Let's talk about Netherlands

[Luke1995]

They obviously had some great teams. Cruyff and Neeskens, Gullit and Van Basten, RVN and Robben just to name a few of the guys, but in the end, it still wasn't enough to win the World Cup.

That generation of the Mid 2000's and early 2010's obviously should have won it, at times they played such beautiful football, all of them. It also has been a long time since they (Netherlands) won the Euro and if i'm not mistaken, from all the ''big'' 'national teams like Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and England, Netherlands is the one with the least big titles.

What are your favorite memories from their past teams, where it went wrong for them and just how far off they are from being serious contenders in three year's time ?

 

[Bastian]

Along with Uruguay and Croatia, a country that's normally way better than their population size would suggest. Quite phenomenal really.

It's hard to imagine they'll ever have 3 monster footballers like they did in that '88 side ever again. I mean Gullit, Rijkaard and van Basten is just an insane trio of players (without even mentioning other top players).

If they focus on youth and the right sort of profile of player, they'll again be reaching semi-finals. They've got the most promising centre half as well as the most promising midfielder in the game.

I'm sure all the resident Dutch posters will give us proper analysis.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Along with Uruguay and Croatia, a country that's normally way better than their population size would suggest. Quite phenomenal really.

It's hard to imagine they'll ever have 3 monster footballers like they did in that '88 side ever again. I mean Gullit, Rijkaard and van Basten is just an insane trio of players (without even mentioning other top players).

If they focus on youth and the right sort of profile of player, they'll again be reaching semi-finals. They've got the most promising centre half as well as the most promising midfielder in the game.

I'm sure all the resident Dutch posters will give us proper analysis.

That promisting centre half didn't look too promising in his Juve debut vs Napoli

 

[Suedesi]

They obviously had some great teams. Cruyff and Neeskens, Gullit and Van Basten, RVN and Robben just to name a few of the guys, but in the end, it still wasn't enough to win the World Cup.

That generation of the Mid 2000's and early 2010's obviously should have won it, at times they played such beautiful football, all of them. It also has been a long time since they (Netherlands) won the Euro and if i'm not mistaken, from all the ''big'' 'national teams like Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and England, Netherlands is the one with the least big titles.

What are your favorite memories from their past teams, where it went wrong for them and just how far off they are from being serious contenders in three year's time ?

No they bloody shouldn't, they were never that fooking good in the first place. Holland in 2010 was the most boring team you could imagine, that 2010 final was awful - at least Spain try to play a bit.

 

[In Rainbows]

The Netherlands could be back 6 years from now. Some big time prospects are coming up like Ihatteren, Gravenberch, and Unuvar. This goes along with de Ligt and Frenkie.

 

[BlackShark_80]

Along with Uruguay and Croatia, a country that's normally way better than their population size would suggest. Quite phenomenal really.

It's hard to imagine they'll ever have 3 monster footballers like they did in that '88 side ever again. I mean Gullit, Rijkaard and van Basten is just an insane trio of players (without even mentioning other top players).

If they focus on youth and the right sort of profile of player, they'll again be reaching semi-finals. They've got the most promising centre half as well as the most promising midfielder in the game.

I'm sure all the resident Dutch posters will give us proper analysis.

the 74 side had better team than the 88 side, for ex they had Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Krol, Neeskens, and Rensenbrink.

 

[redshaw]

Phenomenal talents for such a small country.

England have won the World Cup once but we've never been in another final. Netherlands have been in WC 3 finals, won the European and have 10 placings to our 5 at the business end of the major finals. A world cup edges it but England have really underperformed compared to the others listed.

My favourite time was watching Van Bastan, Ruud Gullit and Koeman. I like the base they have right now but it needs more to succeed in attack but still they could keep the goals out and just manage to score enough.

 

[roonster09]

I liked them in Euro 2008, smashed Italy and France in group stages, thought they were one of the favorites and then lost to Russia.

 

[Kostur]

One of those funny countries before which you put a definite article.

 

[Ramos]

The 98-2000 team was great and could have won either the WC or the Euros, but the 2010 team even though they got to the final really wasn't anything special. Would have been a very underwhelming world champion.

I mean Stekelenburg-VDWiel-Heitinga-Mathijsen-Gio was their best defense. Put that up against some WC winning defenses or their own former teams. Looks off aside from maybe Van Bronckhorst.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

My favourite memory of Holland was when England beat them 4-1 at Euro 96.

 

[Robbie Boy]

I would rather talk about Holland.

 

[B20]

The 98-2000 team was great and could have won either the WC or the Euros, but the 2010 team even though they got to the final really wasn't anything special. Would have been a very underwhelming world champion.

I mean Stekelenburg-VDWiel-Heitinga-Mathijsen-Gio was their best defense. Put that up against some WC winning defenses or their own former teams. Looks off aside from maybe Van Bronckhorst.

Yup. 98 was the time for them. Didn't pan out.

 

[ArjenIsM3]

Although we should have won at least one tournament with the talent we had, I consider myself lucky to have been born in the mid 90s and thus having grown up watching us finish second at WC 2010 and then third at WC 2014. No we didn't win it but they were still good performances. Sadly we haven't reached those heights since. Instead we've fallen off a cliff, even failing to qualify for Euro 2016 and then again for WC 2018. I think it will be a while before have a squad capable of challenging for a title again. Apart from Frenkie and De Ligt we don't really have the talent required. There's some like Bergwijn who could come good but I think they're a category below what's needed to win anything.

 

[Bestietom]

Holland certainly produce some great players. Belgium do also now especially in the last decade.

 

[Red Star One]

I don't think that 2010 team was so good. Didn't enjoy the final too much and Spain seemed to me a big favorite all throughout the tournament. Anyway, nation with an incredible footballing history and I really wonder when we will see next great Dutch forward - it's been a long while (since Robben/RVP) that they produced one!

 

[elnorte]

World Cup 98 and Euro 2000

 

[King7Eric]

They obviously had some great teams. Cruyff and Neeskens, Gullit and Van Basten, RVN and Robben just to name a few of the guys, but in the end, it still wasn't enough to win the World Cup.

That generation of the Mid 2000's and early 2010's obviously should have won it, at times they played such beautiful football, all of them. It also has been a long time since they (Netherlands) won the Euro and if i'm not mistaken, from all the ''big'' 'national teams like Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and England, Netherlands is the one with the least big titles.

What are your favorite memories from their past teams, where it went wrong for them and just how far off they are from being serious contenders in three year's time ?

They need to find a goalscorer. Their midfield and defense are good enough to control games against most teams but you need a consistent goalscorer and they lack one.

 

[Ramos]

They're already outsiders/dark horses for Euro 2020 as far as i'm concerned. I mean VVD, De Ligt, De Vrij, De Jong, Wijnaldum and even Depay (who evidently gets some stick around here but is still a decent player). That's surely top 6-7 in Europe? But they indeed lack that world class superstar in attack like they had with Robben or RVP.

 

[Spaghetti]

One of those funny countries before which you put a definite article.

Such as the UK and the USA.
The Czech Republic has recently lost it’s article.

 

[Thoms]

We should have won it in 98...Possibly 2000 as well. I was also surprised how well we did in Brazil thanks to LvG, Robben and RvP
Our future is looking great! We got some really promising youngsters as well at the age of 16/17. I truly hope we can develop a great striker again, by far our weakest spot at the moment.

 

[Bastian]

That promisting centre half didn't look too promising in his Juve debut vs Napoli

I think he’ll have a rough first season and then live up to his promise.

 

[FootballHQ]

Yup. 98 was the time for them. Didn't pan out.

Randomly watched some highlights of their semi final with Brazil the other day. Kluivert must've missed a good six chances with his head. Ironic he did actually score the equaliser with his head. Also should've had a last minute penalty but the ref thought Van Hoojidonk had dived.

Shame about the penalties. Terrible run up from De Boer.

 

[dbs235]

They've got a ridiculous amount of youth prospects. However I think they tend to get overrated because Dutch clubs play them from such a young age, then naturally most don't live up to their potential.

 

[FootyCrew]

Such as the UK and the USA.
The Czech Republic has recently lost it’s article.

I love THE Czech Republic.

 

[Grande]

The 74-78 generation were the best, Cruyff one of the all time greats, top players in all positions bar keeper, and Rinus Michels, one of the all time greatest coaches, was at his best then.

The 88-92 team weren’t much worse though, as a trio you can’t get much better than Rijkaard-Gullit-Van Basten, and both Van Breukelen and Koeman were at a very high level too. Not to forget our own Arnold Mühren, who was old, but elegant.

98-2000: That golden Ajax generation never quite fullfilled their potential in the NT, which was a shame. Adding Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf, Van der Sar, Overmars to Dennis Bergkamp, you could be forgiven to dream about a new 74, particularily if they could have reproduced that Ajax school of play from 94-96 which was just a lightning in flow. When Van Nistelrooij bloomed, most of the team had not developped in the right direction, and others didn’t go along that well.

2010-14: Well, 2010 didn’t play class ic free-flowing dutch football, and 2014 was a late indian summer with mostly less talented fledglings in a team where everything clicked, but Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie at their best were fantastic to watch, and deserved to enter WC history on the back of that.

I have many happy Dutch memories, here’s to Dillon Hoogewerf adding to them in the future!

 

[paraguayo]

Along with Uruguay and Croatia, a country that's normally way better than their population size would suggest. Quite phenomenal really.

It's hard to imagine they'll ever have 3 monster footballers like they did in that '88 side ever again. I mean Gullit, Rijkaard and van Basten is just an insane trio of players (without even mentioning other top players).

If they focus on youth and the right sort of profile of player, they'll again be reaching semi-finals. They've got the most promising centre half as well as the most promising midfielder in the game.

I'm sure all the resident Dutch posters will give us proper analysis.

Uruguay and Croatia have around 3-4M people.

Holland has 17M people + the Suriname which is 1M (hehe..)

 

[Raees]

No they bloody shouldn't, they were never that fooking good in the first place. Holland in 2010 was the most boring team you could imagine, that 2010 final was awful - at least Spain try to play a bit.

Many keep failing to mention their 2008 side which was arguably the most entertaining side at Euro 2008.

 

[RochaRoja]

2010-14: Well, 2010 didn’t play class ic free-flowing dutch football, and 2014 was a late indian summer with mostly less talented fledglings in a team where everything clicked, but Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie at their best were fantastic to watch, and deserved to enter WC history on the back of that.

2008 should be included in that era. They were awesome against France and Italy (similar to the 2014 game against Spain actually) but then fecked it up against Russia. Definitely more enjoyable than they were in South Africa though.

 

[paraguayo]

Their best teams to me were in the late 90s era. 1998 Brazil vs Holland was seen as the anticipated final.

 

[RochaRoja]

Controversial opinion: their France 98 is massively overrated.

 

[Revaulx]

The 98-2000 team was great and could have won either the WC or the Euros, but the 2010 team even though they got to the final really wasn't anything special. Would have been a very underwhelming world champion.

I mean Stekelenburg-VDWiel-Heitinga-Mathijsen-Gio was their best defense. Put that up against some WC winning defenses or their own former teams. Looks off aside from maybe Van Bronckhorst.

It didn’t matter that defence was crap with Van Bommel in front of them. A cnut, but a phenomenally effective one.

 

[Spaghetti]

I love THE Czech Republic.

It changed it's name and lost it’s article. It is now merely Checia. Sad times.

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

Controversial opinion: their France 98 is massively overrated.

No they aren’t they were truly a great side, would have won either the WC or the Euro it if those matches weren’t decided on penalties imo.
They completely dominated that fantastic Italian side in the semis in 2000.

 

[giorno]

They completely dominated that fantastic Italian side in the semis in 2000.

With a man advantage for most of it, but that game will never be forgotten, by us at least

 

[FootballHQ]

Can see them getting to semi finals of euro 2020.

It depends on draw really. Give them what Portugal had in 2016 and you could see a similar template, rock solid defence keeping clean sheets with who they have as CBs and they grind their way through knock outs. Only needs one player to pop up with a goal, dosen't have to be any of the strikers but Wjanaldum pushed forward might work for instance.

 

[FootballHQ]

Controversial opinion: their France 98 is massively overrated.

Overall it was a very strong international tournament. The elite sides were all stacked with superb attacking talent (maybe Germany only ones with likes of Klinsmann past their best).

From memory Holland got a little lucky v Yugoslavia who missed a penalty IIRC at 1-1 but deserved to beat Argentina (Bergkamp goal) and then had the better of the game against fantastic Brazil 11.

It was a far stronger tournament and opposition than they came up against in 2010

Holland did well to cool things off as they were a bit of a shambles in euro 96, that was a mediocre tournament for them.

 

[Ramos]

Overall it was a very strong international tournament. The elite sides were all stacked with superb attacking talent (maybe Germany only ones with likes of Klinsmann past their best).

From memory Holland got a little lucky v Yugoslavia who missed a penalty IIRC at 1-1 but deserved to beat Argentina (Bergkamp goal) and then had the better of the game against fantastic Brazil 11.

It was a far stronger tournament and opposition than they came up against in 2010

Holland did well to cool things off as they were a bit of a shambles in euro 96, that was a mediocre tournament for them.

They also played a rather average group stage. Destroyed South Korea but only tied with Belgium and Mexico. I particularly remember the Belgium game with Kluivert getting sent off at the end.

But OK, many teams that went on to win it all played average group stage matches.

The Argentina game is what really kicked it off and remains one of my favourite World Cup matches ever.

 

[Stadjer]

No they bloody shouldn't, they were never that fooking good in the first place. Holland in 2010 was the most boring team you could imagine, that 2010 final was awful - at least Spain try to play a bit.

True. Our 2010 team wasnt good at all compared to some others. It had Robben and Sneijder but other players werent performing (RvP), not worldclass but usefull (van Bommel, Nigel de Jong, Kuijt, van Bronkchorst) or just average not very good players (Heitinga, Mathijssen, Ooijer, van der Wiel).

Compare that team to the earlier teams with prime Bergkamp, prime Kluivert, prime Davids, prime Seedorf, prime Stam, van der Sar, Cocu and others and you can see a huge difference in class.

The 2000 team should have won something and you could even claim underperformed relative to the quality of the players they had but the 2010 team overperformed.

 

[Stadjer]

With a man advantage for most of it, but that game will never be forgotten, by us at least

I can still remember the penalties.... 2 missed during the 90 minutes and 3 missed during the shoot out