Are the Netherlands a Good or Bad Bet vs the United States?

• The United States are significant underdogs to advance in the World Cup because of the Netherlands’ record in Group A.
• With a 2-1-0 record in their group, it may be logical that the Netherlands is favored to beat the United States but each performance was not as dominating as the team may seem.

AL RAYYAN, Qatar - Coming off a thrilling one-goal victory over Iran on Tuesday, the United States has moved on to face the Netherlands in the Round of 16 as significant underdogs to survive and advance into the World Cup Quarterfinals at Bovada.

United States vs Netherlands Odds

Online soccer sportsbooks have made the odds of a tie shorter than the odds of the United States beating the Netherlands in regulation.

Those odds may provide excellent value for those who research the Netherlands team and break down their record.

Breaking Down the Netherlands

The Netherlands’ 2-1-0 record points to a team that on paper looks dominant, but there may be some holes in their resume:

• Netherlands Victory over Senegal (2-0): The most impressive performance of the World Cup by the Netherlands on paper was their first match against Senegal. The 2-0 victory against the group's runner-up is a great resume booster and likely the reason that the Netherlands is favored so heavily against the United States. It should be noted that this game was much closer than the 2-0 score suggests, as the score was tied at zero until an 85th-minute goal by Cody Gakpo opened up the game.
• Netherlands Tie Ecuador (1-1): The Netherlands tied Ecuador and may have been lucky to do so given Ecuador had one goal called back by VAR. This tie was concerning because they almost lost the match despite scoring a goal in the sixth minute while showing a relatively limited offensive profile when holding a lead.
• Netherlands Victory over Qatar (2-0): Beating any country two to nil in the World Cup is always impressive, but considering that Qatar got beat by two goals in all three of their matches it is much less impressive. If anything, Qatar's previous losses indicate that an average team would beat them 2-0.

With a pair of victories on their record already, it may be fair that online sportsbooks have the Netherlands as favorites against the United States, but given their performance in those wins, it may be a good idea to bet on Christian Pulisic and company with +330 odds.