The first qualifying match of FIFA World Cup 2022 is between Netherlands and USA. This round of 16 match is going to take place at Khalifa International Stadium at 8:30 pm IST on the 3rd of December 2022.
Both the teams have had a good tournament so far where the Netherlands tops their group by winning 2 of the 3 games and drawing one with Senegal.
The USA on the other hand just made it to the last 16 by an inch as they won only one game against Iraq and drew the other two with England and Wales.
However, neither of the team have lost any game in this tournament and now one of them will lose its first game tomorrow and that defeat will end their World Cup journey. None of them have tasted defeat and neither will be wanting to so they will play a better game, better than their previous matches.
MATCH PREVIEW:
The Netherlands, who were expected to top Group A and proceed to the round of 16, did not let the fans and the nation down, earning seven points from their three games despite a minor slip-up against Ecuador, to whom they drew the game.
And by going to Round 16 this year, the Netherlands maintained their streak of playing every R16 match since 1934, and also they maintained to qualify for the quarterfinals almost every time.
They were eliminated at this stage only twice in their World Cup history, first in 1990 and second in 2006. But if we talk about the USA, they are going to play their 3rd Round 16 match at World Cup and won only one time in 2002.
The first time they made it to Round 16 is in 2002 when they got eliminated in the quarterfinals by Germany. The second time they qualify the group stage to reach R16 was in 2010 and the third time was in 2014.
And also their recent form against European Nations was too bad, drawing six and losing 5 of the games against European teams. This made clears, how tough it will be going for the USA to compete with a nation like the Netherlands in the World Cup.
Prediction
So statistics say the Netherlands has a big chance to qualify for the quarterfinals of this world cup and we think the same but this doesn’t mean they need to be taken lightly. Holding a nation like England in the group stage and defeating Iran shows that they have potential and can make their way to the quarterfinals for the second time in their history.
What do you think? Who is going to the quarterfinals?
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