Italy V Holland Preview: Football International Friendly

Italy v Holland

14th November, 2009

Kick-Off: 20:00 GMT (21:00 CET)

Italy

Another great international match this Saturday night when the Italians play host in this Italy vs Holland football friendly.

Italy, the defending World Cup champions, have had a relatively comfortable path to qualification for the 2010 World Cup, winning seven and drawing three of their ten matches to finish top of their group.

Two draws against 2nd placed Ireland and an away draw against Bulgaria were the only blemishes in an otherwise perfect campaign for Italy.

Manager Marcello Lippi has stated that a win in this Italy v Holland meeting would serve as a perfect launch pad for his side's preparation campaign ahead of South Africa next year.

Holland

Holland, too, had a successful World Cup qualification campaign, and will undoubtedly want to use this Italy v Netherlands match as a perfect way to prepare for next year's football championship.

Holland finished top of their group, with eight wins from eight matches. The likes of Norway, Scotland, Macedonia, and Iceland could not blemish the Dutch's record.

Seventeen total goals from the likes of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dirk Kuyt, Mark van Bommel, and Rafael van der Vaart displayed the dominance of the Netherlands side, who conceded only two goals in the process.

Prediction

For two teams of such high quality, the Italians have dominated past Italy v Holland friendly meeting, The Dutch have failed to win even a single of the sides' eleven past friendly meetings, with the Italians winning six and the two sides drawing five.

The last Italy v Netherlands meeting, however, came in Euro 2008 and saw the in-form Dutch side thrash the Italians 3-0.

On current form, there shouldn't be too much separating the two sides. Italy's home advantage should make them slight favourites heading into this match, but a draw or even a Netherlands win could both be possibilities on Saturday night.

Italy v Holland Prediction: Italy 1 - Holland 1

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Read our other weekend previews too, with England vs Brazil, Ireland vs France and Spain vs Argentina all taking place on Saturday.