Our Opponents: Luxembourg, Belarus

Our first match is against Luxembourg. The two teams have met 14 times dating all the way back to 1920. Their biggest win was 8-0 away in 1971. The scorers that day were Cruyff(3), Keizer, Pahlplatz, Hulshoff, Hoekema and Israel. The Dutch really knew how to spread the goals around back then.

Most recently they met in Euro qualification in Rotterdam in 1994. They ran out 5-0 winners with goals from Mulder, Roy, Jonk, R. de Boer and Seedorf.

The Dutch have a very successful history against Luxembourg. Out of 14 matches the Dutch have won 11, drawing once and losing twice. The aggregate score (a useless but fun statistic in this case) is 57-11. In fact Luxembourg hasn’t scored against the Dutch since October 30 1963.

The next match is against Belarus whom the Dutch have met twice and come away with maximum points. Both matches were in European qualifying actually. The most recent was in 2003 while qualifying for Portugal. It took place in Belarus and the Oranje won 0-2 with goals from Kluivert and Overmars.

The time before the Dutch won 3-0 at home in Eindhoven in late 2002. Goals from Davids, Kluivert and a rare one from substitute Hasselbaink were enough to seal the points.