Holland v Bulgaria Preview & Tips (26th May)

2010 World Cup runner-up Holland have a score to settle with Bulgaria this Saturday, May 26. This international friendly is scheduled to start at 16:00 GMT.

Teams News

Holland

Van Marwijk still has some dilemma to solve as to who to play with up front. He has Robin van Persie coming off a stellar EPL season on one end, and Huntelaar on the other end. Nothing has been decided yet – even the final roster is still a toss-up of sorts for now – and a good game or two prior to the tournament might send one of these strikers ahead in the pecking order. As for now it seems like van Persie is the default choice – and the most logical at that – and so Huntelaar should be prepared to take on a super-sub role from the bench.

It’s a tale of misery for the expected Dutch attacking-midfield triad of Robben, Van de Vaart and Sneijder. Sneijder can’t be so happy given Inter’s unfortunate performance last season. Robben meanwhile couldn’t win the CL finals for his team – his 95th minute penalty miss remains to be a bitter reminder of how his former team stifled his game. Lastly, Van der Vaart’s season was riddled with fitness issues that you couldn’t really draw out how consistent he was for Tottenham. He will definitely use this friendly as an opportunity to prove his worth to Dutch fans – and Tottenham fans too – yet again.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria couldn’t replicate its 2004 Euro qualifying run. Last year they underperformed big time, only winning once in Euro qualifying Group G. With only five points under their belt after eight games, you could only imagine a horrifying picture of Bulgarian fans in dismay after their national team blew up the opportunity to grace the championship this summer.

Bulgaria last met Holland in ’07 for a Euro 2008 qualifying match. The game, held in Amsterdam, ended in a not-so brutal finals score-line of 2-0. Of course there are a lot of factors to consider now given how much the two teams have changed and how the disparity between the two has grown far too far. Well in the end you really couldn’t help but see Bulgaria needing a decade or so to challenge top-quality teams like Holland.

Holland v Bulgaria Betting Preview

It is Holland all the way with Bulgaria set to offer them some sort of a challenge. Not to disrespect Bulgaria, it’s the kind of challenge that serves tune-up teams well; the fact remains that they are too far in terms of quality to challenge Holland. Well they should look into this game with the outlook of improving as opposed to winning, with Holland most probably going to win it even if they play conservatively to save their players for the finals in the second week of June.

Betting Tip

Verdict: Holland to win 3-0.

Tip:

Holland’s 1/5 to win is expected. Defense-wise, Holland is much stronger compared to Bulgaria attack-wise, so be sure to cover final scorelines featuring Holland clean sheets. At 3-0, Holland is at 11/2, while at 4-0, the odds are much more sumptuous at17/2.

One of the giveaways here could be a ‘game to go under 2.5 goals at 8/5’. This has to be covered given the fact that Holland won’t probably be pushing very hard anyway. A two-goal differential is therefore seen to be just enough, all without the risk of injuring players and whatnot.

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).