FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010: Watch the Dutch

“Simple football is the most beautiful. But playing simple football is the hardest thing”

- Johan Cruyff

With the IPL 3 and India’s campaign at the T20 world cup coming to a sudden halt. The spectators are left occupied with only one event now(well there is a bit of F1 delight and UEFA here and there), all eyes now on what is known to be the biggest sporting event in sporting history…the FIFA WORLD CUP 2010.

Netherlands have always played with big names, this time they should make it count

It is time when Didier Drogba will be up against John terry and Michael Ballack will be passing the ball gleefully to Philip Lahm. The best players in their national colours are going to fight for the ultimate triumph. Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, Spain are definitely the prime favourites of the bookies, well don’t discount England(they have the best team on paper..yet again!).

The one team that I would be closely following is the Netherlands, time and again they have been hot favourites and faultered when it mattered, always upsetting a big name and then losing at crucial junctures. Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie,Wesley Sneijder, Dirk Kyut, Andre Ooijer…you name them and they are the darling of any European club.The big boys have never have been a cohesive unit that plays in synchronisation. This has led to a draught of major titles, winning the EURO Cup way back in 1988 being their last major championship victory.

Arjen Robben will look to replicate his club form for his national team.

To touch upon a bit of history, it was the Dutch who gave birth to what is called the “total football”. It was pioneered by Ajax from 1969 to 1973, and by the Netherlands National Football Team in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Rinus Michel, “The General”, the pioneering Dutch football coach (both Ajax and the Netherlands national team at the time) initiated this step. Ajax achieved some of the most prestigious records in football history playing the “total football” celebrating five titles within 1972 (Netherlands national league, KNVB Cup, European Cup, European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup), achieved the “Quintuple”, a record surpassed only by Barcelona in 2009.

Total Football’s tactical success depends largely on the adaptability of each footballer within the team, in particular his ability to quickly change positions depending on the situation. The theory requires players to be comfortable in multiple positions; hence, it puts high technical and physical demands on them.

Will they do it this time in South Africa?

Johan Cruyff, considered to be the best exponent to the model was a centre forward but he wandered all over the ground thus damaging the combination and tactics at will. Cruyff’s teammates adapted themselves around his play, switched positions so that the tactical positions are not tampered. The model was articulate and was all about spatial awareness. It was about making space, coming to space and organizing a space like architecture in the football field. This concept destroyed the critics’s notions about the Europeans playing defensive football unlike their Latin American counterparts.

So, all eyes will be on this supremely talented but mentally fragile Netherlands team hoping to banish the “chokers” tag this time under a new manager Bert van Marwijk. Well, the Dutch at least have history on their side this time around. They have been the team to qualify for the finals without dropping a single point in the qualifying, a feat held by West Germany way back in 1982. The current “Oranje brandwagon” have made no efforts to conceal their ambitions and, once again, look on paper to have all the ingredients necessary to go the distance.