Robin van Persie of the Netherlands heads to score against Spain during their 2014 World Cup Group B soccer match at the Fonte Nova arena in Salvador
Robin van Persie of the Netherlands heads to score against Spain during their 2014 World Cup Group B soccer match at the Fonte Nova arena in Salvador June 13, 2014. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

Final Score

Australia 2 Netherlands 3

Overview

The twentieth match of the FIFA World Cup 2014 is going to be held between Australia and the Netherlands. The Group B match will be interesting as it will probably be Australia's last chance to keep its hopes alive to go into the next round. The Netherlands, on the other hand, will definitely want to seal its spot in the "group of 16" by winning this match.

Teams

Australia: Tim Cahill thinks that his team has to learn important lessons from its defeat against Chile. The youthful squad which is going through a transition took time to open up in the match. Cahill scored but the final line did not look much encouraging at 3-1. It was shaky in the beginning. However, it was at its best when it became more aggressive. Probably, it may want to maintain the same strategy against the Netherlands as well.

The Netherlands: We saw the Dutch in a sublime form as it created history by defeating the world champions 5-1 in its opening match. Even the most ardent Dutch fans might not have dreamt of such a score line against Spain which conceded 5 goals or more for the first time in the last 51 years. Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie were probably at their career best form. To sum it up, the Dutch look ominous for any world class opponent. This team looks like it means business, and its business is to win the cup unlike 2010.

Head to Head

Interestingly, history favours Australia which never lost against the Netherlands yet. These two teams played thrice against each other and drew twice. Australia won the other match with a rich score line 3-2.

Key Players

Australia: Tim Cahill

The Netherlands: Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie

Date, Time & Venue

Brazil's time zone is UTC/GMT -3. The match starts at 1 pm (local time) on June 18, which means it is 2 am on June 19 in New South Wales, Australia. The match will be held at Estadio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre.

Prediction

The Netherlands will tear the Aussies apart. The Dutch will win it at 4-0 and storm in to the "group of 16."

Group Predictions

Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E, Group F, Group G & Group H

Reference: FIFA

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au