The Dutch crashed out of the Euros embarrassingly without a single win. The exit for the tangerines would have been shattering for their fans for sure, but more frustrating for neutrals. The nation which made “Total Football” famous in the 70’s showed total lack of football, and looked more like a group of players put on the pitch with each having a personal agenda rather than a team working towards for a collective goal.
The Dutch football history is full of heartbreaks; they have reached three World Cup finals without ever winning it. Over the decades Dutch fans have become accustomed to disappointments, but this campaign will take some time to forget. After their world cup exploits in 2010 they were fancied by many to go a long way in Euros. This was similar to 1990 when they crashed out in 2nd round of World Cup to West Germany after winning the Euros in 1988.
Already there are number of conspiracy theories put forward for the Dutch debacle, and team unrest is amongst them. Given how the team performed on the pitch I will go with unrest.
The likes of Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Rafael van der Vaart all had number of shots on and off the target but hardly any assists to talk about. Robben in particular was probably determined on wiping away the demons of UEFA Champions league final, as in first two games of the competition he seemed bent on making his trademark run and getting his shot away .While, ignoring any runs made or positions acquired by others in or around the box. Despite all his efforts the Dutchman only managed 3 out of 12 shots on target in three games and not to mention without any goals. Robin van Persie was probably looking to lift his price tag as he was not afraid to try his luck and had 14 shots with 6 on target, but did manage to get one goal in a lost cause. Wesley Sneijder and couple others have similar tales to tell and there are much more startling stats to talk about, but we will leave that for another day.
The tactics of coach Bert van Marwijkr in first two games were also met by some criticism, and he tried to change it around to some degree in the 3rd game. The decision to give Rafael van der Vaart a start, and rest Mark van Bommel may have looked to be the right one in first 11 minutes. Rafael off course got a goal and looked good for most part, but the frailties of midfield were there for everyone to see as Portuguese attack tore through Dutch midfield time and again. 2-1 score line in the end was quite flattering for Netherlands to say the least.
There is no doubt that on paper Netherlands was believed to be one of the strongest outfits of the tournament, but this is probably is one of the best instance of the saying that the game isn’t played on paper.
Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.