Soccer Betting – Netherlands, Poland Meet in Friendly

Netherlands (+190) at Poland (+145), Draw (+204)

With the Netherlands out of Euro 2016, they have been relegated to a sparring partner for teams headed to the tournament. The Dutch will play their second friendly game in less than a week this Wednesday at the National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland (2:45 PM Eastern).

Last week, the Netherlands drew Ireland 1-1 (away), yet they showed the same awful defense that saw them get eliminated in the Euro qualifiers. This was the first time in five games the team didn’t allow multiple goals.

Holland are trying to build a winner, looking ahead to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but the task won’t be easy, considering the country has a serious lack of playmakers on both sides of the ball. The draw with Ireland brought their 2016 friendly record to 1-1-1; the team already lost to France (3-2 away) and beat England (2-1 home).

Wednesday’s game will be the second last Euro tune-up for Poland, who will also face Lithuania before the tourney begins. The Poles will have a tough task in Group C, facing World Champion Germany along with the Ukraine and Northern Ireland. They’re currently 50/1 longshots to win the tournament and 5/1 to win their group.

At home, and facing the weakest version of the Dutch team we have seen in years, Poland are the favorites. There’s no reason for the Poles not to come out aggressive in front of their fans. Expect striker Robert Lewandowski, the top scorer for Bayern Munich, to do a lot of damage up front against a suspect Holland defense.

Pick: Poland (+145).

(Photo credit: Roger Gorączniak (Polska – Węgry) CC BY 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)