Finland will travel to the Netherlands for their UEFA EURO 2012 Group E qualifier looking for a first victory against the Oranje in 60 years and their sole success against the hosts in a competitive fixture.
Match background
• The Netherlands' record in 12 matches against Finland reads W9 D2 L1 (W4 D1 L0 at home).
• The sides have met three times before in Rotterdam, with the Netherlands winning the two most recent contests and drawing the other.
• They last met in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, when the Netherlands triumphed 3-1 in Amsterdam on 13 October 2004 and 4-0 in Helsinki on 8 June the following year. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dirk Kuyt, Phillip Cocu and Robin van Persie grabbed the goals in the Finnish capital.
• Nine of their 12 meetings have been competitive fixtures, with the two sides also drawn together in qualifying for the 1976 and 1992 UEFA European Championships and the 1990 World Cup.
• Their most recent encounter in UEFA European Championship qualifying came in Helsinki on 5 June 1991 and ended in a 1-1 draw as Erik Holmgren cancelled out Frank de Boer's opener for the visitors.
• Prior to that outing, the Netherlands won the home fixture 2-0 at Rotterdam's De Kuip stadium thanks to efforts from Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit.
• Johan Cruyff struck twice and Johan Neeskens once during a 3-1 victory for the Oranje in their 1976 UEFA European Championship qualifier in Helsinki on 25 September 1974. Willy van der Kuijlen then hit a hat-trick in the return fixture in Nijmegen as the hosts ran out 4-1 winners. Finland had opened the scoring in both matches.
• Finland's only win against the Netherlands was a 4-1 victory in a friendly in Helsinki on 11 June 1950.
• The first match between the sides was the bronze medal game at the 1912 Olympics; Jan Vos plundered five goals in a 9-0 success for the Netherlands in Solna on 4 July.
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