Ranking every Netherlands side to play in a major tournament in the 21st century
The Netherlands have qualified for all but three major tournaments since the turn of the century, competing on the biggest stage nine times.
One of my earliest memories is seeing us do so in 2004, and I can vividly remember each match they’ve played at a World Cup or European Championship since then, which is both a blessing and a curse given there have been some real highs and some real heartbreak.
I’ve often thought about which of those Oranje sides were best and which were worst, and decided to put those thoughts down in writing, for my own clarity of mind and, hopefully, to give you something interesting to read.
So, let’s get into it…
PS: I’m too young to have watched the team of Euro 2000 live, but have spent many an hour reading about that side and watching highlights of their matches, so I like to think I have a pretty good knowledge of them…
9. The class of 2021
When the Netherlands qualified for Euro 2020 after missing out on the previous two major tournaments, they looked to be in with a chance of winning it having performed excellently under Ronald Koeman. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 pushed it back a year, and in that year, Virgil van Dijk got injured and Koeman left to manage Barcelona, being replaced by Frank de Boer.
Given how poorly he’d done in his previous jobs, De Boer’s appointment decreased expectations hugely, and while three wins in the group stage against Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia provided some hope, he ultimately didn’t prove the doubters wrong with his side losing 2-0 in the Round of 16 to the Czech Republic.
Matthijs de Ligt getting sent off played a big part in that defeat, but the team looked like losing even before that red card against an opponent that they should have beaten comfortably. Unsurprisingly, De Boer was sacked a few days later.
8. The class of 2006
Manager Marco van Basten played down expectations ahead of his first major tournament in charge of his nation, saying it was just a practice run for him and his young squad with the Euros that would follow two years later being the priority. Even bearing that in mind though, it was a disappointing World Cup for Oranje.
After picking up solid but unspectacular wins against Serbia & Montenegro and Ivory Coast and a 0-0 draw against Argentina in the group stage, they went out to Portugal in the Round of 16. There’d ordinarily be no shame in narrowly losing to what was a strong side, but the manner of the defeat meant that wasn’t the case.
In a match now known as the Battle of Nuremberg that consisted of 16 yellow cards and four reds, the Dutch were unable to strike back after going 1-0 down early on despite having one more player on the pitch than their opponents for the majority of the second half.
The results alone weren’t that bad, but that match and Van Basten publicly falling out with star striker Ruud van Nistelrooy meant it was a month full of bad vibes and not much fun.
7. The class of 2012
Statistically, this was the worst Netherlands side to ever play at a major tournament, with them losing every single match, but they weren’t as terrible as that record alone would suggest.
After dazzling in qualifying with some beautiful football, they completely dominated Denmark in what was an excellent performance but just couldn’t finish their chances, held their own in a 2-1 defeat to a strong German side and lost to Portugal after going 1-0 up largely because they had to throw caution to the wind in pursuit of the two-goal victory they needed to progress.
That being said, the side did have serious problems. They lacked team spirit, with various players unhappy for various reasons; a left-back, with an injury to Erik Pieters leading to youngster Jetro Willems being played long before he was ready; and a manager who made the right calls, with Bert van Marwijk’s decisions not to start the in-form Rafael van der Vaart and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the first two games highly questionable ones.
I genuinely think this team could’ve gone far if he did so given how many chances Robin van Persie missed and how good Huntelaar had been for Schalke that season (48 goals in 48 games) and in qualifying (12 goals in eight games), but ultimately the above issues, some bad luck and a tough group meant that, despite playing well at times, the side didn’t fulfil the enormous potential they showed glimpses of.
6. The class of 2022
Many people - myself included - went into the last World Cup believing the Dutch could win it. The squad was strong and managed by Louis van Gaal, who had done excellently since returning and had taken a weaker group of players to the semi-finals eight years prior. However, what worked in Brazil didn’t work in Qatar.
As he did in 2014, Van Gaal prioritised defensive solidity, but this time around he didn’t have forwards who were talented enough to take care of matters at the other end on their own. As a result, the team played pretty diabolical football, with only the performance in the Round of 16 against USA being a good one.
Despite that though, this side was only a penalty shootout away from the semi-finals, coming back from 2-0 down against eventual winners Argentina with 10 minutes to go, thanks largely to the genius of LVG and the team spirit in the group, which was as strong as any a Netherlands team has ever possessed.
Those two factors alone made this side a strong one, but they were held back by a lack of top forwards and their manager’s overly conservative approach which saw them flatter to deceive in four of their five matches.
5. The class of 2004
The Euro 2004 squad was one of Oranje’s oldest ever, with the tournament being a swan song for a number of players that had represented their nation since the 90s such as De Boer, Edgar Davids, Jaap Stam and Marc Overmars. It wasn’t the dream international send-off for them, but wasn’t a terrible one either.
They only won one game - a 3-0 victory over Latvia - in open play on their way to the semi-finals but arguably deserved to beat the Czech Republic and Sweden too, hitting the woodwork a number of times before giving away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 in the former match and having a goal incorrectly disallowed before winning on penalties in the latter.
The team’s performance in their opening match against Germany, which ended 1-1, wasn’t bad either, but the 2-1 semi-final defeat to Portugal was disappointing - given the talent Dick Advocaat’s side had in their ranks, they really should have done better.
They did have moments of real quality courtesy of the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Clarence Seedorf though, and weren’t that far off reaching the final.
4. The class of 2008
This side only played four matches at Euro 2008 before being knocked out, but their first two performances alone were good enough to propel them towards the top of these rankings.
The thrashings of Italy (3-0) and France (4-1) were simply extraordinary, not just because of the results but because of the quality of the goals too. There were volleys, long-range stunners, team moves and an array of devastating counter-attacks that completely tore the World Cup finalists from two years prior apart.
The game against France was particularly special, with the very best attacking talents the country have produced since the turn of the century - Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie, Rafael van der Vaart - all on the pitch at the same time and producing some glorious football.
Van Basten wasn’t blessed with such strong options at the back though and that ultimately cost the team with the defence unable to handle Andrey Arshavin in the quarter-final clash with Guus Hiddink’s Russia, who won 3-1 after extra time. It was an unworthy ending for a team that had dazzled as much as any Dutch side, but took nothing away from how obscenely good they were in those early clashes.
3. The class of 2010
The team that went to the 2010 World Cup weren’t nearly as entertaining as the side that came two years prior but were far more successful, coming agonisingly close to becoming World Champions.
Van Marwijk’s approach was to make sure his side was tough to break down and hope that Robben or Wesley Sneijder could do the business at the other end, and it proved to be an effective one, with the side only conceding three times from open play and the two superstars of the team creating or scoring eight of the team’s 12 goals.
So effective was it that it got the team past Brazil in one of the nation’s all-time great games and probably would’ve won them their first World Cup if Robben had converted a huge chance after being played through on goal by a glorious Sneijder pass an hour into a final in which Oranje held a Spain side that is statistically international football’s best ever at bay for 116 minutes.
Given that, why are they only third on this list? Well, asides from the Brazil game, the draw was fairly easy - Denmark, Japan, Cameroon, Slovakia, Uruguay - those wins weren’t particularly impressive and the football wasn’t nice to watch, especially in a downright dirty performance in the final that will live long in infamy.
The team did have a lot of quality though, functioned extremely well and, in terms of results alone, were as successful as any Netherlands side.
2. The class of 2014
You might be surprised that I put this side above the one that went a round further at the previous World Cup but I did so with a fair amount of confidence, because the class of 2014 had two things that the class of 2010 didn’t: Louis van Gaal, and Arjen Robben at his very best.
Robben was scarily good in Brazil, giving the team a huge attacking threat all by himself, and that allowed Van Gaal to ensure the defence was strong despite not consisting of particularly strong personnel. Thanks largely to that combination, the side beat Spain 5-1, a strong Chile side 2-0, hosts Brazil 3-0 and drew 0-0 with Argentina in a semi-final they very nearly won.
The last-gasp 2-1 win over Mexico and a 0-0 draw with Costa Rica don’t look as impressive at first glance, but the team performed well in those games too and just struggled to take the chances that they created. On both occasions, some masterstrokes from Van Gaal were enough to get the team through anyway.
It was a team that had the best Dutch manager of the century, the best Dutch player of the century in his prime, and a squad all giving everything they had to the cause. That led to a bronze medal and one of the greatest Netherlands performances of all time, with precious few matches providing as much joy as the thrashing of Spain.
1. The class of 2000
If they could have taken penalties, this side would have surely been the second Oranje team ever to win a major tournament, and they would have been more than worthy of that title.
They won every match in the group stage on home turf and did so in style, thrashing Denmark 3-0 and beating World Champions France 3-2 in two vibrant attacking displays spearheaded by the sumptuous duo of Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Kluivert.
Things got even better in the quarter-final, in which Frank Rijkaard’s side put six past Yugoslavia, and they then dominated Italy in the semis. However, they missed two penalties in normal time and three in the shootout to be undeservedly knocked out.
This was one of the rare occasions in which the Netherlands had a squad full of top players in every area that also operated well as a team. That led to some of the best football the nation has ever produced and most likely would have led to a second European Championship if they were half as good from the spot.
Before you get too down about the fact that they fell short, click here and watch one of the most beautiful sights in the world: Dennis Bergkamp being really, really good at football.