England v Netherlands football friendly 2012 preview

England will host Netherlands on Wednesday at the Wembley Stadium in a friendly match, which will be part of the final set of international games before the Euro 2012 in summer.

The two sides were head-to-head last time in August 2009 in a friendly match which ended in a draw. None of the side’s fans would like to see a similar result this time, so the teams are being expected to attack more.

The Three Lions are in a complex situation as they are without a captain and a full-time manager. Stuart Pearce, who has been the caretaker manager since Fabio Capello resignation in the John Terry racism row, will have to one man to lead his side on the last night of February.

Steven Gerrard is clearly the favourite to take the armband and his case has been strengthened after the Carling Cup victory with Liverpool last Sunday.

However, Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker could also be on Pearce’s cards after the former West Ham United captain was voted the ‘Vauxhall England Player of the year’ on Monday.

World Cup finalists Netherlands will be looking to send out a message to their opponents that they are still that tough team which performed brilliantly in the summer 2010. And a good result against England will do that.

But the Dutch side will have a few injury problems and fitness issues. Rafael van der Vaart and Kyle Walker have already backed out of the match while Bayern Munich attacker Arjen Robben has said that he is not 100% fit. That leaves manager Bert van Marwijk with very few options.

England, who now have a very weak centre defence with John Terry’s absence, will have a tough task in stopping Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie who has been in a wonderful goal-scoring form since last year.