The Netherlands will be looking to back up their opening day triumph with a win against Ecuador. A victory could see them qualify for the last 16.
Louis Van Gaal will be looking to extend his 16-match unbeaten run in his third stint as the Netherlands manager.
Memphis Depay came on after 62 minutes in the win against Senegal but is still unlikely to start this game.
Depay has scored 21 goals in his last 23 matches for the Netherlands and will add some much needed fluency to the ‘Oranjes’ attack when he returns to the lineup.
Cody Gakpo was the man to break the deadlock against Senegal and Van Gaal has been complementary to the youngster. He told the Guardian ‘’He is a player with a lot of talent and possibilities.’’
Netherlands only managed an expected goals value of 0.44 before Gakpo’s 84th minute opener. They will need to be more creative in this game to break down an Ecuadorian defence, which has kept seven consecutive clean sheets.
Ecuador began their World Cup with a 2-0 win against the hosts Qatar. However, manager Gustavo Alfredo told the Mirror ‘’If we want to go further, we need to improve on this.’’
