Argentina, who enjoys the loudest crowd support after Brazil, takes on the Netherlands in the second semi final of World Cup 2014. The mesmeric performances of Lionel Messi took the team thus far. The Argentine football wizard will be happy with the level of crowd support, but he would expect more support from his own colleagues on the pitch. The Netherlands are dangerous opponents, as the team possesses the most prolific attack the world cup has seen so far.

Netherlands-Argentina Preview

We’ll start with an interesting piece of statistics: none of the teams have lost a semi final game in world cups. Whenever they have gone past the quarter-final stage, they have gone on to the finals. One of the teams will find that streak broken after this match.

The H2H record sides with the Netherlands. They have won four of the eight matches against Argentina, while the South Americans have managed just two wins. What more, those two Argentina wins had come in the 1970s. One of them was in the final of the 1978 world cup, which Argentina won 3-1. The Netherlands had their revenge in the 1998 world cup in France, in which they beat Argentina 2-1 in the quarter finals.

To sum up the stats, it has been 35 years, and four matches, since Argentina won against the Netherlands. They have a good chance to put an end to this prolonged barren spell. They have not rained goals like the Dutch did. Still, they showed a winning mentality and killer instinct in crunch situations.

Players

Moreover, they have the best player in the world with them. Lionel Messi has been head and shoulders above from the rest. If he gets good support from his teammates, even the best of the Dutch will not be enough. Angel di Maria’s injury-forced absence is a huge blow for Argentina. But Gonzalo Higuain’s match-winning performance against Belgium will offer them hope. Plus, Sergio Aguero has regained his fitness.

The Netherlands will miss Nigel de Jong due to injury, who could have tasked with the job of stopping Messi. As usual, the Dutch will rely on the pace and marksmanship of their two celebrated forwards, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben. There are others too who can spoil Argentina’s dream: Wesley Sneijder, Memphis Depay and the super-sub Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

Netherlands-Argentina Prediction

This is a going to be a close contest, in which individual brilliance or an inspiring substitution could change the course of the match. The Netherlands’ physical approach can potentially hamper Messi’s game. That is why the Netherlands is favourites to win this match, though only by the narrowest of margins.

Netherlands to Qualify 2.20 @ Bet365

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