Non World Cup participants Italy and The Netherlands go head to head in an international friendly

Italy and Holland are set to play each in an international friendly on Monday night in Turin. Both teams will be looking for a win.

Kick-off : 8:45 PM (Local)

Venue : Allianz Stadium, Turin

Italy is obviously not in this year’s world cup but still are playing out friendlies to build a team for the future. They play their last friendly as before the world cup begins in Russia against the Dutch.

The Azzurri lost their last friendly against the French on Friday. But before that they won 2-1 against world cup finalists Saudi Arabia. Italy would love to carry on the same form against the Netherlands.

On the other hand, Holland too unfortunately missed out on world cup due to a poor qualifying campaign. They were edged by Sweden who later went on to knock Italy out in the play-offs.

The Netherlands are building a team for the future and a big game against the Italians will certainly help. The Oranje drew their last friendly against Slovakia a few days ago and will have to be at their best on Monday.

In the last four friendlies between the two sides, Italy have had the upper hand. Italy won two and drawn two games.

Team news and possible line-ups

The Netherlands will field a strong playing eleven against Italy on Monday night. The Liverpool duo Virgil Van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum will play after being rested against Slovakia due to Champions League action.

As for Italy, they will likely rotate and as a result Alessandro Florenzi and Giacomo Bonaventura might play.

Netherlands XI : Zoet, Hateboer, Kongolo, Van Dijk, De Ligt, Van Aanholt, Wijnaldum, Strootman, Van de Beek, Depay, Babel.

Italy XI : Perin, Florenzi, Romagnoli, Bonucci, De Sciglio, Jorginho, Bonaventura, Cristante, Berardi, Belotti, Insigne.

Prediction

I expect the game to end in a draw. It might end 2-2.