Can Scotland capitalise against 'wounded' Dutch?
On Tuesday night Scotland will face a Netherlands team - live on BBC Scotland -which is wounded, both in a physical and emotional sense before their final Nations League match in Tilburg.Missing some of their key stars, the Dutch were walloped 4-0 by Germany in their penultimate game, which set off alarm bells back home as they prepare to play in the Euro 2025 group of death this summer alongside England, France and Wales.First-choice goalkeeper Daphne Van Domselaar was missing with injury, as well as attacking totems Lineth Beerensteyn and top scorer Vivianne Miedema.The latter will definitely not return to face Scotland, while Beerensteyn missing out would be music to Scotland's ears given she has scored three goals across the last two meetings.Arsenal's Victoria Pelova and key midfielder Danielle van de Donk were not fit enough to start in Bremen either.That meant a switch to a back-three formation, which seemed to bring confusion rather than stability as Germany ran riot, scoring three in the first half.Manager Andries Jonker, whose contract is not being renewed after the Euros this summer, said too many players were below par as questions surround his side.So can Scotland capitalise? Well, they will need to be far better than they were for the first 70 minutes against Austria in Melissa Andreatta's first game.In the reverse fixture, Emma Lawton's first international goal gave Scotland the lead before the Dutch turned things around in the second half to win 2-1.But in truth, the gap between the two teams at Hampden in February was much more than one goal as the Netherlands squandered numerous chances.The expectation on Scotland, already relegated and on the back of six straight defeats, could hardly be lower. That tends to be how they like it, though.A victory against even this version of the Dutch seems unlikely, but if Andreatta could grab a result it would jolt her tenure to life ahead of another summer when Scotland watch on from a distance as others enjoy a major tournament party.
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