Oranje Heartbreaks – UEFA Euro 2004.

Ever since I witnessed Holland win their first ever international title in 1988, being a fan of the Oranje has been nothing but heartbreaks and bitter disappointments. With the Oranje not being part of the 24 teams playing this summer in France for the European Championship, let’s revisit their previous disappointments in this tournament since 1988.

The Lead-Up:

Fresh from missing the 2002 World Cup, the Oranje made sure to qualify for the 2004 UEFA European Championship. Louis van Gaal was at the helm when the Oranje failed to qualify for the World Cup and stepped down. His successor was Dick Advocaat, who last coached the Oranje ten years prior at the 1994 World Cup, and was not a popular choice among the fans.

Holland qualified for Euro 2004 through the playoffs after finishing second in their group. They battled Czech Republic for first place but came up just short. Their other opponents in the group were Austria, Moldova and Belarus. Holland finished in second place, behind the Czech Republic with the difference being the Czech’s 3-1 victory over the Oranje in the penultimate group match which allowed the Czechs to win their group by just three points.

Therefore, Holland and Scotland would meet in the playoffs. Fears about missing a second consecutive international tournament reared its ugly head after Holland stumbled in the first leg in Scotland with a 1-0 loss. Fortunately, those fears were put to rest following a crushing 6-0 Oranje victory in Holland thanks to a hat-trick from Ruud van Nistelrooy along with goals from Sneijder, Ooijer, and Frank de Boer. It was one hell of a way for the Oranje to punch their ticket to Euro 2004.

Portugal were the hosts for the 2004 edition. Holland were in Group D with the Czech Republic yet again after facing them in the qualifying stages and the Euro 2000 group stage. Their other opponents would be their arch rival, Germany, and Latvia, who were making their first ever international tournament appearance. Group A consisted of hosts Portugal, Spain, Greece and Russia. Group B consisted of defending European Champions France, England, Croatia and Switzerland. Group C consisted of Denmark, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Italy, the team that eliminated Holland in Euro 2000. 

The Nike kit for that tournament was nice but ruined with the decision of having the shirt number inside a circle, thus resembling billiards balls.

Many players from previous Oranje teams such as Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Michael Reiziger, Jaap Stam, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Phillip Cocu, Edgar Davids, Frank de Boer, Clarence Seedorf, Edwin van der Sar, Boudewijn Zenden, Paul Bosvelt, Roy Makaay, and Pierre van Hooijdonk were still representing the Oranje. However, this tournament would mark the debut of many new Oranje players, with some who still represent the Oranje to this day.

After missing Euro 2000 because of injury and the subsequent failure of not qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, Ruud van Nistelrooy was now going to get his chance to represent the Oranje at the international tournament and be their new scoring threat. The new crop of players making their debut for the Oranje in this tournament were Wilfred Bouma, Andy van der Meyde, Rafael van der Vaart, John Heitinga, Arjen Robben, and Wesley Sneijder.

Holland kicked off their Group D with a 1-1 draw against Germany. Torsten Frings scored an early goal for the Germany but van Nistelrooy grabbed a late equalizer to salvage a draw in what was a rather disappointing showing by the Oranje. The Oranje’s next match was against the Czech Republic that saw the Oranje take an early two goal lead courtesy of goals from Bouma and van Nistelrooy after just 19 minutes. However, the Oranje allowed two unanswered goals from Jan Koller and Milan Baros before Vladimir Smicer scored the game winner two minutes from the final whistle.

Oranje fans were outraged by this result and blamed Advocaat for taking off the best player on the pitch that night, Robben, in the 58th minute. Holland never looked the same without Robben and the Oranje suffered a bitter loss while the Czechs celebrated winning the group with this result. Some fans were so outraged that they even bought Advocaat a plane ticket and left it with the front desk of the team’s hotel, so he could fly back to Holland. Even the assistant manager, Willem van Hanegem, when asked about the substitution in a news conference, his response was that if Advocaat tried to make any bad substitutions, “I will beat him down then.” Fortunately, Latvia surprised everyone when they held Germany scoreless and gave the Oranje some hope of making it to the knock out stage.

The final group match would see the Oranje face Latvia while the Czechs would meet the Germans. Germany and Holland had to win their respective matches, and also hope the other stumbles in order to advance. At first, it looked bleak for the Oranje when Michael Ballack gave Germany an early 1-0 lead after 21 minutes. Holland took the lead through a van Nistelrooy penalty in the 27th minute and things began to turn their way when Marek Heinz scored the Czechs’ equalizer. Ruud scored in the 35th minute and substitute Makaay scored in the 84th minute to give Holland a 3-0 lead. Milan Baros helped ensure the Oranje would advance to the knockout stage by scoring the game winning goal and thereby eliminating Germany from Euro 2004.

Holland’s second place finish meant their opponents in the Quarter-Finals would be Sweden. The Czechs would meet Denmark, Portugal would meet England, and defending European Champions France would meet Greece. Holland and Sweden played to a scoreless, and dull, draw which meant one thing; a penalty shootout would have to decide this. Holland had yet to win a penalty shootout and had exited four of their last five tournaments through a shootout.

Fortunately, the Oranje finally ended their penalty jinx with a 5-4 penalty shootout win. Cocu was the fourth penalty taker and the only one to miss for Holland. Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed his shot for Sweden and after Olof Mellberg missed the sixth shot, Robben stepped up and scored the decisive winner. That was one long overdue celebration as Holland finally got that monkey off their back and released a huge sigh of relief. Finally, they had won a penalty shootout. Once again, the Oranje were back in the Semi-Finals of a major tournament and their opponents would be the hosts, Portugal.

The Heartbreak:

Holland v Portugal was perhaps the most forgettable performance by the Oranje at this stage of a tournament. It was not a classic by any means. A young Cristiano Ronaldo gave Portugal the lead in the 26th minute when he was left unmarked to head in Deco’s corner kick for the opening goal. Holland almost struck back immediately when a minute later, Overmars struck a volley narrowly over the crossbar from a tight angle inside the box. That was the only chance Holland would see in that half as Portugal caused two big scares with van der Saar making an amazing stop to deny Pauleta from close range in the 35th minute and a few minutes later, Luis Figo’s effort struck the post.

Advocaat took off Overmars for Makaay at the start of the second half. However, Portugal came close to scoring a second in the 54th minute, when Pauleta was one-on-one with van der Sar at the edge of the box. Fortunately the veteran goalkeeper stopped Pauleta’s effort with his legs. Advocaat made his second substitution by taking off Bouma and bringing in van der Vaart in the 56th minute.

Sadly, any hopes of Holland getting back into the game were dashed after Maniche scored an amazing thunderous goal in the 58th minute to double Portugal’s lead. A Jorge Andrade own goal in the 63rd minute, when he flicked van Bronckhorst’s cross over his goalkeeper Ricardo, restored some hope. Holland’s final substitution was van Hooijdonk for Robben in the 81st minute. Holland’s other best chance of the half was a free kick whipped in by Seedorf that fell to the far post of Ricardo’s goal but sadly van Nistelrooy tripped over his own feet and failed to react in time to volley the ball on target.

The final whistle blew and Holland came up short yet again in a Semi-Finals. It was a dreadful performance with only five shots on goal and only one on target. Portugal did a superb job in stifling the Oranje but the Oranje also came out flat and lacked any sort of creativity. Overall, this team provided us with more frustration than joy during Euro 2004. The few positives was that some of the younger players gave us hope for a bright future for the Oranje, and that the penalty jinx had finally come to an end.

The Aftermath:

Greece surprised the world when they eliminated France and then the favored Czechs to reach the final before pulling off one last surprise by defeating Portugal in the Final. This tournament was the end for some of the Oranje legends. Although Kluivert was called up, he never got to play for Holland in this tournament and would not feature for Holland again at major tournament. His Oranje career ended with him by being the all-time Dutch scorer with 40 goals until that record would be surpassed in 2013 by Robin van Persie.

Overmars would retire from football altogether after this tournament, with a brief return in 2008 to play for Go Ahead Eagles for one season. Meanwhile, most of the old guard, excluding Cocu, van Bronckhorst and van der Sar, would not represent the Oranje in the World Cup two years later. Reiziger, Stam, Davids, de Boer, Seedorf, Zenden, Bosvelt, Makaay, and van Hooijdonk had played their final Oranje tournament. Young star van der Meyde would not represent the Oranje in another tournament, unlike his Ajax alums Sneijder and van der Vaart.

Fortunately, Dick Advocaat was not going to manage the Oranje in their World Cup qualifiers. That responsibility fell upon Oranje legend, Marco van Basten. There was hope that he could guide the Oranje to success while possessing the dangerous scorer in van Nistelrooy along with the revelation of the tournament, Robben, and the rising stars Sneijder and van der Vaart.

Direction of Oranje under Hiddink?

With Guus Hiddink now in charge of the Dutch team for the next two years,what will the direction of this team be when he hands over the reins to Danny Blind. Will he be able to get them ready to win Euro 2016 or will he be laying the ground work for World Cup 2018?

• By Ibrahim Ayyub
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Guus Hiddink announced his first Netherlands squad recently and it did not contain any big surprises. All the usual suspects were back along with players such as Gregory van der Wiel and Rafael van der Vaart who missed out on the last World Cup because of injuries. Yet, is this the correct approach to move this team forward by still relying on the old guard?

With Euro 2016 two years away and Holland’s first match under Hiddink set for September 3rd in a friendly against Italy, is it not time to start planning ahead for World Cup 2018 and start relying on younger players? Vorm, Verhaegh, van der Vaart, Sneijder, Robben, Kuyt, van Persie, and Huntelaar are all 30 or older and were called up for the Italy friendly. They won’t be any younger in two years and one wonders how many can be still effective in four years’ time.

The team seems to be in safe hands when it comes to goalkeepers. Fortunately, the biggest concern I had of the Oranje prior to the World Cup, was how their young defenders would do. Low and behold, they managed to do well in the presence of 29 year old Vlaar. The midfield though still seems reliant on the old guard if Sneijder and van der Vaart are still getting called up. Sneijder had a horrible World Cup while Memphis Depay was introduced to the world as an up and coming star. One can hope that the likes of Kevin Strootman and Stijn Schaars can overcome their injuries and return to form and get called up for the Oranje along with Adam Maher if he can get back on track and live up to expectations. There’s also van Ginkel if he can ever find playing time so the midfield seems to be well stacked for years to come if the time comes to bid the veterans goodbye.

Up front is another story altogether. I don’t expect Kuyt to be starting in Euro 2016 but then again, he is like the Energizer Bunny and just keeps going and going. Robin van Persie, Huntelaar and Robben are all in the 30 age group. Robben shines for both club and country while van Persie never did perform well enough for the Oranje to be enshrined with the greats such as Cruyff, Rensenbrink, van Basten, Gullit or Bergkamp when it comes to scoring in knockout stages of competitions. Moreover, Huntelaar just never got enough starts to prove himself in these tournaments as he has for Schalke. Unfortunately, it appears that the youth movement in this area is basically slim pickings.

Besides Jermaine Lens, the pick of the litter is rather unimpressive. Ricky van Wolfswinkel doesn’t seem worthy of being called up while the jury is still out on the likes of Luuk de Jong, Luc Castaignos, Jürgen Locadia, Ola John, Quincy Promes, Jean-Paul Boëtius. None of them stood out like Huntelaar did at the youth level and the only other Dutchman to be top scorer of the Dutch League since 2008 was Bas Dost and he too is playing in Germany. Which one of these men will be leading the charge in four years’ time?

The Netherlands is a small country compared to its footballing rivals but they always find a way to stay competitive. The road ahead is uncertain but this nation always finds a way to get it done. Euro 2016 is only two years away so some of these veterans can help them win this title for the first time since Euro 88. However, would that serve a proper purpose or would it better to start relying on the youth to prepare them for the World Cup in four years’ time? One hopes that Hiddink lays the ground work for Blind when he takes over in two years and not have Blind go through this situation with only two years to prepare. At least I will end this on a positive note, and that is there is hope.

So Close Yet So Far Away.

Ibrahim Ayyub gives his opinion on Netherlands World Cup run which ended in the semi-finals.

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They came, they played and they were vanquished in the Semi-Finals. The Oranje gave us another memorable but yet heart breaking tournament. Sure, it was disappointing to see the Oranje fall short of winning a World Cup again, however, this was the team many thought wouldn’t even make it out of the group stage. We should enjoy the good, the bad, and the ugly of this tournament and keep our fingers crossed that Guus Hiddink can pick where van Gaal left off for Euro 2016.

It is somewhat bitter sweet to see Holland play in the 3rd place match of the World Cup. Van Gaal hates it and I don’t blame him. Playing this game is just a reminder that these players were one game away from another World Cup final. This had the makings of a Hollywood vigilante movie; Death Wish / Kill Bill style. Holland avenges every World Cup Final loss with wins in this World Cup against Spain for 2010, then Argentina for 1978 and then Germany for 1974. Well, the script had a major rewrite and Holland found themselves coming up short and playing for Bronze. They were so close yet so far away from the promised land after being knocked out by what else, a penalty shootout.

Ultimately, there will be “What Ifs” with this exit as there were in other exits. Why didn’t van Gaal drop van Persie and start with Huntelaar instead against Argentina? Why did he continue to stick with Sneijder even though he was not the same player that he was four years ago? Why did he not learn from other managers and not go with a defender early in a penalty shootout (Euro 2000)? Sadly, those and other lingering questions that will forever be in the back of the minds of many who were hoping for a better ending.

There were some positives from this World Cup. The biggest question mark for me was how strong would the back four do in this World Cup and they actually performed well. A new star was born thanks to Memphis Depay who is a finalist for the Best Young Player Award. Most importantly, the mood around this team is much better than it was at this time two years ago.

Here’s hoping Holland end this World Cup on a good note with a win to finish third and not exit this tournament with back to back losses. Here’s hoping that Holland can continue to take steps forward without any steps back. The first positive step would be to get over the pain of falling short and beat Brazil today.

Holland 2-1 Mexico; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

With the recent passing away of the legendary actor, Eli Wallach, who played the role of Tuco Benedicto Pacífico Juan María Ramírez (The Ugly) in one of the greatest movies of all-time, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly. I decided to dedicate my latest column in his memory, by looking back on Holland’s win over Mexico that featured all three aspects. Holland will now face another CONCACAF opponent, Costa Rica.

• By Ibrahim Ayyub
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The Good

Holland’s never quit spirit. Kuyt was the perfect example of a player who did everything that was asked of him to do on the pitch. Sneijder, even though he continued to struggle and failed to step up, as noted by Adrian Bucher on this website not too long ago, also didn’t sulk or hang his head low and kept fighting and scored the equalizer. Mexico eased up after they went up a goal and Holland were determined to keep looking for that equalizer which they deservedly got. Depay and Huntelaar coming off the bench were great moves by van Gaal. Huntelaar scoring on a penalty, after missing his last few with Schalke, under such pressure was great and also a boost for this team. After so many expected a group exit for the Oranje, a return to the Semi-Finals seems very possible.

The Bad

Holland’s performance in the first 60 minutes was something to forget. De Jong’s injury hurt the midfield, as Blind struggled to fill in that role while the fullbacks were getting exposed constantly by Mexico. Cillessen looked shaky at times while Blind and Vlaar could have done more to block Giovanni Dos Santos’s effort that resulted in a goal. Perhaps the heat played a part in it but they cannot afford to start another match like this again. Sneijder without De Jong and Depay struggles and hopefully Depay can start besides Sneijder, but at whose expense in the starting lineup? Can Depay replace De Jong even though he is not as defensive savvy or will van Gaal prefer to go total football against Costa Rica?

The Ugly

The heat was one of the ugliest factors in this game for both, the players and the spectators in attendance. Good thing FIFA allows water breaks, which van Gaal used to his advantage by giving Sneijder a chat about tactical changes and rightfully so. It’s foolish to believe managers can’t talk to their players during these water breaks. What next? Players can’t talk amongst one another as if they’re in school?

Robben’s diving along with his subsequent confusing apology was not needed. We all know Robben likes to make a meal out of most tackles and Rafa Marquez did foul him for that penalty. Robben’s dive in the second half when he intentionally tripped over Layun’s legs was embarrassing and not needed. Obviously, he should have been awarded a penalty in the first half and perhaps his reputation played a role in the referee not to point to the spot. The Tale of The Boy Who Cried Wolf comes to mind and I wouldn’t be surprised if referees doubt if he is being fouled or diving. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the referee gave the Robben penalty either after he realized he should have given one in the first half. Sooner or later, a referee will book him and the last thing we need is a player like Robben to be sent off, like Gheorghe Hagi against Italy in Euro 2000, in a knock out game. We need our best players on the pitch. His apology afterwards was confusing and just prolonged the controversy even more.

Costa Rica has impressed at this World Cup by advancing from a group that featured three former World Cup champions. Holland will be playing a later kick off when they face Costa Rica so perhaps the heat won’t be a factor in this matchup. However, Holland better avoid another Good, Bad and Ugly performance against Costa Rica if they want to book a ticket to the Semi-Finals where they await the winner of Argentina-Belgium.

So far, So Good Oranje.

Should Netherlands adapt a new system going forward in the World Cup? Ibrahim Ayyub gives his opinion on the campaign so far.

Holland defied the odds by making it to the knock out stages as group leaders when many thought they would be flying home after the group stages. Holland crushed Spain, came back to beat Australia after suffering a brief scare, and controlled Chile before scoring a late win. During these matches, Coach Louis van Gaal has switched formations and style of play yet some questions still linger with all these positive results.

Can Holland afford to keep playing conservative the rest of the way? It helped that Holland had the advantage of sitting back against a Chile side that needed to win to finish first. However, the knockout stage is a different creature. This style of play that Holland is using is great when they are playing with a lead but what would happen if Holland were to find themselves a goal down?

Holland were put to the challenge when they found themselves leaving the pitch at halftime against Spain and Australia with the score tied 1-1 in the first two matches of this World Cup. I was very curious to see how they would respond. Spain’s back four were overwhelmed and paid the price for their costly errors. Australia though was another story as Holland suddenly found themselves trailing Australia 1-2 after a dubious handball penalty was given early into the second half. It’s hard to counter attack against a team that now has the lead and plans on sitting back and Holland would have to fight their way back and play a different style of football.

Eventually, Holland proved that they do have a Plan B and goals from Robin van Persie and Memphis Depay sealed the come from behind win. The Chile victory was not easy on the eyes but the main objective was reached; finish first in the group table. They will now face Mexico, another team that plays it safe and doesn’t try to get caught with too many players attacking. Thus, whoever scores first will be relying on the other team being a more adventurous for them to set up the counter attacks.

In my opinion, Holland needs to develop a style where they can they dictate the tempo and be in control. Relying on counter attacks is not a fool proof plan. You can’t rely on scoring through long ball home-runs, especially if you are one play away from a red card and are forced to play down a man the rest of the game as we saw in the Italy loss to Uruguay. The last two games saw Memphis Depay come off the bench and give the team a boost. Perhaps van Gaal should consider playing the young man besides Wesley Sneijder in the midfield as Holland begins the second part of their journey in the knock out stage. However, this is van Gaal that we are talking about so who knows what he has in store next.

* Originally published on http://www.football-oranje.com/