Overview
After almost certainly securing a ticket to the 2026 World Cup with a draw against Poland in the first match of November, the Netherlands officially sealed their ticket with a 4-0 victory over Lithuania a few days later.
After the draw, they fell into a group with Japan, Tunisia and the European play-off winner, but coach Ronald Koeman aimed for a further goal.
Recently, Koeman declared that reaching the semi-finals is a minimum requirement, and affirmed his belief that the Dutch team can go further.
There are valid reasons to be confident, as they have easily passed the qualifiers without losing any match. They score an average of more than 3 goals per game and have only conceded four times throughout the journey.
Except for the penalty shootout defeat against Spain in the UEFA Nations League, Koeman's team has been unbeaten for more than a year. Since October 2023, the Netherlands has also never been defeated at home.
Before welcoming Ecuador at Eindhoven, they will face Norway in Amsterdam, with the goal of maintaining an impressive streak. Preparing for the reunion with the Netherlands for the first time since the defeat in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Norway has made significant progress.
With a quality squad, the Northern European team ended 28 years of waiting to win a ticket to the World Cup by convincingly passing the group I qualifiers.
After two landslide victories against Italy, Norway won all 8 matches and scored 37 goals, including 16 goals from Erling Haaland.
Only a friendly draw with New Zealand in October ended their nine consecutive wins, including large victories 11-1 against Moldova and 5-0 against Israel.
After winning a ticket to the World Cup for the first time in decades, Stale Solbakken's team will have the opportunity to test their strength when facing the team ranked 7th in the world according to the FIFA rankings, before hosting Switzerland next week.
Personnel situation
Immediately after being confirmed by Koeman as number one striker, Memphis Depay was forced to withdraw from the Dutch national team due to a thigh injury.
The striker currently playing for Corinthians has made 108 appearances for the national team. Meanwhile, Crysencio Summerville also missed the opportunity to debut. In addition, players such as Robin Roefs, Matthijs de Ligt, Jurrien Timber, Noa Lang and Frenkie de Jong also could not participate.
Jan Paul van Hecke may return after suspension, while young midfielder Kees Smit is called up for the first time. Koeman even compared Smit to Pedri and praised this talent.
Due to the absence of Depay, Brian Brobbey and Wout Weghorst will compete with Donyell Malen for the position of leading the home team's attack.
Usually, Erling Haaland is Norway's spearhead, as he has equaled Robert Lewandowski's record of 16 goals in the UEFA qualifiers. However, Stale coach Solbakken confirmed that the Manchester City striker will rest.
In that context, Jorgen Strand Larsen is likely to pair with Alexander Sorloth in attack, with support from Oscar Bobb and Antonio Nusa on both wings. In addition, Jens Petter Hauge has also returned to the list after his impressive performance in the Champions League.
The away team is still missing captain Martin Odegaard due to injury, while Thelo Aasgaard was not called up even though he scored a hat-trick against Moldova in September last year.
Expected lineup:
Verbruggen, Dumfries, Van Dijk, Van de Ven, Ake, Gravenberch, Schouten, Simons, Reijnders, Gakpo, Malen.
Nyland, Ryerson, Ostigard, Ajer, Bjorkan, Bobb, Berg, Berge, Hauge, Strand Larsen, Sorloth.
The match between the Netherlands and Norway takes place at 2:45 am on March 28 (Vietnam time).
