Dutch are lousy tournament starters

In 1978 Oranje started firing on all cylinders against Iran, but since then it has always been nailbiting what we had to endure… Although it’s only fair to say that the bad starts not always resulted in bad tournaments.

In 14 opening-matches (in WC and EC events), Oranje won 6 times and had to accept a draw in 4. The last three WCs were not started with confidence. In 1990, the 1-1 draw against Egypt was a sign of things to come. Four years later in the US, it took a lucky header by Taument to shake off Saudi Arabia and in that tournament we at least made it till the quarter finals. In 1998, we conceded a quick red card (Kluivert) and had to live with a draw against arch enemy Belgium, but we did go almost all the way… Semi-finals against Brazil, as all of you will remember…. S&M isn’t bothered by statistics… Striker Kezman says: “I’ll be playing against some great friends, that makes the match extra special, but we will need to win. Simple as that. At this stage, you can’t complain about the draw. You just need to win all your matches.”
Andre Ooijer, his direct opponent, said: “Kezza is a mate for sure, but not on the pitch. I will forget about that completely. If the the ball bounces between us, it’s either me or him…”

Well, I hope Ooijer will at least go for the ball in that situation.