The Netherlands and Australia are playing live on the World Cup schedule on Wednesday and the Group B match starts at 12 pm noon on ESPN with a live stream from the WatchESPN website at Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre and this is a huge soccer game for the Dutch, as they could put themselves in position to advance to the knockout round after winning over Spain.
The Netherlands finished as the runner up to Spain in the World Cup in South Africa and the Dutch got their revenge in the opening game against the defending champions, winning it in a blowout. Robin Van Persie had two goals and one was on an amazing header that spread like wildfire over the internet and now the Spanish team has to find a way to bounce back for any chance at getting out of the group stage. Australia already had long odds at making it out of this group and now they have to play a Netherlands team that is feeling extremely confident and is playing at a very high level.
The Netherlands won the matchup 5-1 and Australia comes into this game after losing to Chile 3-1 and while the Socceroos played well, they could not convert enough scoring chances and now they are up against a Dutch side looking like they are in top form. Spain came into the tournament as one of the favorites along with Germany, Brazil and Argentina and now the Netherlands and France could be in that group as well. The Netherlands knows success in the World Cup, but they have not won the trophy before and they also have finished as the runner up four times. The Australian side does not have as much success as the Dutch and they lost to Italy back in the 2006 tournament in the knockout stage and both nations are into the main tournament for the third time in a row.
Van Persie is playing some great football and it comes after the Manchester United star missed over a month with an injury and he said that the time off could be beneficial to his play at the tournament. Van Persie said that he was fully recovered from his injury earlier in the year and he scored two goals to give the Dutch the victory and the five goals could come in handy on differential when the group stage play is all finished. Spain is not out of things and they surely will not give up, but they have to win their next game and the Dutch next play against Chile after taking on Australia.
Van Persie was very strong in qualifying as well and with his new manager Louis Van Gaal coaching him with the Netherlands, more success could be ahead for the two. Arjen Robben also had two goals and he had an intensity on the pitch that helped the Dutch close things out and now they can nearly secure a place in the next stage with a win here against Australia.
Check here for the Netherlands and Australia live coverage from ESPN for the World Cup from Brazil.