Portugal will face Netherlands at Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, in Guimarães, in UEFA Nations League 2018/19 Final. Portugal vs Netherlands is the match with big interest because the winner become Champion of UEFA Nations League. That would be the first ever tournament Trophy, as the UEFA Nations League founded just in the 2018 year. We hope to see a very interesting, opened and beautiful football. Review our thoughts on this match here below.
Portugal
FIFA Rating – 7
Portugal has played better and better in the last few years. They won European Championship in 2016 and now will play in the final of another important tournament. A team full of very talented and experienced players achieve success and confidently move in front. In the League of Nations, they won first place in the group and beat Switzerland in the semifinals. In this match, Cristiano Ronaldo once again proved to everyone why he is considered the best player in the world. According to statistics, the Fernando Santos team was weaker, however, it’s impossible not to underestimate the team when there is such a player as Ronaldo there. All the fans were very pleased as he joined the national team again after a long break. In fact, he alone decided the outcome of the match by scoring a hattrick. Against young and fast Netherlands, Portugal should play very accurate football.
SmashingTip predictable Portugal line-up against Netherlands
Head Coach
Fernando Santos
Squad
Goalkeepers
Rui Patricio;
Defenders
Joao Cancelo, Jose Fonte, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro;
Midfielders
William Carvalho, Joao Moutinho, Ruben Neves;
Strikers
Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, Goncalo Guedes;
Netherlands
FIFA Rating – 16
Netherlands after taking 3rd place in the World Cup in Brasil failed to be promoted to the WC in Russia. Moreover, they did not qualify to Euro 2016 in Frace, which was shocking for everyone. They lost their best football and changed very much. However, now after lots of great wins, we see another team, with much better performance. This team can achieve much more in the future.
They had a tough, but the successful match against England on the 6th of June. Netherlands won on extra time against one of the youngest national teams in Europe. However, they lost the first half due to M. de Ligt mistake and foul in the penalty area. Marcus Rashford confidently scored a penalty. In the second half de Ligt fixed the mistake by scoring a goal with his head from the set-piece. On 8rd minute Jesse Lingard scored a goal, however, VAR showed that there was an offside. On extra time Netherland fully smashed England scoring 2 goals and took a victory.
de Ligt will defend against the best player in the world. The most interesting fact, that Matthijs were only 4 years when Cristiano Ronaldo made a debut in the national Portuguese team.
SmashingTip predictable Netherlands line-up against Portugal
Head Coach
Ronald Koeman
Squad
Goalkeepers
Jasper Cillessen;
Defenders
Denzel Dumfries, Virgil van Dijk, Matthijs de Ligt, Daley Blind;
Midfielders
Georginio Wijnaldum, Marten de Roon, Frenkie de Jong;
Strikers
Ryan Babel, Memphis Depay, Quincy Promes;
Portugal vs Netherlands H2H
These teams met last time in Friendly match in the 2018 year. Most interesting that Netherlands smashed Portugal by 3:0 result. Memphis Depay, Ryan Babel and Virgil van Dijk scored goals and easily won that game.
Article image is taken from https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/cristiano-ronaldo-hattrick-puts-portugal-in-nations-league-final-38185863.html
Stats source WhoScored.com