Tournament | FIFA World Cup 2022 |
Timetable | 21st November 2022 10:00 GMT |
Prediction | Netherlands to win |
Odds | 1.65 (Bet £100 and win £165 if Netherlands win) |
Bookmaker | betway |
Football fans from all over the globe are eagerly waiting for November to roll around because football's biggest competition, the World Cup, will be taking place in Qatar. There will be plenty of action to keep us all highly entertained, and there will be millions of World Cup bets placed. The very first match of this FIFA competition will by Senegal vs Netherlands, and in this World Cup predictor, we are going to provide you with our prediction for this opening match.
🏠 Senegal Team Preview
Senegal are one of the best football teams in Africa as can be seen from the fact that they are the current African Cup of Nations champions, having beaten Egypt in 2021 final on penalties. They are definitely a team that nobody will be taking lightly because they have a number of quality players who ply their trade in some of the biggest football leagues in Europe.
🏆 World Cup History
Senegal have made it to the World Cup finals on two occasions in their history - the first time was back in 2002 when they made it to the Quarter-Finals, and the second time was in 2018 when they exited at the Group Stage. They have an unwanted World Cup record of being the first team in the competition's history to be knocked out using the fair play rule since they were tied with Japan on six other tiebreakers.
✔️ Qualification and Road to the World Cup 2022
Senegal, since they are an African country, obviously have to go through the African World Cup Qualifiers in order to try and book themselves a spot at any World Cup. There are five slots in total available to African nations at the World Cup.
Below we have given you a table with details of Senegal's qualifying group as it is always good to see how a team has performed in qualifying. This type of information can be quite handy if you are considering making some sort of Senegal vs Netherlands prediction.
Team | Matches Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goal Difference | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Senegal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | +11 | 16 |
Togo | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 8 |
Namibia | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -5 | 5 |
Congo | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | -5 | 3 |
The group winners in each group were drawn into five double-legged ties, with the winner of each tie qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Senegal were drawn against Egypt and they won the tie 3-1 on penalties.
⭐ Senegal Players to Watch
As we mentioned earlier on, Senegal have some quality players that are playing in Europe's biggest leagues such as the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1. Below are three Senegalese players that you need to keep an eye on throughout Senegal's participation in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
- Sadio Mane: It is fair to say that Mane is one of Senegal's best ever players, and if he has his shooting boots on, then Senegal can cause a number of problems for their opponents. Mane has just been signed by Bayern Munich, after a stellar six years at Liverpool where he scored 90 goals in 196 appearances, helping them to win the Premier League in 2020 and the Champions League in 2019. He has been capped 91 times for his country and has 33 goals to his name
- Kalidou Koulibaly: In order to go deep in any football competition, a team needs to have some quality defenders, and Senegal have one of the best around in Kalidou Koulibaly. He is a tank of a man who is strong on the ball and great in the air, and he will not give any opposing strikers any quarter. He has made more than 200 appearances for Napoli in the Serie A, and has been capped 62 times by Senegal. It will probably not surprise you to find out that he is the captain of his national side
- Édouard Mendy: It is all well and good having some quality defenders and strikers, but if a team's weak link is their goalkeeper, then it is likely that they are not going to go far in any competition. Thankfully Senegal fans are not going to have any issues when it comes to their keeper because in Édouard Mendy they happen to have a top-quality goalkeeper. He has made 65 appearances for Chelsea in the English Premier League since 2020, and he has been capped 25 times by his country. If he plays to the best of his ability, then we do not see Senegal conceding that many goals
☍ Netherlands Preview
The Netherlands, despite a few lean years recently, have always been one of the better international football teams that mostly always qualify for the major international football competitions such as the World Cup and the European Championship. Although you can never be entirely sure as to watch Netherlands team will show up on the day, one thing that is for certain is that no other team will be that eager to play against them.
🏆 World Cup History
This will be the 11th World Cup that the Dutch have played at, and they actually hold the record for having the most World Cup appearances without actually having won it. They were Runners-Up in 1974, 1978, and 2010. If you are after a fun fact of the day, then here it is - the Dutch have never lost a match at a World Cup in regular time by more than a goal.
✔️ Qualification and Road to the World Cup 2022
Below is the Netherlands qualifying group for the 2022 World Cup. Once again, this is something that you should take a look at if you are thinking about putting money on them at the upcoming tournament.
Team | Matches Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goal Difference | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Netherlands | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 23 |
Turkey | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 21 |
Norway | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 18 |
Montenegro | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 12 |
Latvia | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -3 | 9 |
Gibraltar | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | -39 | 0 |
So, as you can see from the table above, Netherlands qualified pretty comfortably for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Turkey put in a good showing, but they had to settle for a Play-Off place, which they lost to Italy.
⭐ Netherlands Players to Watch
The Dutch football team has always been full of quality players, and their current squad is no exception to this rule. In fact, we are pretty sure that there will be plenty of football bettors making World Cup 2022 predictions that will include the Dutch to go deep into the tournament.
Below we have given you three Dutch players that you should keep an eye on if you are thinking about making some Dutch football predictions come November.
- Virgil van Dyke: The Liverpool man is considered to be one of the best defenders in the world, and if he manages to stay fit then their opponents will find it hard to put the ball into the back of the net. When he is missing, there is a huge gap that no other player can fill. As well as defending, he is also a huge threat at set pieces, so he might be a good shout for a goal or two at the World Cup. He is now the captain of the Netherlands and he has been capped 47 times for his country
- Memphis Depay: The Barcelona man is one of the star players for his country, having scored 42 times in 80 matches. He had a torrid time at Manchester United from 2015/17, but since he left, he has been scoring goals for fun - in 139 appearances for Lyon, he scored 63 goals, while in the 28 matches that he has played for Barcelona, he has put the ball in the back of the net on 12 occasions. We are pretty certain that he will score a number of goals for his side at the World Cup, and many might even place a football prediction on him to win the Golden Boot
- Frenkie de Jong: Every team that has aspirations of going on to win a big football competition needs to have a quality defensive midfielder, and Netherlands definitely have one in Frenkie de Jong. He is a no-nonsense player who lets nobody get the better of him, and he can a long way to helping his team concede very few goals. He does not score many goals, but that is not his job at the end of the day. If you like to make World Cup predictions on players to get booked, then it might be a good idea to look at de Jong since he does like to put in a heavy tackle every now and then
💯 Senegal vs Netherlands Betting Odds
What is the most likely outcome of this game according to some of the top betting sites? Well, you will not come across a sports betting site that has the African nation as the favourites to go on and win the game. If we are being perfectly honest, most football fans around the world will probably agree with the bookmakers, and anyone who decides to make a World Cup predictor for this game will probably bet on the Dutch to win and claim all three points.
⚡ Match Winner
Below you can find the WC 2022 betting odds that five top sportsbooks are offering for either team to go on and win this game:
Team | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Netherlands | 1.65 | TBA | 1.67 | 1.67 | 1.63 |
Draw | 3.60 | TBA | 3.60 | 3.40 | *3.55 |
Senegal | 5.00 | TBA | 5.50 | 4.75 | 4.90 |
As you can see from these Senegal vs Netherlands odds, the Dutch are the clear favourites to go on and win this opening match of the tournament. However, we think that the high odds for Senegal are a little bit unfair since we feel that they have more than enough quality to make a game out of it.
🔥 Both Teams to Score
Above we provided you with the odds of each team going on to win the game, but football is a really good sport to bet on because there are plenty of different markets that you can place a bet on. One great football market that we suggest you think about when football betting is the both teams to score one, and below we have given you the odds that five quality bookies are offering for such a market.
Team | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No | 1.73 | TBA | 1.73 | 1.80 | 1.67 |
Yes | 2.00 | TBA | 2.00 | 1.91 | *1.91 |
So, as is clear from the table above, these quality bookies believe that the likely goals outcome of this match is that both teams will not end up scoring.
🥅 Over/Under 2.5 Goals
Another top betting market that you can place your money on is what is known as the Over/Under 2.5 goals market, and this is where you place a bet on whether you think there will be two goals or fewer scored in the game or three goals or more. We like this type of bet because you can support either team, depending on what you need to win. For example, if you go for over 2.5, you can cheer on both teams when they are attacking.
Once more, below we have given you the odds that five top bookies are offering for this market:
Team | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Over 2.5 goals | 1.73 | TBA | TBA | 1.95 | 1.97 | |
Under 2.5 goals | 1.61 | TBA | TBA | 1.75 | *1.65 |
So, since the bookmakers do not feel that both teams will go on to score in this match, it should not come as much of a surprise to find out that their odds for the Under/Over 2.5 goals market are in favour of the Under 2.5 goals market.
🥇 Who Will Win? Senegal vs Netherlands Prediction
So, when it comes to our match prediction, who do we feel will go on and win this game? Well, although the odds are heavily favouring the Dutch, we really do feel that this will be a close match that is going to settled by only a goal or two at the very most. We do agree with the bookies that the Netherlands will win though since we believe that they have a slightly better squad. However, we really would not be that surprised if Senegal upset the odds and went on to win the match.
"Our match prediction: Netherlands to win".
🔍 Our Senegal vs Netherlands Betting Tips?
So, what football betting tips can we give you for this match between Senegal and Netherlands? Well, we are going to give you some now and hope that will help you if you decide to bet on this match.
Both teams to score: While the bookies think that both teams will not score in this match, we think that there is a good chance that both sides will get on the score sheet. Both teams have quality attacking options, so we would be tempted to put our money on both teams to score.
Frenkie de Jong to be booked: Nowadays, you can even put a bet on a player to pick up a yellow card, and if this is the type of market that you like to place your money on, then we think that de Jong is a good player to bet on. This is because he is a defensive midfielder, and they often like to put in a meaty tackle.
Memphis Depay to score: If you are the type of bettor that likes to place a wager on a player to score, then we suggest that you think about betting on Depay. He is a top-quality striker and will definitely find the back of the net a number of times at the upcoming World Cup.
🎁 Find World Cup Free Bets
All of the top sports betting sites that you will come across will offer quality free bet bonuses to their new customers, but some bookmakers stand out from their rivals. The world of sports betting is extremely competitive, so the best bookies have to offer quality free bets in order to stick out like a sore thumb - this is the key to success in such a competitive industry.
In the following table, we have given you three great free bet offers from three quality bookies that you can use to place a bet on this opening match of the 2022 World Cup. However, please remember to always gamble responsibly and to take some time to read the T&Cs that are attached to each bonus.
Sportsbook | Offer |
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