The Netherlands will head to the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki to open their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, taking on Finland on Saturday night. The two nations are separated by 63 places in the FIFA World Rankings and are in Group G with Poland, Lithuania and Malta.

The Netherlands had hoped to qualify for this month's UEFA Nations League, but their efforts in a thrilling 10-goal, two-legged quarter-final against Spain in March came to naught, losing 5-4 on penalties. Indeed, victory has been hard-won for head coach Ronald Koeman, who has guided the Netherlands to just two wins in their past nine international matches - both of which were crushing home victories against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary in the Nations League.

Having only played in the Nations League three months ago, the Netherlands are currently playing catch-up in World Cup qualifying, as the other four teams in Group G have played just two games each. The Netherlands are currently six points behind leaders Poland, who have won their first two games. The Netherlands, ranked sixth in the FIFA world rankings, are seeking their 12th World Cup qualification and are aiming to win at least six of their eight group games, having failed to qualify for the tournament after failing to win more than 60% of their matches in each of their eight World Cup appearances.

On paper, the trip to Finland is undoubtedly one of the trickiest games in Group G for the Netherlands, but they will be confident of a win on Saturday as the Dutch have won their last four meetings with the Eagle Owls 11-2 on aggregate in both European Championship and World Cup qualifiers.

Finland are winless in their last eight international matches in 2024 and were relegated from Nations League Group B, Group II, after losing all six games in their group with England, the Republic of Ireland and Greece. Under the guidance of new head coach Jacob Friis, who replaced Marku Kanerva in January, Finland started the 2025 World Cup campaign unbeaten by picking up four points from their first two World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Lithuania.

Finland won their first round match against a ten-man Malta team, Oliver Antman scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win. Then, in their most recent match at the end of March, Finland came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Lithuania, finishing second in Group G and at least three points ahead of the next three teams.

Finland, ranked 69th in the FIFA world rankings, is in their 19th attempt to qualify for the World Cup; in the group stage, Finland finished third, just one point behind second-placed Ukraine, who qualified for the play-offs, and narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Frith is eager to improve Finland's home form, as they have lost all three of their last three domestic and international matches, conceding at least two goals each time, and have won just one of their last five home World Cup qualifiers.

Finland predicted starting lineup:

Hradecky; Alho, Tanho, Ivanov, Uronen; Kamara, Kairinen, Lord; Ant-Man, Pohjanpallo, Kalman

Netherlands predicted starting lineup:

Flecken; Dumfries, Van Herk, Van Dijk, Ake; De Jong, Reynders; Kluivert, Simmons, Gakpo; Weghorst