Holland v Germany: Jong Oranje to edge tight game

Far from the best of friends, what better way for these two nations to commence their European Championships with an old-fashioned dust up?

Holland versus Germany always makes for entertaining viewing and, despite the inferiority of the Oranje at senior level, the mass amount of full internationals in their squad makes their 15/8 underdog price well worth lumping on.

Players such as Kevin Strootman, who has captained his country and earned twice the amount of senior caps as he has in the under-21’s, give Holland a huge advantage against a relatively inexperienced German team by comparison.

Only the bravest of the brave dare write Germany off though and, at 11/8, they’re not bad value either, but it’s difficult to see how they can live with such an impressively assembled Dutch team.

If splitting these two sides is proving an insurmountable challenge, a more straightforward punt has to be the 4/9 that a card is issued before a goal is scored or a sub is made, given the contempt that both sides regard one another.

Another strong prospect is that this game ends all square. The logic that leads to this conclusion is that with exceedingly tough Spanish opposition lying in wait, neither side will want to surrender an advantage to the other in the race to get out of the group.

The draw can be backed at 23/10, which could ensure a decent profit, especially when paired with the 17/20-rated under 2.5 goals scored in the game.

Germany may have featured in more games than the majority in qualifying, playing 12 times as opposed to the regulation 10, but they didn’t let this hinder their goalscoring prowess. They found the back of the net 43 times in total, with Borussia Monchengladbach’s Peniel Mlapa topping their scoring charts with eight of them.

In spite of this, he remains only third-favourite to break the deadlock in Petah Tikva behind compatriot Kevin Volland and clubmate Luuk De Jong. At 7/1, he looks the best value to be the first goalscorer of this sure-to-be fiery encounter.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date