Yes, the UEFA Euro 2008 football competition is underway (and there is no way you will make me call it Soccer) and the draw pitted three of European football's giants in the same group, which then had to be called, in a rather cliched fashion, the Group of Death. World Cup champions Italy, Runners-up France and the mighty Netherlands were all drawn together in Group C, alongside Romania, who for all their underdog tags, did of course win their qualifying group ahead of the Dutch. All eyes were on this group to produce the tight games and nerve-wrecking climaxes. However, it has been a let-down in that respect! But, thrown at us, especially those of us who were born after the Johan Cruyff era, an exhibition of Total Football from the nation that invented it, but has rarely been able to put together in recent times.
The Colour
When I was a kid, I would be asked to pick a favourite colour, and I would always plump for Orange. I believe it must have been the striking flashiness, and the unconventional nature of the colour, that caught my roving eye. I was distraught there was no "Orange house" (a house is like a fraternity) in my primary school, while they had Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. I did choose the closest colour house of course, Red. I would always paint my Suns a bright orange, and never a yellow.
Little wonder then, that when I was first exposed to a football World Cup, I took a look at the jerseys the Dutch put on, and I elected to be a fan. If there is one thing about Orange, it is that it never goes unnoticed. And I read in the football history books, that the same could be said of some of the football the Oranje had played - easy on the eye, exciting and attacking from the back. I needed no more reassuring, especially given Homeland was, and still is, decades away from qualifying.
Total Football
The concept of Total Football is very Dutch. The team is composed of 11 players who are all technically able to pick out passes and have supreme ball control skills. This enables even the defenders to start pushing from the back, defending high up the field, and playing a crucial part in the attack. Why attack with 6 when you can as well attack with 10? The full-backs are as good wingers, as they are defenders. The midfield will have a couple of master technicians and the frontmen will be clinical finishers. When all of this works, oh, what joy it is to watch!
Sadly, ever since I started following the Dutch at major tournaments, they have been mostly disappointing. The Total Football has not been as brilliant, or sometimes missing, and they have on occasion failed to even qualify for the big-uns. But, come Euro 2008, that has all turned around on a heel.
Teed up against World Cup winners Italy, and arguably the best defence in World football, they gave them a 3-0 drubbing. The latter two goals bore fruit from swift counter-attack manoeuvres, where Italy came ever-so-close to scoring themselves, but instead of heaving a sigh of relief, the Dutch decided to break forward and punish them, and they scored within 20 seconds of the chance at the other end. Those goals were phenomenal, and lightning fast, built with team work and individual skills and pace, and clinical finishing. Coach Marco Van Basten, a clinical finisher himself, from the excellent Dutch team of the 80s, must have been proud.
The show continued, as World Cup runners-up France, hoped to prove the Oranje were a one-hit wonder, but instead got a lesson themselves. This time, the scoreline read 4-1.
The players
It wasn't all looking rosy (of course, the rose here is Orange too), for the Dutch prior to the tournament. Yes, they qualified comfortably, but did not win their group. Nor did they stir up a hornet's nest with their performances. There were grumbles all over the Dutch media and fans were not happy with the way the team was shaping up. They qualified with not only the least goals conceded, but also the least scored. That doesn't sound Dutch at all.
However, once the tournament kicked off, the young stars all came to life, wanting to prove why they are in the Dutch team! Youngsters Rafael Van Der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben have been the orchestrators from midfield, while the aging star Ruud Van Nistelrooy still puts them away up front. Robin Van Persie looks a promising striker himself. But, most surprising has been the performance of Giovani Van Bronkchorst, who has been springing forward from left-back whenever he can, and not just putting in the final cross, but also scoring himself. He looks a shadow of the player that left Arsenal, and then Barcelona, a few years ago. And so does Khalid Boulahrouz on the right, who hardly won fans over at Chelsea a season ago.
It must be the coach, Van Basten, who is motivating this team with so many young performers, toward glory. He's been there with the greats - Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard - and been a part of a team that excelled at Total Football. He knows how important it is to peak at the right team for a competition as big as this, and most importantly, knows how to win, Even if they do not win the cup, they have surely won over a few more fans who will not be shy to wear Oranje anymore!
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