Netherlands vs Germany predictions: Little to choose between European heavyweights
- Netherlands beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 5-2 on Saturday
- Germany hammered Hungary 5-0
- Recommended bet: Draw
Netherlands and Germany both kicked off their Nations League Group A campaigns with big victories and now the two European heavyweights square up in Amsterdam.
The Dutch had far too much for Bosnia-Herzegovina, winning 5-2 at home, while Germany cruised past Hungary 5-0 as both countries laid down an early marker in a group they are expected to fight it out to win.
Team news
Joshua Zirkzee and Cody Gakpo should keep their places in Ronald Koeman's side after they scored on Saturday but Wout Weghorst, who netted after coming off the bench against Bosnia-Herzergovina, is pushing for a start, as are Donyell Malen and Jurrien Timber.
Koeman has left out several experienced players from his squad for the Nations League games, including Daley Blind, Marten de Roon, Georginio Wijnaldum, Memphis Depay, Steven Bergwijn and Teun Koopmeiners, while Micky van de Ven and Joey Veerman have pulled out with injuries.
Germany stars Kai Havertz, Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Niclas Fullkrug all scored against Hungary so the quartet should keep their places in the line-up to face the Dutch.
Emre Can and Aleksandar Pavlovic are among the players who could be recalled to the starting line-up, but Leroy Sane was not named in the squad as he continues to recover from injury and Antonio Rudiger was rested.
The stats
Germany were knocked out of Euro 2024 on home soil this summer by champions Spain in the quarter-finals.
Germany scored 11 goals and conceded four in their five games at Euro 2024.
Netherlands made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Euros, losing to England in the last four.
Netherlands scored 10 goals and conceded six in their six games at the tournament.
The two countries have faced each other six times in the last six years, with the head-to-head record in that period reading two wins apiece and two draws.
Prediction
With the top two in the group progressing to next year's Nations League quarter-finals, Netherlands and Germany will be keen to avoid defeat in Amsterdam in their second Group A3 game.
With convincing victories first up over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Hungary, both sides have made fast starts and underlined their credentials as possible group winners.
There is exciting attacking talent on both sides with the hosts having Liverpool's Gakpo and Manchester United's Zirkzee in their ranks, while the visitors head to the Dutch capital with Arsenal's Havertz, Bayern Munich ace Musiala and Bayer Leverkusen's Wirtz all in good form.
It could come down to this meeting in Amsterdam and the Munich showdown between the pair in October to decide who finishes top of the section and the two fairly evenly matched teams may end up playing out an entertaining draw at the Yohan Cruyff ArenA.
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