International Friendly: Germany – Netherlands 

A classic rivalry in football, fueled by a shared history, proximity and football quality a match between these 2 countries is always an edgy affair. No matter the state of either country in world football, these derbies provide something extra for the players and the fans to look forward to. Germany under new coach Nagelsmann are looking to crawl back after a disastrous 2023 saw their confidence plummet while the Netherlands are still looking to get into full gear in Ronald Koeman´s second term as national coach. 

Germany Team News

Germany will have an almost fully fit squad up ahead of the clash on Tuesday. Manuel Neuer will miss the clash with Oranje due to a muscle injury, like he already missed the match against France. However, to have Ter Stegen as a back-up goalkeeper is a very nice bonus. The German No.2 on Saturday against France showed once again why he is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world. With some strong saves he managed to keep a clean sheet against the likes of Mbappe, proving instrumental in Germany´s surprise victory. 

Netherlands Team News

The Dutch will definitely feel the absence of star player Frenkie de Jong in the upcoming clash. The Barcelona midfielder twisted his ankle in a league match against Bilbao a few weeks ago and will be sidelined for the coming weeks. The Euro´s should not be in danger though, a massive relief for Koeman as de Jong is arguably the Dutch´most important player. The Dutch have some injuries at the back as well, with Hartman being doubtful while quality defenders such as de Vrij, van de Ven and Botman are all out of the clash with Germany. Despite that, the Dutch could afford the luxury of having Matthijs de Ligt on the bench, a sign of the incredible depth the Dutch have at the back. Up front, Koeman will hope that Xavi Simons finally can break the deadlock in the Orange shirt and that Depay will take a bit of his form at Atletico to the Dutch team. 

Germany Form

Germany experienced a disastrous 2023 with many defeats against lower ranked teams. It meant the end for coach Hansi Flick as he got fired over the string of bad results. Nagelsmann, one of the most promising young coaches in the world decided to sign a contract until the Euro´s of this year to help out his country. His first 2 games against Austria and Turkey were both lost, adding up to the misery for the young German side. However, last Saturday´s performance in and against France was impressive to say the least. With some strong counter attacks and diligence at the back did the Germans manage to beat arguably the best national team in the world of the moment. A solid 2-0 victory after a lightning quick opening goal should give a huge confidence boost to Germany. 

Netherlands Form

After receiving massive praise for reviving a Dutch team in crisis, Ronald Koeman still has to make everything gel in nicely in his second term. There is criticism on the background for a lack of tactical coherence and the low quality of play of recent. Furthermore, Koeman´s loyalty to certain players that performed well in his first term has not helped his position in the eyes of some. However, since losing to France 1-2 at home back in October, the Dutch have won their last 4 games without conceding a goal. Having said that, it has to be remarked that the opposition was not of the highest quality(Greece, Ireland, Gibraltar and Scotland) but the 4-0 win against a strong Scotland side at least on paper is a great result. That the actual performance was not convincing at all is something that Koeman and his players are aware of. Scotland definitely did not deserve a 4-0 defeat after their strong display in Amsterdam, where in especially the first half they were the stronger side and created several chances. 

What do the stats say?

• Last 5 meetings saw Netherlands win twice, Germany win once and 2 draws
• Last 5 meetings saw 4 goals per game on average. 
• Netherlands have won 4 games in a row
• Germany beat France after 2 losses in a row

Our verdict

This one is very tough to predict. First of all since it is a friendly match there will probably some fair share of experimentation before and during the game. Despite Nagelsmann stating that he will not experiment there still will likely be some substitutions in the game. Koeman already stated to switch system and bring in a few new players compared to last Friday´s game against Scotland. It looks like there will be plenty of goals in this one but who will take it remains to be seen.