The Netherlands will face Greece at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven this Thursday night in a Euro 2024 qualifier after a disappointing Europa League campaign. The Netherlands amassed three points from their first two matches in Group B, while Greece earned six points from their first three games.
Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman has suffered a tough schedule in the first half of 2023, and it's fair to say that the 60-year-old is disappointed to be taking over the reins of the Dutch team once again. Since taking over from Louis van Gaal in January, Koeman has suffered three defeats in the first four games of his second spell, including a 4-0 drubbing against the Group B leaders in March.
The Dutch then beat Gibraltar comfortably as expected, thrashing the small European nation 3-0 at home, but they then lost consecutively to the team and Italy in the Europa League in June. The Dutch missed the chance to reach the final on home soil after losing 4-2 to Croatia, and then they lost 3-2 to Italy in the third-place playoff, losses that underscored the vulnerability of the Dutch backline.
The Dutch must not show any weaknesses in their upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Ireland, which they are heavily favored to win, but it won't be easy to win the former on Thursday, as they have lost their last two matches against the Greeks by a combined score of 2-5.
Greece head coach Gus Poyet has guided his side to eight wins, two draws and four defeats in all competitions since taking over as head coach of Greece in February last year, nine of which were competitive matches. Greece have started their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign well, beating Gibraltar and Ireland in quick succession, thrashing the former 3-0 away from home and then defeating the latter 2-1 at home thanks to goals from Anastasios Bakassetas and Georgios Matsoulas.
However, Greece failed to make it three wins in a row as they narrowly lost 0-1 to France in a June match when Kylian Mbappe broke the deadlock in the second half with a penalty followed by the sending off of Kostantinos Mavropanos.
Greece, who are trying to end their 12-year wait for a repeat of the European Championships they qualified for for the first and only time in 2004, are on course to lock up the top two spots in Group B, along with France, if they can beat the Netherlands on Thursday and Gibraltar on Sunday.
However, Poyet will be hoping that his side can improve on their away games as they have won just one of their last five away matches. In addition, Greece have not beaten any country ranked in the top 90 in the FIFA World Rankings away from home in a Euro qualifier since 2014.
Faced with a poor start to 2023, the pressure is on the Dutch to find form and win their home game against Greece. However, given that the Dutch are missing some key players and have shown signs of defensive fragility under Koeman's guidance, Greece could surprise and upset the Group B landscape with a hard-fought draw in Eindhoven.
Our match prediction is: Netherlands 2-2 Greece.
