Netherlands U21 vs Georgia U21 Predictions & Match Preview

Soccer Euro Under 21 Championship - Group Stage

⚽ 27 June 2023 - 16:00 GMT +0

After a pair of draws against Belgium and Portugal, the Netherlands, who came into this event as one of the more favoured nations to win the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, must now beat tournament co-hosts Georgia to guarantee a place in the quarter-finals. A strong showing is certainly not beyond them, illustrated by a 17-game unbeaten run (W10, D7) since exiting the semi-finals of this competition in 2021, but a must-win game in front of a hostile crowd will add to the pressure.

Getting over the line has been a struggle for Erwin van de Looi’s side, who have now drawn each of their last four matches. They might therefore rue not take more of the chances they created against Portugal that saw them fail to score before the 75th minute. With this their first meeting with Georgia since 2014 (W1, L1), the responsibility falls on van de Looi to have done his homework on the opposition.

While a draw won’t help the Netherlands if the Belgium-Portugal game produces a winner, it will be enough for Georgia to qualify for the quarter-finals at their first attempt after they scored a late equaliser to draw 2-2 with Belgium to complement their win over Portugal to kick off their tournament. That draw made it five games unbeaten (W3, D2) for Ramaz Svanadze’s team and the manager’s raft of half-time changes had the desired effect as they recovered from being 2-0 down.

“We never come to the pitch for one point only and we will try to win the final match against the Netherlands,” Svanadze declared afterwards. One performance away from reaching the knockouts in their competition debut, they can be sure of another partisan crowd cheering them on after their game with Belgium smashed the record for the largest crowd (41,887) ever seen at a UEFA U21 Championship fixture!

Bookie	Home Win	Draw	Away Win	Take Action
	@ 2.35	@ 3.65	@ 5.10	BET NOW
	@ 1.60	@ 3.75	@ 4.60	BET NOW

📋 Players to watch: After he closed his Dutch domestic season with three goal contributions in as many games (G2, A1), Brian Brobbey took that form to the international stage to save his side against Portugal. Georgiy Tsitaishvili started the Georgian comeback against Belgium with his second goal across Georgia’s last three fixtures, with both strikes marking the first goal of the game for his team.

⚡ Hot stat: There has been an average of 11.25 corners per match across the four matches involving either team at this tournament.