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·16 November 2024
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·16 November 2024
Tijjani Reijnders: Has managed a shot on target in three of four Nations League games this season
Netherlands v HungarySaturday 16 November, 19:45Live on YouTube (Viaplay International)
This game looks set up nicely with the Nations League format once again delivering.
The winner will progress to the quarter-finals, while the loser will see their trophy hopes ended. The draw, which would favour the Dutch, would see the issues decided on matchday six.
Hungary are certainly not without a chance given their strong record in recent years and I have no interesting in going anywhere near the hosts at 3/10.
The visitors have won in England, Germany, Poland and Serbia since the European Championships in 2021 (they also drew with France and the Germans at that tournament) and qualified impressively for Euro 2024.
They held the Dutch 1-1 in Budapest earlier in the season and it was interesting to hear Roland Sallai say they would look to play with the "same compactness" in Amsterdam.
I'd expect them to set out to frustrate, break up play and try to hit their hosts on the break.
The middle of that sentence may prove key to bettors.
Hungary committed 19 fouls in that reverse fixture last month. They added another 19 against Bosnia a few days later and have now reached double figures in 12 of their last 14 matches.
As you'd expect, plenty of their players are pretty short in the fouls markets but one who represents some value is their star man, Dominik Szoboszlai.
He's landed the 2+ fouls bet in three of his four Nations League games this season and will be expected to be the first line of defence here from his forward position.
A price of 13/5 looks too big to miss.
I'll double that up with Dutchman Tijjani Reijnders for 2+ shots.
I remember backing Gini Wijnaldum at a massive price for top scorer at Euro 2020 after the Netherlands pushed him into a more attacking position than at his club. Sadly, he scored three goals but just missed a place.
Reijnders is currently being employed by boss Ronald Koeman in a similar role, operating in behind the main striker and that's reflected in his shots-on-target numbers.
He's had one in three of four Nations League games this season, missing out only when he was substituted at half time against Germany after he had picked up an early yellow card.
Reijnders has had a SOT in eight of 14 games for Milan this season and now he's likely to play in a more attacking role in a game his team are expected to dominate in possession terms - they had 74% of the ball in Budapest and hit 16 shots.
Staked: 123pts Returned: 141.43pts P/L: +18.43pts
2023/24 P/L: +16.78pts 2022/23 P/L: +68.69pts