Netherlands vs. Argentina: a current account

De Paul’s absence is a setback for Scaloni. It’s a fixed one. The only player to have played every minute of the competition alongside Messi and Nicolás Otamendi and doorman Dibu Martínez. With Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Alliester settled in the eleven, the question is the replacement for the rojiblanco midfielder. Leandro Paredes is the one with the most options.

Ángel Correa may be having his moment. Without Papu Gómez, the Atlético Madrid man can make his World Cup debut in the Ángel Di María square, who will have minutes at the start of the match. Called up at the last minute by Scaloni, Correa completes the attack with Messi and Julián Álvarez, who has taken over the starting position from Lautaro Martínez.

In the Netherlands, the only absence due to injury is that of Sefan de Vrij. Louis Van Gaal, unbeaten for nineteen games, already has central defender Matthijis De Ligt at his disposal, who already had a few minutes in the eighth finals against the United States. On this occasion he could start as one of three members of the five-man defense with which the coach has played almost every World Cup match and which is not well received in the Dutch environment.

For the first time, Scaloni takes on Louis Van Gaal in the bench game. The youngest coach in the league, at 44, compared to the oldest, the Dutchman, at 71, enjoying his third stint at the helm of the Orange squad and his second World Cup. The South American, who as a player already coincided with the Dutch coach in the Spanish league, recorded 36 consecutive victories in Qatar. The defeat against Saudi Arabia ended the trajectory. Van Gaal has not lost in the league so far and has played nineteen games in a row without being beaten.