World Cup Corner

Holland is often thought of as one of the most powerful footballing nations in football. Yet, the country has only participated in eight previous World Cup finals tournament.

Holland is responsible for introducing a number of truly world class football players, such as:

Dennis Bergkamp
Johan Cruyff
Ruud Gullit
Johan Neeskens
Marco van Basten

Other superstars, such as Arie Haan, the Van Der Kerhofs brothers and Johnny Rep have long been regarded as the best team to never win a World Cup after having been beaten by West Germany in 1974.

In 1930, Holland chose to stay out of the World Cup tournament that was hosted in Uruguay. Holland was not alone, however, as several other European nations chose not to enter the World Cup tournament. In fact, it took another four years before the country would finally rejoin the World Cup tournaments, at which time the team traveled to Italy in order to participate in the finals. They were defeated by Switzerland, however, in the opening knockout round with a final score of 3 - 2.

Four years later, Holland again participated in France. Here, they were knocked out during the first round once again. This time, Czechoslovakia took them out with a score of 3 - 0.

After a 36 year break, the country finally qualified for the World Cup finals once again. Although the country chose not to participate in the early post-war events that took place in 1950 and 1954, they simply weren’t good enough to qualify for the tournaments from 1958 through 1970.

In 1974, when the tournament reached West Germany, Holland finally showed its capabilities as a football nation. At this time, the team was lead by the amazing Cruyff as it followed the “Total Football” approach. With the help of this new mentality, the team managed to reach the final in Munich. The efficiency of the German hosts prevailed, however, as the Germans took the win despite English referee Jack Taylor’s awarding of a first-minute penalty to the Dutch.

Many obstacles have stood in the way of a Dutch win. In 1978, for example, the team struggled when Cruyff decided not to participate due to political protest. Even without Cruyff, the team managed to reach the final again and push the host nation, Argentina, to the brink. Nonetheless, they ultimately lost with a score of 3-1 in extra time.

In the early 1980s, Holland struggled with achieving success at the international level. By the late 1980s, the team started to dominate once again. International success finally arrive for the Netherlands during the 1988 European championships. Led by superb players such as van Basten, Gullit, Ronald Koeman, and Frank Rijkaard, the dutch managed a comprehensive 2-0 win over USSR with Van Basten scoring what must be considered one of the best goals of all time. A sharp volley from an almost impossible angle. As a result of this success, Holland became pre-tournament favorites at Italia 90.

The internal problems within the Holland team caused trouble with the team in the 1990s. Gullit became quite disruptive and caused ongoing disputes within the establishment. Holland just barely managed to get through a group of the Republic of Ireland and England and then took on West Germany. The Germans took them out of the tournament before they went on to beat Argentina with a score of 1-0.

In 1994, Gullit was in international retirement. In addition, van Basten had given in to a long-term injury from which he had suffered. This made it possible for Bergkamp to take on the world stage at the tournament in the United States. While he struggled at the club level while with Inter Milan, he demonstrated his legendary status when the Dutch entered the quarter-finals. Ultimately, they lost to Brazil with a score of 3-2.

Bergkamp showed off his skills four years later when the team went against Argentina. This time, he carried them through the last four in France. Holland was ultimately beat by Brazil, with penalties being their biggest problem, and Brazil ultimately lost to Paris. This loss was the last time Holland was seen in the World Cup finals, though they did try and fail once more in the 2002 tournament in Japan and Korea.

The dutch faired somewhat better in 2006, with a whole host of new stars such as Arjen Robben, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Edwin Van der Saar. However they were again knocked out by Portugal in an ill tempered game.