The sight of Marco van Basten scoring a spectacular volley in the 1988 European Championship Final never ceases to amaze. The technique is incredible but it just doesn’t seem as if the former Dutch striker has the necessary angle to score from the position he had taken up on the right-hand side of the penalty area.

Holland won Euro ‘88 and although this team would never go on to greater success, the era of Van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit casts a shadow over the current side. Combined with memories of Johan Cruyff, the ghosts of previous Dutch tournaments haunt the current state of the Dutch national team.

Van Basten will have to pull off something almost as incredible as his famous volley against the Soviet Union if Holland are even to progress from Group C, let alone try and emulate the golden eras of Dutch football.

‘Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben will provide the threat from the flanks and whilst both could succumb to injury at any time, they are fantastic talents and will fancy their chances against even the French and Italian defences’


The fact is that even the 1974 or 1988 Dutch teams would have struggled in the Group of Death of Euro 2008. France and Italy are arguably the best two sides in the world and Romania are no soft touch – they took four points off Holland in qualifying and finished above them in Group G.

Besides Edwin van der Sar, who can rightly be placed in the legend category having now won two Champions Leagues’ with two different clubs, the defensive part of the team is not of the highest calibre. There appears no natural replacement for Jaap Stam since his retirement and the Dutch back line features a number of underwhelming players.

Fans of the Premier League will be surprised that Mario Melchiot and Andre Ooijer could well be handed the task of dealing with Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, Luca Toni and Alessandro Del Piero. But even the more likely starters, Johnny Heitinga, Joris Mathijsen and Tim de Cler, are not world-class defensive players.

The weakness in protecting Van der Sar is compounded by a lack of real quality defensive midfielders. The most likely players to anchor the midfield will be Gio van Bronckhorst and Demy De Zeeuw – with all due respect, neither of these two are Edgar Davids.

Yet, as expected the ‘Oranje’, true to the footballing traditions of the country, have no shortage of attacking talent, even without the injured Ryan Babel. Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder could well make their mark on an international stage having threatened to do so for so long – both come into the tournament on the back of fine seasons for their respective clubs.

Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben will provide the threat from the flanks and whilst both could succumb to injury at any time, they are fantastic talents and will fancy their chances against even the French and Italian defences.

Similarly, up front, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar are two of the best poachers in the world game. True to form, though, Van Basten seems unsure whether to play both up front or pick either the Ajax striker or the Real Madrid marksman. If the Netherlands stick with their favoured 4-2-3-1, Van Nistelrooy will probably start but if the first game with Italy culminates in a poor result Van Basten may be forced to make changes.

The squad seems settled and there are some decent players in reserve. Dirk Kuyt will always give 100 per cent and PSV midfielder Ibrahim Afellay could be a star of the future. Fans of the Orangemen must hope that Clarence Seedorf’s recent withdrawal from the squad was the only public show of dissent from the country that almost always provides a bust-up or major row to undermine team spirit.

It seems foolish to write off one of the most important football nations in the world, but it is very difficult to see them progressing from the Group of Death. In fact, many pundits have them finishing last in the group. Of course, if they start well and even get to the quarter-finals the experience of progressing from the tournament’s toughest group will stand them in good stead.

But it is difficult to see such a lop-sided squad doing anything big at Euro 2008. During the last few years, some Dutch commentators have suggested that ‘Total Football’ is dead; a weak Eredivisie league dominated by PSV and the ghosts of past glories has produced a negative effect around the Dutch national team.

Could this be another nail in the coffin of a once proud football nation?