Demise of the Orange brigade

KHARKOV, UKRAINE – JUNE 17: Joris Mathijsen of Netherlands reacts during the UEFA EURO 2012 group B match between Portugal and Netherlands at Metalist Stadium on June 17, 2012 in Kharkov, Ukraine. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Netherlands came into the EURO 2012 championships, as one of the favorites and widely expected by many to be among the best teams of the tournament. However, their performances in the tournament, where they were knocked out in the Group stage and failed to earn even a single point, was shocking for the entire football fraternity, not to mention heart-breaking for the very passionate Dutch supporters.

The Dutch came in with a roster that was pretty similar to the team that got them to the finals of the World Cup 2 years back. They had a great qualifying campaign, winning 9 of their 10 games and amassing 37 goals in the process.

In Robin Van Persie and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, they had two of the deadliest strikers in World football, both having scored the most number of goals in their respective leagues; Van Persie in EPL and Huntelaar in the Bundesliga. The Dutch midfield was led by Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben, two of the greatest creative midfielders to have ever played for the Netherlands. The team had a lot of experience and success behind them, so what went wrong for the Orange Brigade?

The glum faces tell it all

Well, the most damaging factor was reports of some ego bust-ups within the team. With both Robben and Sneijder openly making remarks about the conflicting ego’s in the Dutch Camp, the morale of the team was definitely destroyed. This is the time when Coach Bert Van Marwijk should have put his foot down, and ensured that individual egos don’t come into the mix, and the whole team is motivated and geared up for the tournament, but alas he failed to do so.

The Dutch had a team of superstars like Van Persie, Huntelaar and Robben, who had performed brilliantly for their respective clubs in the 2011-12 seasons. This though sounding great on the team sheet, turned out to be their nemesis in the tournament. Maybe the pressure of playing the brand of “TOTAL FOOTBALL” and scoring spectacular goals was too much for these players. Thus instead of playing patiently and trying to build up their attacks, most of the players were looking to drive the ball through the defense, or cut back and take those spectacular banana curling shots.

Robben was maybe the biggest letdown of the entire lot, failing to use the overlapping runs of Van Der Wiel on the right wing and choosing to cut in and shoot with his famous left foot. With the strikers failing to get any decent supply from either wing, they were forced to drop down deeper to get some touches and try to make a goal-scoring opportunity of their own. The selfishness of Robben and to an extent Sneijder, cost the Dutch dearly.

On paper, the Dutch did look invincible, but a few question marks were raised on their defence which was too inexperienced and not exactly high on promise. These question marks evolved into prominent chinks in the Dutch armor during the tournament. The Dutch fielded the youngest player in the tournament, Jetro Willems as left-back and the enterprising, yet young Van Der Wiel as right-back. The inexperience at these positions proved to their Achilles heel, as the young wing-backs were caught out of position several times and with their wingers Robben, and Afellay not helping out in defence, the other teams found it fairly simple to structure their attacks and continuously bombard the Dutch penalty-area with numerous crosses and through-balls.

The central midfield combination of Van Bommel and De Jong too failed to stamp their authority on the game, and allowed too much space and time on the ball for the opposing team’s central midfield players. This was sure a mistake, but when one plays against players of the caliber of Schweinsteiger, it is criminal, and the Dutch found out the hard way, with Schweinsteiger picking up two assists against them. The central defense was too shaky, and although they had one of the world’s best custodians in Stekelenberg, without much protection form his defence, he couldn’t do much.

The biggest letdown of them all

The Dutch coach also could be criticized of being too narrow in his tactics, sticking with his tried and tested team of superstars when he had most probably one of the strongest bench-players in the tournament. In attack, he always had the option of using Dirk Kuyt, someone who could provide the width that Robben failed to provide, and actually deliver crosses and feed the strikers while also hustling to get back on defence. His work-rate would’ve been a huge boon. He could have also used Van Der Vaart better, allowing him to play on the left-wing, while freeing up Sneijder to orchestrate the midfield. Instead he chose Afellay, someone who had not played much for Barcelona in the previous campaign, and was short on match practice. He could have also gambled on the young and exciting talent of Kevin Strootman, in place of the disappointing Van Bommel or banked up on the experience of Khalid Boulahrouz in defence, both of which he failed to do.

Overall, there was complete chaos in the Dutch camp, with individual egos taking center-stage, the strikers frustrated by the quality and selfishness of the wingers, the central midfield and defence looking shaky, and most importantly, the coach losing control over the scheme of things.

The best evidence of this was the last match against Portuga,l when the coach gave up all his tactics and put up a team to please the media, playing both Huntelaar and Van Persie up front; replacing Van Bommel with Van Der Vaart. This wasn’t the system the Dutch were familiar with, and it showed in the match against Portugal. The Dutch underwent a shameful exit from the tournament, knowing within themselves that they had been unfair to their talents; let aside the supporters and fans.

The Dutch team faces a difficult time ahead, and it is time that the team comes together, ensuring that individual egos are extinguished. The team should understand the worth of their collective talents, and try to play as a team, so that they can redeem themselves in the 2014 World Cup and bring back the lost pride of the country that invented ‘Total Football’.