellent player who plays at a great club. Such a great player you like to have, but we need to talk not only about Robben. It's about the team and he's a part of it. We have to win together tomorrow night," football-Oranje.com quoted Blind as saying.
Such matches should not give Netherlands much headache, but while playing at home any team – weak or strong – will be backed by the home fans, who will inspire them to perform well. To be fair, Luxembourg have not scripted a single win in the qualifiers so far, but they have come close.
Luxembourg did not look too bad against Bulgaria, losing the match by a narrow margin 3-4, and against Sweden, they looked decent, but lost 0-1. They come into this match with a 1-1 draw over Belarus, and they should be a happier lot even if they manage to secure a point against Netherlands on Sunday.
Where to watch live
Luxembourg vs Netherlands will kick off 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET, 5 pm GMT, 10:30 pm IST).
Where to watch live
India: TV - Sony Six/HD. Live streaming - SonyLiv
UK: TV - Sky Sports 4/HD, Now TV. Live streaming - Sky Go
USA: TV - ESPN 3, ESPN Deportes. Live streaming - Watch ESPN
Netherlands: TV – NPO 1
Luxembourg: TV – RTL 2.
Malaysia: TV: Astro SuperSport3
