Netherlands

Netherlands are on a mission not only to play in all seven games available, but also to apologise to all of the world for being the most anti-Dutch team ever four years ago.

Redemption by Van Gaal

Bert van Marwijk took Holland to final in South Africa but Netherlands played dirty, counterattacking football which Johan Cruijff called a ‘disgrace’. Holland should have ended the final against Spain with eight players but the referee have given them just one red card.

Dutch FA stuck with van Marwijk for the next two years but after a Euro 2012 group stage exit he was fired and in came Louis van Gaal, who promised the fans and his players the Total Football they crave. He started great in qualifiers and won nine out of ten games, drawing just with Estonia away. He utilised a 4-3-3 formation and told his players to pass the ball around the opposition until they will feel tired and make mistakes in positioning. That strategy paid off.

Replacing Strootman with three defenders

He called up over 30 players and tinkered with first eleven, changing also the behaviour of the wingers. First he told them to hold onto the touchline but then made them cut inside which showed better results. Almost everything was set. but at the beginning of the year, terrible news came from Italy. Kevin Strootman, the one and only holding midfielder capable of playing as a number six in a 4-3-3, got injured and was out of the World Cup.

Daley Blind of Ajax was said to take his place, but van Gaal got an idea from one of the younger coaches. Ronald Koeman managed to turn things around in Feyenoord after an shaky start by thinking out of the box and came up with a 5-3-2 formation. It gave him good results and after lecture he gave in national television, whole country spoke about the new formation. It is going to be a way of replacing Strootman – Clasie and Blind will play as deep-lying playmakers, leaving three central defenders covering the team from counterattacks.

Van Persie’s and Robben’s partnership

Is it the death of Total Football? Not necessarily, Holland will still play with creativity and flair but just with new roles and positioning. They will use the pace of Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben upfront combined with important key passes from Wesley Sneijder. Van Gaal called up Feyenoord players who are familiar with the system – Daryl Janmaat, Bruno Martins Indi, Stefan de Vrij and Terence Kongolo. To complete the defence, between Indi and de Vrij Ron Vlaar will play as a sweeper.

Van Gaal showcased this formation on 17th May in a friendly game against Ecuador, which ended with a 1-1 draw and showed two things: defence still requires a lot of training and secondly, going forward this might be very useful formation.

Playing style

Even with change in formation, Netherlands will play their most famous brand of offensive football. They will try to dominate games with possession and keep pressing in opponents half. With Chile and Spain taking a similar approach, we are going to see many fascinating games.

Coach

Louis van Gaal is one of the most successful coaches around but he’s mainly known for being great teacher for young players. He started the careers of Patrick Kluivert, Xavi or Thomas Muller. Often called a ‘dictator’ the demands from his players to give everything for the system and forget about their individual goals.

Schedule and BETEGY predictions

13th June, Salvador: vs. Spain (1-1)

18th June, Porto Alegre: vs. Australia (3-0
23rd June, Sao Paulo: vs. Chile (2-1)

The Dutch are not only a favourite to qualify from the group (73% chance), but also they should win it. They’ll only lose points to Spain in their first game (a 1-1 draw). After advancing from the first place, they’ll play Cameroon and win 2-1. In same fashion they’ll beat Uruguay but in the semis they’re going to lose to Argentina (1-2) and in the third place playoff hosts Brazil will trash them 1-4.