Greece vs Netherlands Preview

Greece will battle the Netherlands for maximum points on Monday when both sides meet at the OPAP Arena for the Seventh Round of the 2024 European Championship qualifiers.

Both sides come into this tie with an equal chance of featuring in Germany next year, but it is the hosts who have the advantage, having won more points than the Netherlands, albeit with a game more under their belt.

Greece can secure a first major tournament finals appearance in ten years here with a 4+ goal victory, and there is a real prospect of that happening given that they have scored in the opening 20 minutes of all four qualifiers in which they’ve found the net during this current cycle. Another fast start would be key to bettering their poor recent H2H record (W1, D1, L8).

But manager Gus Poyet doesn’t have good memories of facing Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman either, having lost 8-0 to him in 2014 when the pair were in charge of Sunderland and Southampton, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands will be desperate to win this game and preserve their chances of participating in Germany next year via direct qualification. The visitors suffered a 2-1 loss to France on Friday leaving Ronald Koeman’s side sitting in third position in Group B.

They need a win in Athens by three-goals to leapfrog Greece and crucially put automatic qualification in their own hands. The twist in the tie is that both nations have the safety net of a play-off place if things go awry for them in Group B thanks to their performances in the Nations League.