5 reasons for Netherlands' decline as a football superpower

4) No generation of players to bridge the gap in the national team

Netherlands' big three will never play together again

When Netherlands finished third in the 2014 World Cup, their squad had the right mix of experience and youth. The oldest player in the squad was Dirk Kuyt (33) while the likes of Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar were all 30 - approximately the peak age for most footballers.

But since then, the older core of players are still carrying the team with no youngsters in sight who can take up the mantle of seasoned professionals. With Robben gone, there is no longer a world class player in attack for the Oranje.

Van Persie and Huntelaar are 34 and cannot be counted on to lead the Dutch to the next international tournament (Euro 2020). Sneijder will be 36 in 2020 and may not hang around long enough to do so.

Davy Klaassen - one to lead Netherlands in the future?

In the current squad, Robben was the top goalscorer with 37 goals. The next best is Georginio Wijnaldum with 7 goals. Among forwards, Depay has 6 goals and Ryan Babel (now 30) has 5 goals.

Apart from Davy Klaassen, Daley Blind and possibly Virgil van Dijk, there is nobody else one can count on to lead this side. 15 members of the squad that played in the qualifiers haven't even made 20 appearances for the national team of which 10 haven't even received 10 caps.

This gap is what needs to be addressed with long-term solutions put in place to ensure something like this never occurs ever again.