Netherlands vs. Ecuador 2022 FIFA World Cup Preview

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Ecuador looks to keep rolling when they collide with Netherlands in 2022 FIFA World Cup Group A action on Friday.

Ecuador is coming off an impressive 2-0 win in the World Cup opener against Qatar on Sunday and the final score didn’t reflect their superiority. Ecuador took a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to two goals from Enner Valencia and they dominated the entire game but took their foot off the gas in the second half of a game they could have won by more goals.

Netherlands beat Senegal 2-0 on Monday after a Cody Gakpo header with just over six minutes to play and a Davy Klaassen goal in the 99th minute. It was hard-fought game from start to finish and Senegal pressured Netherlands and had many chances to score, but they just couldn’t find the back of the net.

The player to watch in this game is Cody Gakpo, who has nine goals and 12 assists in 14 Eredivisie games with PSV Eindhoven this season. AccuScore gives Cody Gakpo a 56.6 percent chance to score against Ecuador. He has 99 SCA and 17 GCA in 14 Eredivisie games with PSV Eindhoven this season.

FBRef defines SCA as “the two offensive actions leading directly to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls.” GCA is “the two offensive actions leading directly to a goal, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls.” Let’s take a closer look at where the value is at in this matchup.

Dafabet Picks

Team to Win (Regular Time)
• Netherlands 1.70
• Ecuador 5.40
• Draw 3.90

Spread
• Netherlands -0.5, -1 (1.91)
• Ecuador +0.5, +1 (2.01)

Total
• Over 2, 2.5 (1.85)
• Under 2, 2.5 (2.05)

Key Points to Consider

Head-to-Head: These two teams last met in an international friendly on May 17, 2014 and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Projected Leaders

For Netherlands, Cody Gakpo has a 56.6 percent chance to score. He averages 2.52 shots overall per sim, 1.55 shots on goal per and 0.83 goals per sim.

For Ecuador, Michael Estrada has a 6.3 percent chance to net the ball. He averages 0.35 shots overall per sim, 0.13 shots on goal per and 0.07 goals per sim.

Analyst’s Pick

Netherlands didn’t play well against Senegal, but they still got the job done. Ecuador has a lot of talent and it won’t be easy but I Netherlands playing up to the level of the opponent and performing a lot better in a game that could decide first place in Group A.
Netherlands 1.70

Two-star (out of four) AccuScore hot trend pick on Netherlands in this one. Average score in simulations is Netherlands 2.63 to Ecuador 0.36.

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