The Netherlands vs Mexico Prediction - Will Mexico Be Able To Squeeze The New Clockwork Orange?

Next Sunday, The Netherlands and Mexico will go head-to-head at Estádio Castelão in Fortaleza on what will be the third match of the World Cup’s Round of 16.

After having completely controlled the Group B, Holland will now have another very difficult test against Mexico, one of the most impressing teams of the tournament so far. Last Monday, the Dutch side ended Chile’s winning streak by defeating them 2-0. Louis Van Gaal operated some changes in his team, but the new “clockwork orange” didn’t fall short of expectations and controlled the always dangerous Jorge Sampaoli’s team.

After reducing Spain to dust on their World Cup’s opening match, Holland pulled rank and presented themselves as a serious contender to win the competition. Van Gaal, one of the managers that takes Rinus Michels’ total football approach to a whole new level of expertise, has been making a fantastic job at the Dutch team and after all they have already achieved so far in the tournament, it will be interesting to see how they will deal with an highly intensive team such as Mexico.

For the match against the Central American side, Van Gaal will certainly remain faithful to his game principles and he will surely promote the return of Manchester United’s forward, Van Persie, to the team after he have missed the match against Chile due to suspension.

As for Mexico, the match against Holland is a good opportunity for them to continue what they started against Croatia last Monday. The Tricolor team put up an excellent performance against the Croats, grabbing a well deserved 3-1 win thanks to goals from Guardado, Rafa Márquez, and Javier Hernández. Mexico finished Group A in the second place with the Same points of Brazil, who finished first but with a goal difference of only three goals against the five goals difference from the Brazilians.

Mexico’s manager Miguel Herrera is currently doing a splendid job with his team, especially if we consider that he only took the lead of the team back in November, before the Tricolor team played their World Cup qualification playoff matches against New Zealand. Herrera implemented a highly effective 5-3-2 style with the experienced centre back Rafa Márquez acting as a sort of old school libero and things seem to be running smoothly so far. After forcing Brazil to a draw, the match against Holland will pose yet another good opportunity for them to make a stand against another serious title contender.

Although Mexico’s campaign has been spectacular so far, Holland have to be considered favourites for next Sunday’s match.

The Netherlands

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Mexico

Stats: W-2 L-2 D-1

Recent Form - WDWLL

Possible Line-ups

The Netherlands (5-3-2) - Cillessen - Janmaat - Blind - Vlaar - Wijnaldum - De Vrij - De Jong - De Guzman - Sneijder - Robben - Van Persie

Mexico (5-3-2) - Ochoa - Layun - Moreno - Aguilar - Marquez - Rodriguez - Herrera - M. Fabian - Guardado - Gio dos Santos - Peralta

Prediction: The Netherlands 2 Mexico 1