We’ve said it before (actually only just last night), and we’re bound to say it again before this tournament is over, but if you’ve got full backs who aren’t willing to take a punt and power down the touchlines, then you’ve not got much of a chance. A point proved by the Dutch in their opener against Italy, who exploited the wide positions beautifully, and crossed with precision. In fact we have a stat to support this fact (when do we ever not?), and it shows that the Netherlands are top of the pile when it comes to completing crosses. 33.3% might not seems a great deal, but when you know that one in every three is going to be met with a scoring chance, firing them in from wide seems like common sense.

Whether Jeremy Toulalan is playing today depends on the fitness of Patrick Viera, but he did himself no harm in the 0-0 against Romania. He has the most touches of any man on the field with 111, was successful in all eight of his attempted tackles and ran as far in the last 15 minutes as he did in the first. Quite an effort and one of a man clearly playing for his place.

So who will win out tonight? Tom thinks the Dutch will complete an historic double and ease to a 2-0 success.

Jack reckons that the crazy Orange men will triumph by a massive 6-0!!

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