After both tasting late heartbreak in the semi-finals, the Netherlands and Italy will battle it out for third place in the Nations League on Sunday.
The Dutch hosts netted a 96th-minute equaliser to take Croatia to extra-time but ultimately fell short and now have a date with Italy, who conceded in the 88th minute against Spain to end their own run in the competition.
Here’s all you need to know about this one.
Netherlands vs Italy H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Current Form (Last Five Games)
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Country |
TV Channel/Live Stream |
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United Kingdom |
Viaplay Sports UK |
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United States |
FOX Sports / ViX |
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Canada |
DAZN |
Ronald Koeman may opt to give minutes to some of his fringe players here, not least because of their 120-minute battle against Croatia just a few days earlier.
The likes of Mark Flekken, Sven Botman and goalscorer Noa Lang can, therefore, expect the chance to impress.
Netherlands predicted lineup (4-3-3): Flekken; Dumfries, Van Dijk, Botman, Malacia; Wieffer, Wijnaldum, De Jong; Malen, Gakpo, Lang
With even less recovery time ahead of this game, Roberto Mancini will have no choice but to introduce some fresh legs.
There will be a big call to make on centre-back Leonardo Bonucci, who was hooked at half-time and widely criticised on social media after a nightmare 45 minutes against Spain.
Italy predicted lineup (3-5-2): Vicario; Buongiorno, Acerbi, Darmian; Di Lorenzo, Barella, Verratti, Jorginho, Dimarco; Chiesa, Retegui
It’s always hard to predict third-place playoffs because you never really know just how much either team cares. It’s the prize nobody wants, and as a result, the effort levels usually drop a bit.
The Netherlands looked poor when Croatia started to get at them, and Italy will have watched that game with a view to drawing up their own gameplan. The Azzurri are more on the front-foot than Croatia and will expect to cause problems.
Pride will force both teams to make an effort but, with the players more concerned about avoiding injury before going off on holiday, don’t expect a classic.
Prediction: Netherlands 0-1 Italy
