The Netherlands and Australia are playing on the Group B World Cup schedule on Wednesday and the soccer game comes live from Brazil at Estádio Beira-Rio in Porto Alegre at 12 pm noon ET and the game is live on TV from ESPN and online with a live stream from the WatchESPN website and on the radio from ESPN Radio as Robin Van Persie and the Dutch try to continue their strong play in the tournament.
The Netherlands side is looking very strong coming into the game and the matchup will be big for the Dutch if they want to advance to the knockout stage. Spain was looked at as the favorites here for this group and now they are on the ropes as the Netherlands comes in after winning big in their first match. The rare rematch of the previous finals in the group stage was not as good as anticipated and after going down 1-0 early, the Dutch side stormed back and got five goals, including two from Robin Van Persie and he is showing great form so far at the Cup.
The header from Van Persie was the play of the tournament so far and that has stood up for the week and now the team takes on Australia and they are expected to win this game. Van Persie missed a month earlier in the season with Manchester United and that time off for injury has given him an extra boost here and he could be the key to the Dutch making another finals run here in Brazil after playing against Spain in South Africa.
The Dutch have finished in second place four times at the Cup and they have no titles and Australia comes in as the underdog and they have been to four games and they made it to the round of 16 back in 2006 for their best result. The Australian team has a number of solid athletes, but they are no match for the Dutch right now and if they can pull out a draw that would be huge for the team.
The United States is in the toughest group in the entire tournament and they have shown that they can win and now they have the momentum to get through to the knockout stages again. Coming into the tournament the team was not given much of a chance at anything and now they have a crucial three points and the chance to make something happen against Portugal in their next game. The US won against Ghana after getting eliminated by the team in the past two World Cups and it came after Clint Dempsey scored a goal just 30 seconds into the game. John Brooks sealed it late and now the team heads into the matchup with Portugal knowing the team will be without Pepe and that could be the opening they need to get in.
Check here for the Netherlands and Australia live coverage from ESPN for the World Cup matchup.
