Netherlands vs England, international friendly - as it happened

Re-live all the action from Amsterdam

(Getty)

With less than three months to go until the World Cup kicks off in Russia, Gareth Southgate has two games to add the finishing touches to his England team.

The first of those matches sees the Three Lions take on Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands in a clash that pits two transitory teams against one another.

Southgate has already confirmed that Jordan Pickford will be starting in goal while Jordan Henderson has been named captain for the fixture. Jack Wilshere is unavailable after being left behind in England with a knee injury he sustained in training.

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Where can I watch it?

The game will be broadcast on ITV 1. Coverage starts at 19:30.

It’s a big game for:

Virgil van Dijk. The 26-year-old has been named captain for the Netherlands, taking over duty from Arjen Robben who retired late last year. Against England, Van Dijk now has the chance to lead by example and prove why Liverpool made him the most expensive defender in history last January. Given he knows his opposition well, there’s even more expectancy for the Dutchman to run a tight ship tonight.

Head-to-head:

England 1 Netherlands 2, international friendly, March 2016

England 2 Netherlands 3, international friendly, February 2012

Netherlands 2 England 2, international friendly, August 2009

Form:

Netherlands: WWWWWL

England: DDWWWW

Confirmed squads

Netherlands squad: Marco Bizot, Jasper Cillessen, Jeroen Zoet, Patrick van Aanholt, Nathan Ake, Virgil van Dijk, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Hans Hateboer, Matthijs de Ligt, Kenny Tete, Stefan de Vrij, Donny van de Beek, Davy Proepper, Marten de Roon , Kevin Strootman, Guus Til, Tonny Vilhena, Georginio Wijnaldum, Ryan Babel, Steven Berghuis, Memphis Depay, Bas Dost, Justin Kluivert, Quincy Promes, Wout Weghorst.

England squad: Joe Hart, Jordan Pickford, Jack Butland, Nick Pope, Kyle Walker, Kieran Tripper, Ryan Bertrand, Danny Rose, John Stones, James Tarkowski, Alfie Mawson, Joe Gomez, Harry Maguire, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Jake Livermore, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Lewis Cook, Danny Welbeck, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford.

Odds:

Netherlands to win: 6/4

Draw: 11/5

England to win: 9/5

[23 March 2018 18:35 · Jack Watson]

Good evening and welcome to the Independent's live coverage of England's friendly tie against the Netherlands.

Before further chit-chat, let's have some team news.

[23 March 2018 18:36 · Jack Watson]

England Team News

[23 March 2018 18:45 · Jack Watson]

Team News

I'm making my live-blogging England debut this evening but more importantly there could be debuts for James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook and Alfie Mawson who start on the bench.

On the pitch, England go with a 3-5-2 formation. Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier provide the width, Jordan Pickford gets the goalkeeping gig and Marcus Rashford starts over Jamie Vardy.

Gareth Southgate's captain for this evening Jordan Henderson starts in the middle.

[23 March 2018 18:57 · Jack Watson]

Team NewsHere is the team that former Everton and Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has named on his first game in charge of the Netherlands.Zoet; De Ligt, De Vrij, Van Dijk; Hateboer, Wijnaldum, Strootman, Van Aanholt; Promes, Memphis; Dost

[23 March 2018 19:03 · Jack Watson]

Around 1,500 England fans are expected to make their way to the Amsterdam Arena this evening, but there’s been a few problems in Holland this afternoon.

[23 March 2018 19:08 · Jack Watson]

England Team

So how exactly are England lining up? Well it looks like it's a back three of Kyle Walker, Jon Stones and Joe Gomez. Now that's a strange one for me, mostly because Walker's never played there for England, Tottenham or Manchester City. Perhaps Gareth Southgate is looking to see if he can take Walker as someone who can be more flexible at the back which allows him more room to pick attacking players in his squad, maybe. The only thing is, Kyle Walker is not best known for his defensive play, this will certainly be interesting.

[23 March 2018 19:12 · Jack Watson]

"Will we learn anything? Maybe, although any residual function these fixtures may hold generally evaporates with the first volley of half-time substitutions."

Read what chief sports writer Jonathan Liew says about this evening's fixture in his column.

[23 March 2018 19:15 · Jack Watson]

[23 March 2018 19:23 · Jack Watson]

We Believe in Rashford

So there's no Harry Kane for England, the Spurs forward is ruled out for around a month with an ankle injury, which means the goal scoring responsibility falls to Marcus Rashford who has the full backing of his manager.

“Marcus is a player we believe in," Southgate said.

“I worked with him briefly in the Under-21s and we saw things that we’ve seen in the other Under-21s who have moved up to the senior team and done extremely well.

“He’s a player who believes in himself on the big stage, he’s ­committed to his job and he ­respects his sport in the way he trains and in his professionalism. He always wants to get better in some area of his game, or physically.

“So he’s got a top mentality — which is what we saw in Harry Kane at that same age as well.

“Marcus is mentally tough. The kids that are brought up at Manchester United are brought up to have to play in front of 70,000 ­people, so the big games don’t tend to faze them."

[23 March 2018 19:27 · Jack Watson]

Friendly by name only

Crystal Palace and Netherlands full back Patrick van Aanholt says this tie is only a 'friendly' by name.