World Cup 2022: Netherlands v USA betting tips and odds
The Netherlands qualified for the knockout stage as Group A winners with a 2-0 victory over World Cup hosts Qatar and their reward is a round-of-16 clash with the USA on Saturday afternoon.
Gregg Berhalter’s men finished runners-up in England’s group thanks to a richly-deserved 1-0 victory over Iran during which Christian Pulisic sustained a pelvic injury when scoring the winner.
Louis van Gaal was forced to defend his side’s style of play at the end of a group stage which yielded seven points, five goals and just one conceded.
The majority of those goals came from Cody Gakpo who became the first Netherlands player to score in each of his first three World Cup matches.
The PSV striker struck his first goal of the tournament with a late header in a 2-0 victory over Senegal followed by a fierce strike in a 1-1 draw with Ecuador and he completed the hat-trick with a well-worked goal against the struggling hosts which gave us a 12/5 winner on Gakpo breaking the deadlock, although he is 4/1 to repeat the trick for a fourth time.
The United States have yet to concede a goal from open play at this year’s World Cup, with Gareth Bale’s penalty for Wales in a 1-1 draw the only time their defence has been breached, but Gakpo to score at least once at 15/8 in the World Cup odds is one of our Netherlands v USA betting tips.
Dutch unbeaten under Van Gaal
Having failed to qualify for the 2016 European Championship and the 2018 World Cup, the Dutch returned to the international stage at last year’s Euros where they were surprisingly eliminated by the Czech Republic in the round of 16 which ended the reign of Frank de Boer.
However, the three-time World Cup runners-up are unbeaten in 18 games since Van Gaal returned for a third spell almost 18 months ago and their last five matches have involved three goals or fewer.
The USA have one of the most industrious midfields in international football, led by the indefatigable Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah, but the potential absence of Pulisic would be a massive loss.
