The Netherlands may be unassailable as leaders of Group C in UEFA EURO 2020, but that hasn’t stopped manager Frank De Boer from naming the same strong line-up for this afternoon’s ‘dead rubber’ against bottom team North Macedonia as predicted from photographs emerging yesterday of a team sheet held by one of his staff.
Memphis Depay (€10.0m), the fifth most selected forward in the UEFA EURO 2020 Fantasy game, will get the chance to add to his single goal so far in the tournament while surprise early Golden Boot contender Denzel Dumfries (€5.5m) will be going up against Leeds United’s Ezgjan Alioski (€4.5m) down North Macedonia’s left flank and hoping to add to his pair of goals and an earned penalty.
Talking of spot-kicks, Alioski himself missed one in the Match Day 2 defeat to Ukraine, but smartly volleyed in the rebound. North Macedonia may have lost both their Group C matches, but they have found the net on each occasion with veteran Goran Pandev (€6.5m) pouncing on a loose ball in their opening match with Austria.
Fantasy managers who were unable to swap out Dutch striker Wout Weghorst (€7.0m) at the last minute when the team sheet picture was revealed shortly before the transfer deadline will be annoyed to see his benching confirmed for a fixture that promises multiple goals, but those who took a gamble on his backup, Donyell Malan (€6.0m), will be hoping the Netherlands press forward today as eagerly as they have done in clinching the group.
The other change by the Netherlands sees Ryan Gravenberch (€5.0m) start instead of Marten De Roon (€5.5m) in midfield. North Macedonia make two changes. Aleksander Trajkovski (€7.0m) is restored to the starting line-up after being benched for Match Day 2 while left-sided midfielder Ivan Trickovski (€6.5m) makes his first start of EURO 2020.
Netherlands (3-5-2): Stekelenburg; Dumfries, De Vrij, De Ligt, Blind, Van Aanholt; De Jong, Wijnaldum, Gravenberch; Depay, Malen
North Macedonia (4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski; Ristovski, Velkovski, Musliu, Alioski; Ademi, Bardhi; Trajkovski, Elmas, Trickovski; Pandev
The big news ahead of the other Group C clash in Bucharest is the return of Marko Arnautovic (€7.0m) from his one match suspension to start against Ukraine. Michael Gregoritsch (€5.5m), who came on in that match and sparked Austria’s attack before starting against the Netherlands, is back on the bench.
Austria’s other change comes looks like a statement of attacking intent as midfielder Florian Grillitsch (€6.0m) steps up for his first tournament start at the expense of defender Andreas Ulmer (€4.5m) who played the whole of the first two games.
Ukraine’s only change from the win over North Macedonia sees Serhei Sydorchuk (€6.0m) take the place of Taras Stepanenko (€5.5m) in midfield.
A draw would be enough for Ukraine to qualify in second place and the four points it would leave Austria with would almost certainly be good enough for them to progress to the knockouts, too, as one of the best third placed teams. However, it looks as if the Austrians are trying to secure the dubious honour of facing Italy at Wembley in the Round of 16 rather than facing the uncertainty of travelling to Bucharest for the possibility of playing the winner of either Group E or F.
Austria (4-3-2-1): Bachmann; Lainer, Dragovic, Hinteregger, Alaba; Schlager, Laimer, Grillitsch; Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Arnautovic
Ukraine (4-3-2-1): Bushchan; Mykolenko, Matviyenko, Zabarnyi, Karavayev; Zinchenko, Sydorchuk, Shaparenko; Malinovskiy, Yaremchuk; Yarmolenko
2 years, 10 months agodang, was going back and forth between hazard and wijnaldum.........eden has some work to do