emphis Depay, one of the assets of the Netherlands

Those who knew Louis Van Gaal at Manchester United may doubt what a fine tactician he is and his knowledge of football. But on the bench of the selection of the Netherlands, he is restoring his watered down image in England. Since taking over in September 2021, the Oranjes have been invincible. Above all, they beat Belgium (4-1 and 1-0) and Wales (3-2; 2-1) in the League of Nations and validated their place in the Final Four.

Without a big superstar apart from Virgil Van Dijk who will play his first big competition in the selection, Van Gaal relies on a collective with very talented but also very unpredictable players: Mathis De Ligt, Frankie De Jong, Depay, Bergwijn, Klaassen …

In 2014 in Brazil, during his last stint at the head of the selection, the Batavian technician had hoisted his country to 3rd place , only losing in the semi-finals on penalties against Lionel’s Argentina Messi. In general, the Netherlands, considered “losers” because they lost three finals, including two in a row (1974-1978) despite good generations, often manage to go far in major competitions.

Faced with African selections, the Dutch have for the most part been able to hold their own well. They beat Côte d’Ivoire 5-0 (2017) as well as Ghana 1-0 (2013) in friendly matches and dominated the Cameroon at the 2010 World Cup (2-1). Tunisia, however, stood up to them in 2009 in a friendly (1-1).

Usual XI from the Netherlands (1-3-5-2) : Cilessen-De Ligt, Van Dijk, Ake-Dumfries, Berghuis, Klaassen, De Jong, Blind – Depay, Bergwijn.

Qatar (50th in the FIFA rankings)

En 2002, le Sénégal avait marqué les esprits en atteignant les quarts de finale pour sa première participation. Mais la nation qui avait réalisé les résultats les plus improbables était bien la Corée du Sud qui jouait devant son public. Les Coréens avaient atteint le dernier carré, éliminant au passage l’Espagne et l’Allemagne. La recette de Guus Hiddink leur sélectionneur à l’époque : arrêter le championnat coréen bien avant la compétition, faire un long regroupement interne et jouer des matchs amicaux pour avoir un collectif soudé et des automatismes.

Twenty years later, Qatar is applying much the same recipe in order to perform at its 2022 World Cup. While all the other nations are still playing in the league and counting their injuries, the host country has suspended its own for two months. The selection is in regrouping and multiplies the test matches.

Since the season resumed in July, Qatar have played 10 games while teams like Senegal only played twice in September. In addition to this, the Qataris were able to gain experience by playing in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in the Europe zone. Their technician, the Spaniard Felix Sanchez, knows his group well. He saw most of them grow up. Since 2014, he has held various positions in the Qatar youth teams. He notably dolled the current star of the team Akram Afif (24 goals in 83 selections) since the U19s.

Faced with African selections, Qatar has still experienced difficulties this year. Sanchez’s players certainly beat the local team of Ghana (2-1) but they stalled against Morocco’s A’ selection (2-1) and lost to Algeria’s (2-1).

Qatar’s usual eleven (3-4-1-2): Barsham – Salman, Khoukhi, Pedro Miguel – Al Rawi, Waad, Boudiaf, Ahmed – Asad – Afif, Almoez Ali.

Ecuador (44th in the FIFA rankings)

Among football fans, Ecuador is not the most dangerous South American team. La Tri has only four World Cup finals and the round of 16 in 2006 is its best run. On top of that, she missed her last three appearances at the Copa America by not signing any success.

However, CONMEBOL formations have one thing in common: they never give up. Senegal also knows something about it. During her two participations, she always finished her career in pool with a South American team. In 2002, Uruguay came close to eliminating the Lions in the dying moments by coming back to 3-3, after being down 3-0. And in 2018, while Senegal was holding its qualification, Colombia managed to snatch it by winning 1-0.

Fourth in CONMEBOL qualifying, Ecuador rely on a young group. Most of them are part of the generation that finished 3rd in the U20 World Cup in 2019. And some of them are currently playing in Europe. Piero Hincapié (20) is making his mark at Bayer Leverkusen, Estupian (24) and Moses Caicedo (21) are enjoying Brighton. And the veteran Ener Valencia, captain of the selection, is reborn in Fernerbahçe. He is the top scorer in the Turkish Super Lig with 12 goals and 4 assists in 11 games. It bodes well before the start of the 2022 World Cup.

Last June, Ecuador beat Nigeria (1-0) and Cape Verde (1-0) in a friendly, two African teams.

Ecuador’s usual eleven (4-3-3): Galindez – Castillo, Hincapié, Torres, Estupian – Gruezo, Caicedo, Franco – Plata, Estrada, Ibarra.

emphis Depay, one of the assets of the Netherlands

Author

 Eric Barry