The Netherlands football team will take on Portugal in a friendly game on Wednesday at Estadio Algarve.

The last match played between these two teams was won by Portugal. That was a Euro Cup 2012 game and Netherlands had lost by 1-2 to be forced to return home pointless.

But, the Dutch team has shown a lot of improvement since that time under the guidance of Louis van Gaal. They haven’t lost an international game in the last 12 months or so. Their last defeat had come against Belgium in August last year.

Van Gaal deserves to be given credit for the consistency that the Dutch team has shown in the last few months. He has taken some bold decisions and has not hesitated in dropping senior players.

Recently, he has appointed Robin van Persie as the new skipper of the side saying that Wesley Sneijder doesn’t deserve a place in the squad at the moment because of his poor fitness.

As far as Portugal is concerned, their recent form hasn’t been poor either. They are on a winning streak of 4 games.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the man who will hold the key for the hosts. The Real Madrid superstar had found the net when these two sides had met last year.

Pepe is back to strengthen the defense of Portugal. The 30 years old centre back had missed the last couple of games as he was suspended.

Danny has also been called back after showing decent form for the Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg this season.

So, both the teams seem to have got good attacking players and it is set to be a cracker of a game. Portugal might have an edge as they are playing in their home conditions.