Who: Netherlands vs USA Where: Khalifa Stadium When: Dec 3, 6pm (15:00 GMT) FIFA ranking: Netherlands (8), USA (16)
The United States will play the Netherlands in the opening encounter of the World Cup's knockout round on Saturday at the Khalifa International Stadium, as the European team looks to establish themselves as a major contender in Qatar.
While Gregg Berhalter's team shown their resilience against Iran in a high-stakes, winner-takes-all match with a convincing victory, the USMNT gave England serious trouble in their group stage meeting and will likely have left that game the more unhappy of the two teams with the 0-0 stalemate.
The Netherlands will be a challenging opponent for the US on Saturday since they are eight places higher in the FIFA world rankings than the US and have players of international recognition like Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool, Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona, and Memphis Depay.
The US's standout player Christian Pulisic's health is, of obviously, their biggest concern.
The Chelsea forward scored the game-winning goal in the crucial match against Iran while suffering what he described as a pelvic injury, but head coach Berhalter stated on Friday that Pulisic is expected to play Today.
Berhalter will have been extremely pleased with the performance against Iran, which resulted in a valiant but well-deserved 1-0 victory, especially given the intense off-field stress in the lead-up to the game.
Before the knockout rounds, USMNT's Walker Zimmerman declares, "We're not finished yet."
In a heated pre-game press conference, Iranian media grilled Berhalter and captain Tyler Adams while they fought off charges of hypocrisy and rudeness.
“It’s a great opportunity, but it’s not something that we’re going into it thinking is an honour,” Berhalter said. “We deserve to be in the position we’re in. And we want to keep going. We don’t want to be going home on Saturday.
“And from here anything can happen. All we need to do is play one game at a time. There’s no need to even project how far this team can go,” added Berhalter, who has an intimate knowledge of Dutch football. The 49-year-old played in the Dutch league for three different clubs between 1996 and 2000.
The winner of the match will advance to a quarter-final meeting with either Argentina or Australia on December 9.