Netherlands vs. Ukraine Predictions: Give me over 2.5 goals

Neil Monnery likes the third of Sunday's games and thinks it will be the best game of the weekend...

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Date: Sunday, June 13.

Kick Off Time: 3PM ET

TV: ESPN

It has been quite a while since we last saw the Oranje play at a major tournament. Once one of the betting favorites for every tournament, the Netherlands have lost their way a bit having failed to qualify for Euro 2016 in France or the World Cup in Russia back in 2018.

They are back however having finished runner-up in a very shallow Group C in qualifying. They did however record a fantastic win away in Germany during that campaign and that alone should give fans hope that they are serious contenders once again.

The Dutch have a spine of real quality in the form of de Ligt at the back, de Jong and Wijnaldum in the middle of the park and Depay up front. All four play at top clubs around Europe and can go toe for toe with any of the big nations at Euro 2020. Donny van de Beek will miss the tournament however having suffered an injury in the build up, something that sums up his season really and Virgil van Dijk is still rehabbing from his ACL injury.

One thing that hasn’t changed in the years the Netherlands have been away in their style of play. Go back 10, 20, 30, 40 years and you’ll see the same footballing philosophy. This alone should lead to some exciting games.

They open their campaign against Ukraine who are also a pretty decent watch. They won Group B in qualifying, beating the likes of Portugal and Serbia. No mean feat. They didn’t even lose a single game, winning six and drawing twice.

Managed by one of the true great strikers of his generation - Andriy Shevchenko - they have gone from strength to strength. A world ranking of 24 is not too far below that of the Netherlands (16) and with a united squad - they can cause some damage at this tournament.

Oleksandr Zinchenko had a good year at Manchester City and has become integral to his country. With speed and a good range of passing, he is a key man along with Andriy Yarmolenko.

I can see goals in this game and would not be stunned to see it finish something like 2-2. It should be great to watch.

Picks: I’ll go with the draw at +300 as I think that is a value play but I also like the +112 for over 2.5 goals. I’m very surprised this is odds against.