Netherlands v Denmark: Correct Score Tip

Group B has been branded the ‘Group of Death’ because it contains Germany, Netherlands and Portugal; Denmark are also there but don’t create the same fear factor. There are two things to say about that. Firstly, the Scandinavians are underestimated at your peril and secondly all the others teams feel they must beat them to stand a chance.

The effect of all this is that Netherlands are bound to feel the heat at any point where they aren’t in front. But the good news for Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk is that he has a fabulous team at his disposal. Top scorers across Europe in qualification, I don’t see many teams shutting them out this summer.

Netherlands beat Denmark 2-0 in their opening match of the 2010 World Cup - a competition in which they went to the final. I would expect something quite similar again, but this time it could be even closer.

The Oranje have had plenty of vulnerable moments defensively in recent times. They conceded three at home to Hungary in qualifying, three more to Germany in a friendly and a couple more recently at home to Bulgaria. With the experienced Joris Mathijsen ruled out in central defence on Saturday, the Danes could cause some scares.

Morten Olsen’s team are no mugs. Having qualified ahead of Portugal, they rarely fail to get on the scoresheet. In fact, they have only failed to find the net once in 13 matches. With Ajax maestro Christian Eriksen calling the shots, they are capable of making all their Group B opponents sweat.

I think the Netherlands are a class act who can go far in Poland/Ukraine, but this could be a nervy start regardless. They should just about find the requisite result; a 2-1 victory at best odds of 8/1 with Coral seems like a reasonable shout.