Holanda, the eternal candidate to the World

Last update 5 April, 2024 por Alberto Llopis

If there is a team that has been close to winning the World Cup many times and has always stayed on the shore, it is the Netherlands.. The Orange selection, has participated ten times counting the World Cup in Brazil 2014. Of those ten, in five he has reached the last two games, losing three finals and falling in two semi-finals. With a population of about 17 millions of people, los holandeses, they have always put together high-level teams, especially in the last forty years

It all started with the World Cup in West Germany 1974. Los holandeses, by the hand of a spectacular Johan Cruyff, revolutionized the concept of soccer practiced up to that moment. With a dynamic game where each player, attacked and defended. Sin embargo, that wonderful team called A Clockwork Orange, was unable to win in the final against the hosts, the Germany of Kaiser Beckenbauer and Torpedo Müller among others, remaining for the first time at the gates of their first final.

Cuatro años después, the Dutch once again had a great tournament this time in Argentina 1978 and without its great star Johan Cruyff who refused to travel to the South American country for extra-sporting reasons. Argentina, I was living in a convulsive social and political situation at that time and even that World Cup was always marked under the suspicion of being rigged. The truth and fact is that the Dutch fell in the final again four years later and again before the hosts of the tournament who won in a game played and in overtime.. It was the second final of two disputed lost.

In France 98, the Dutch with a team with players like Bergkamp, Davids, Van Der Sar, Seedorf, Kluivert, the De Boer brothers, Cuckold, Overmars and Stam among others, they fell in the semifinals precisely to their rival for third and fourth place in 2014, Brasil. Finally, they lost the consolation match against Croatia and finished the French event in fourth place, again in the final rounds.

Had to wait until 2010 to see Holland again, he was on the verge of winning a World Cup. The selection of the Netherlands this time by the hand of the Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie, made it to his third World Cup final. With them the saying of the third time the charm was not fulfilled and Del Bosque's men won the Cup a 11 de julio de 2010 on a date that few Spaniards will have forgotten.

The last time the Dutch ended up swimming to die on the shore was in this World Cup in Brazil 2014. With the old guard in top form and a young litter of footballers, the men led this time by Louis Van Gaal, were able to thrash while humiliating the Spanish team in their personal revenge for 2010 to advance rounds, not exempt from doses of fortune such as against Mexico and Costa Rica to fall in the penalty shootout against Argentina and be out of the final at the last gasp. The consolation final against Brazil, looks like a bittersweet prize.