Poland - Netherlands predictions and free betting tips [16/06/2024]

Today at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, there will be a Group D match of the European Championship between Poland and the Netherlands. 

Team Lineups

Poland (3-5-2): Wojciech Szczęsny; Jan Bednarek, Paweł Dawidowicz, Jakub Kiwior; Przemysław Frankowski, Nicola Zalewski, Piotr Zieliński, Jakub Piotrowski, Jakub Moder; Robert Lewandowski, Karol Świderski.

Netherlands (4-3-3): Bart Verbruggen; Matthijs de Ligt, Virgil van Dijk, Nathan Aké, Lutsharel Geertruida; Georginio Wijnaldum, Ryan Gravenberch, Jerdy Schouten; Memphis Depay, Joshua Zirkzee, Jeremie Frimpong.

The Polish team, under the guidance of Michał Probierz, is among the older squads in the tournament but includes several young talents from Serie A, including Nicola Zalewski from Roma.

The Dutch team, under Louis van Gaal, is not considered a tournament favourite but boasts a strong lineup with bright players in every position. Not many new young stars are included, but notable mentions are Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer and the new main defender Micky van de Ven from Tottenham.

Poland National Team

The Polish national team has participated in the European Championship for the 5th time in a row. Their greatest success was reaching the quarter-finals in 2016, where they lost to Portugal in a penalty shootout (1-1 in regular time and 3-5 on penalties). In 2012, when Poland co-hosted the tournament with Ukraine, the team did not advance past the group stage. In the current qualifying cycle, the team under coach Michał Probierz barely qualified by beating Wales in a playoff shootout after a 0-0 draw in regular time. In the group stage of qualifiers, Robert Lewandowski’s squad took third place, behind Albania and the Czech Republic, suffering 3 losses in 8 games.

In preparatory friendlies before the Euros, Poland showed improved results, achieving victories over Turkey (2-1) and Ukraine (3-1), which could boost the team’s confidence ahead of the main tournament.

Netherlands National Team

The Netherlands won their only European Championship in 1988, thanks to the great Marco van Basten. The team also reached the semi-finals three times in 1992, 2000, and 2004 and won bronze in 1976. However, recent performances at the Euros have been less successful: in 2012, they were eliminated in the group stage, failed to qualify in 2016, and lost 0-2 to the Czech Republic in the round of 16 in 2021. Under coach Louis van Gaal, the team showed confidence in the qualifying cycle for this Euros, finishing behind only France and earning 18 points from 8 games with 6 wins and 2 losses to France. They played against relatively weak opponents: Greece, Gibraltar, and Ireland.  

In the preparatory friendlies before the Euros, the Netherlands displayed confident performances, securing three wins and suffering one loss. They claimed convincing victories over Iceland and Canada (4-0) and Scotland (4-0) but lost 1-2 to Germany.

Head-to-Head 

Poland and the Netherlands have regularly faced each other in recent years, particularly in the Nations League, where the Netherlands have often emerged victorious. In their last match on 22 September 2022, the Dutch won 2-0 away against Poland. This was not their only meeting - in June of the same year, the teams drew 2-2. However, in previous matches in 2020, the Netherlands won twice with an overall score of 3-1 (2-1 and 1-0), confirming their advantage in recent encounters.

Prediction for Poland vs Netherlands

Poland showed toothless football in the qualifiers and playoffs, advancing only thanks to a penalty shootout. Finishing third in a group with Albania and the Czech Republic is a failure. The Netherlands arrived in Germany with a well-balanced squad and should take the 3 points in the first match, given the high class of their players compared to the Poles. Lewandowski is likely to miss the game, and there are no other top performers in attack.