The Netherlands will continue their quest for the 2026 World Cup as they face Malta at the Eurborg Stadium in Groningen on Tuesday. The Oranje opened their campaign with a successful trip to Finland on Saturday, with the visitors having collected just one point from their first three Group G games.

The Netherlands are now focused on qualifying for the World Cup after falling to Spain on penalties in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Nations League in March. The Netherlands, who have qualified for the previous five World Cup finals four times, will be looking to advance from a qualifying group that includes Poland, Finland, Lithuania and Malta.

While the rest of the group began their qualifying campaign back in March, Ronald Koeman's side finally got the ball rolling with a trip to Helsinki on Saturday, with Memphis Depay and Denzel Dumfries scoring in the first period as the national team won 2-0. After ending a five-match winless run, the Netherlands return home to face Malta for their first meeting since October 1995, when the Netherlands qualified for Euro 2026 with a comfortable 4-0 win.

In fact, they hold a perfect record against Tuesday’s opponents, having won all six of their previous matches, without conceding, and scoring at least four goals in five of them. The hosts also draw confidence from the fact that they have won six and drawn two of their last eight domestic and international matches since losing to France in Euro 2023 qualifiers in October.

Malta entered the qualifying round having performed satisfactorily in the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League, collecting seven points from four games to finish second and secure a spot in the promotion/relegation play-offs. They can look forward to a two-legged tie against Luxembourg in March 2026, although their current focus is on the latest World Cup qualifiers.

As the lowest-ranked team in the group, Malta's main goal is to play in some tricky matches rather than have realistic ambitions of reaching a major tournament for the first time. The Reds have struggled in their first two qualifiers in the March international window, losing 1-0 at home to Finland and 2-0 away to Poland. Emilio De Leo's side at least picked up a point at home to Lithuania on Saturday, drawing 0-0 in Taghali, their second clean sheet in three home internationals, although they still sit bottom of Group G with five games remaining. Malta will struggle to trouble the Netherlands on Tuesday, especially as they have failed to score in their past four games.

Netherlands predicted starting lineup:

Verbruggen; Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake; Gravenberch, De Jong, Reynders; Frimpong, Gakpo, Depay

Malta predicted starting lineup:

Bonello; Shaw, Carragher, Muscat; J.Mbong, Guillaumier, Teuma, Satariano, Camenzuli; Jones, P.Mbon