Oranje to battle against United States in World Cup Round of 16

The Dutch men’s national football team will meet the United States on Saturday in the first knockout round of the World Cup. The Americans won their final group match against Iran, 1-0, and finished second in Group B behind England.

During the heated game between the two countries, who have a very tense political relationship, Christian Pulisic scored the only goal shortly before the break to make it 1-0. Iran was unable to level the score in the second half and was thus knocked out of the group stage. Iran would have gone through with a draw.

The run-up to Tuesday evening’s game was mainly about the difficult relations between the two countries, which put extra tension on the match. Feyenoord striker Alireza Jahanbakhsh was unavailable for Iran, as he received a yellow card against both England (2-6) and Wales (2-0).

America goes up 1-0, and struggled to hold the lead

Former Eredivisie player Gregg Berhalter, who played football at PEC Zwolle, Sparta Rotterdam and SC Cambuur, coached his American team to an undefeated group stage this World Cup, like the Netherlands. The Americans again impressed with their energetic game. Pulisic gave his team the opening goal, after preparatory work by the former Ajax right back Sergiño Dest. Pulisic was injured in that play and did not return to the field for the second half.

Team USA had some chances at the beginning of the second half to make it 2-0, but then Iran took over momentum. Under the direction of national coach Carlos Queiroz, Iran went on the hunt for the necessary goal to make the match leve. Morteza Pouraliganji's biggest chance came in the 9th minute of stoppage time, but his header flew just wide of goal. Just before the end of extra time, Iran begged the Spanish referee in vain for a penalty kick.

Oranje coach Van Gaal expects a “difficult” match from a “fanatical” opponent

The Dutch secured first place in Group A earlier in the day with a win against Qatar (2-0). Louis van Gaal’s team took home seven points in its three group stage games. Senegal finished second with six points and will face England in the Round of 16 on Sunday evening.

Van Gaal said that he thinks his squad could have a difficult match against the U.S. "I have not seen them yet, only in recaps. Then you don't have a good picture. But they finished second, so they are undoubtedly less good than number 1," said Van Gaal in the Al Bayt stadium.

"I know from experience that matches against countries such as the United States and Australia, who we encountered at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, are always very difficult," continued the 71-year-old national coach. "They are very fanatical and sharp on the ball." Eight years ago, Oranje narrowly defeated Australia in the group stage, 3-2.

The United States finished on five points, after previous draws against Wales (1-1) and England (0-0). To date, their best World Cup performance was reaching the quarterfinals in 2002. England, who wound up as the runner-up in the European Championship, defeated Wales 3-0 to win Group B with seven points.

Netherlands has won 4 of 5 from the U.S., but not the last match

Oranje has had an interesting time playing against the United States. The Netherlands won four of their five previous meetings with the Americans. Those were all friendly matches. Oranje lost the last match in 2015 by a score of 3-4.

In that duel in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, Daley Blind and Memphis Depay were in the starting line-up for Oranje. Both are in the current World Cup selection. Luuk de Jong came on as a substitute. Depay made it 3-1 shortly after the break, but the Netherlands completely handed over the game in the final phase.

The first game between the Oranje and Team USA took place in 1998 in Miami. The Netherlands won thanks to goals from Ronald de Boer and Clarence Seedorf. Four years later it was again 2-0 for Oranje. In 2004 and 2010, the Dutch national team won 1-0 and 2-1 against the Americans in Amsterdam, respectively.