Two teams that will surely miss from the World Cup are Italy and Netherlands, who were both very strong teams a couple of decades ago. The two teams will now engage in a friendly match on Monday, when Italy will play host to the Netherlands.
Italy are surely one of the most iconic teams to miss from the World Cup this year but failing to win any of the two playoff matches against Sweden pretty much said it all. They are now building for the future under a new coach, who made some significant changes in the squad. Italy have played two friendlies over the past week, where they defeated Saudi Arabia at home by 1-2, but fell to France by 1-3 on the road. They don’t play that usual defensive style anymore, as Italy are now more focused on offensive soccer. Of course, that leaves gaps in the defense, and it is no wonder that they have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight matches in all competitions.
On the other hand, the Netherlands really messed up in the World Cup qualifiers and will now miss a second consecutive major tournament. Just like they failed to qualify for the 2016 EURO Cup, the Netherlands suffered an unexpected loss in the World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria that left them sitting at the 3rd spot of Group A. The Netherlands are traditionally good at creating wonderkids, and these days they are trying to build a competitive squad for the next big tournament. In their last friendly they were hosted by Slovakia on Thursday, where the two teams were stuck at a 1-1 draw.
