Overview
As two of the few teams that have participated in the World Cup final but have never raised the prestigious gold cup, both the Netherlands and Sweden carry the aspiration to go deep in this year's tournament.
The Netherlands had an unsatisfactory start when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Japan despite taking the lead twice. The goals of Virgil van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville seemed to have brought victory to Oranje, but Daichi Kamada's late goal caused Ronald Koeman's team to drop 2 regrettable points.
That result extended the Netherlands' 2-drawn streak at the World Cup, after a draw with Argentina in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals (in official 90 minutes). This is also the first time in World Cup history that the "Orange Hurricane" has twice taken the lead in a match but could not win.
However, the orange team still has many bright spots. Van Dijk scored his first goal in a major tournament, becoming the second oldest Dutch player to score at the World Cup. Meanwhile, Ryan Gravenberch shined with two assists, equal to the total assists he had in 27 appearances for the national team before.
On the other side, Sweden made a strong impression with a 5-1 destruction victory over Tunisia. Graham Potter's army almost completely overwhelmed the opponent and showed formidable attacking power.
Yasin Ayari is the most outstanding star with a double, while Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres continue to prove their class with important goals. Isak especially shines with three assists, the best achievement of a Swedish player at the World Cup since Henrik Larsson in 2002.
In addition, Mattias Svanberg also made history when he scored just 18 seconds after coming on as a substitute, becoming the second fastest substitute scorer at the World Cup since 1966.
The victory over Tunisia helped Sweden top Group F and opened up a great opportunity to soon win a ticket to the next round. However, history does not completely support the Northern European representative when they only won one of the 7 World Cup group stage matches against European teams before that.
With a uniform squad quality and many stars in high form, the confrontation between the Netherlands and Sweden promises to be one of the most notable matches of the second round of the 2026 World Cup group stage.
Head-to-head record
As two traditional football nations of Europe, the Netherlands and Sweden have faced each other a total of 20 times in the past.
In the most recent meeting in October 2017, the Netherlands won 2-0 in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers thanks to a double by Arjen Robben. That was also the last match of this legend in the national team jersey at home.
In terms of head-to-head record, the Netherlands is dominant with 9 wins, while Sweden has 7 triumphant victories. Notably, the Nordic team has only won one of the last seven encounters with Oranje, which was a 3-2 victory in the EURO 2012 qualifiers in October 2011.
Score prediction: Netherlands 2-2 Sweden
The match between the Netherlands - Sweden takes place at 0:00 AM on June 21 (Vietnam time).
