Overview
Almost having one foot in the round of 16, the Netherlands will aim to maintain the top spot in Group F when facing Tunisia in the final match.
Coach Ronald Koeman's team is currently leading the group with 4 points, equal to Japan but ranked above thanks to sub-indices. Meanwhile, Tunisia has officially been eliminated and is only playing for honor.
After a dramatic 2-2 draw with Japan, where they twice took the lead but were equalized, the Netherlands exploded in the second match with a 5-1 victory over Sweden.
Brian Brobbey was the brightest star in that match. Given the opportunity to start from the beginning, this striker scored a double and became the second Dutch player to score 2 goals in his first start at a World Cup.
The first 2 goals each half helped the "Orange Hurricane" create a dominant game against Sweden and close the match with a convincing 5-1 victory.
Even when Memphis Depay was not in his best physical condition, the Dutch attack still showed incredible efficiency. Koeman's team scored 7 goals after only 20 shots, reaching a conversion rate of up to 35% - their best achievement in a World Cup since the statistics were recorded.
The Netherlands' record in the World Cup group stage is also very impressive. In the last 35 matches, they have only lost twice (won 22, drew 11). The most recent defeat was against Belgium at the 1994 World Cup.
History also completely leans towards the European representative. While the Netherlands has won the World Cup runner-up three times, Tunisia has only won 3 out of 20 matches at the biggest football festival on the planet.
The North African team has also only defeated European opponents once at the World Cup, which was the famous victory over France at the 2022 World Cup. Even a victory over the Netherlands could not help Tunisia advance, because they were officially eliminated after two consecutive defeats.
After the 1-5 defeat to Sweden, the Tunisian Football Federation fired coach Sabri Lamouchi and appointed Herve Renard. However, the coach who has twice won the CAN title has not been able to make a difference. In Renard's debut match, Tunisia continued to lose to Japan 0-4 with a lackluster performance, failing to launch a single shot on target and only achieving 0.05 expected goals (xG).
That result made Tunisia the fourth team in World Cup history to lose 2 consecutive matches with a difference of at least 4 goals, after Bolivia (1930), South Korea (1954) and Greece (1994).
In terms of force, Renard is likely to continue to place his trust in the duo Ellyes Skhiri and Hannibal Mejbri in midfield.
Mejbri is Tunisia's player with the most passes to the baseline and won the most tackles against Japan (8/16). However, in the context of a deadlocked attack, this midfielder has only scored one goal for the national team.
On the opposite side, Cody Gakpo is maintaining impressive form with 5 goals in the World Cup group stage.
Head-to-head record
This will be the first time the Netherlands and Tunisia have faced each other at a World Cup, although the "Orange Hurricane" is still undefeated after three previous encounters at the friendly level.
After winning in their first meeting, the Netherlands drew in both of their last 2 matches against Tunisia. Notably, Ronald Koeman's last international goal in his career was scored in a 2-2 draw between the two teams in January 1994.
Score prediction: Tunisia 0-3 Netherlands
The match between Tunisia and the Netherlands takes place at 6:00 AM on June 26 (Vietnam time).
