Brazil vs The Netherlands Prediction - Will The Hosts Be Able To Bounce Back After The German Disaster?

Next Saturday, the home side Brazil and The Netherlands will go head-to-head at the Estádio Nacional in Brasilia on the World Cup’s Playoff for the third place.

The world of football is still in shock after what Germany did to Brazil during last Tuesday’s Semi-Finals’ match. The Canarinha suffered the heaviest defeat of their glorious history and not even the absence of Neymar and Thiago Silva can be used as an excuse to what happened at Belo Horizonte. Scolari embarked once again on some mistakes of the past and proved that he has little knowledge of tactical aspects. Without Neymar, Scolari launched Shakhtar Donetsk’s creative midfielder Bernard instead of Willian, who is clearly enjoying a better moment than his fellow countryman, and once again he was wrong. The former Atletico Mineiro’s player looked lost up there in the front and failed to be the liaison between the midfield and the forward lines, probably because he didn’t have the best of seasons at Ukrainian football last term. Scolari’s Brazil were a mistake almanaque against Germany and, in fact there, wasn’t a single that was able to make a good impression throughout the entire match.

For the match against Holland, Scolari will already be able to count on Thiago Silva, his team’s defence line marshal after he lost the previous match due to suspension. As for Neymar, it is not very likely that he will play for Brazil on next Saturday’s match, not only because of his injury but because of his agent’s recent unpleasant comments towards Scolari as well.

As for Holland, Van Gaal’s clockwork orange were somewhat rusty during their Wednesday’s match against Argentina and not even the Albiceleste side’s apathy managed to drive them into success. Holland’s performance on the Semi-Finals’ match was miles away from what they did, for example, against Spain and even Chile. Already during their previous match against Costa Rica, the Dutch side looked somehow lost of ideas on how to counter Los Ticos’ effective marking and they were only able to overcome them at the penalty shootout.

For the consolation prize match next Saturday, Holland will face a very fragilized Brazilian side and because of that they have a very good chance to, at least, claim the “bronze medal”.

Judging by both teams’ Semi-Finals clashes, the Dutch team have to be considered favourites for the next Saturday’s match, since a team often needs more than a couple of days to overcome such an heavy humiliation as the one Brazil were submitted to earlier this week.

Brazil

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LWWWD

The Netherlands

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - LWWWWW

Possible Line-ups

Brazil (4-2-3-1) - J. César - Maicon - David Luiz - Thiago Silva - Marcelo - Paulinho - Luiz Gustavo - Willian - Ramirez - Oscar - Fred

The Netherlands (3-5-2) - Tim Krul - Janmaat - Vlaar -  De Vrij - Blind - Wijnaldum -  Memphis - Kuyt - Sneijder - Robben - Van Persie

Prediction: Brazil 1 The Netherlands 2