Oranje never without a worry

“Sleep baby sleep, outside there are some sheep,” is what the Oranje legion sang. March 13 1992… Oranje played Malta. Marco van Basten tried again and again to dribble through the Malteser defense. It was a dreadful performance. 1-0 for Oranje. Penalty kick. Scored by Marco van Basten. The fans claimed their money back after the match.

The whistling after Holland – Slovenia last month was unique in it’s intensity. But criticism is part of the Oranje journey. Has always been the case. Will always be the case. Oranje’s qualifications are always an issue. Whether the results are there or not.

Cynically Huntelaar said last month: “If we qualify, everybody will start cheering again.” The striker knows exactly how it works. After the disgrace against Malta, the whole nation turned orange when Oranje went to the EC in Sweden, to defend their title.

In 1996, building on the Ajax successes, everyone expected Guus Hiddink and Oranje to win the title again. This time in England. The road to Wembley was long and winding, though. Embarrassing, was the often coined term after the 1-0 loss against Belarus in 1995.

Wim Jonk, currently youth coach at Ajax, remembers it well. “When we walked off the pitch, we thought we didn’t qualify. And then we heard that the Czech had lost against Luxembourg. We didn’t believe that news at first. But we got a play-offs against Ireland and qualified after all.”

Even the qualifications of Oranje for the WC 1974 – I remember we didn’t do that shabby in Germany – was a disaster. In the Holland – Belgium match Jan Verheyen scored a legit goal for Belgium, but for reasons still unclear the ref canceled that goal. Otherwise, Holland would not have gone to Germany.
In the qualifications towards the golden 1988 EC Oranje was almost disqualified because some idiot chucked a self-made orange-bomb (a literal orange, the fruit) on the pitch. Diplomatical pressure helped change the UEFA’s mind and they decided on a re-match in an empty stadium.

The best performing team manager before Van Basten’s successful run to the WC 2006 was Thijs Libregts. The former Feyenoord coach qualified for the 1990 WC – in a group with West Germany – and didn’t lose a match. West Germany had to play a play off match to qualify. Which they did. They also kicked a dreadful Oranje out of the tournament. And went on to win the title. Oh horror.

Libregts criticized his top players, who in turn gave him a vote of non-confidence. Libregts had to go.

Thijs Libregts: “I have a strong opinion about that situation, but I won’t say anything. Because my words will result in a counter-reaction and then what… Just let me be.”

The coach was sacked in the spring of 1990. The KNVB organized a vote under the players. They wanted Cruyff. Michels, technical director of the KNVB, didn’t want JC and signed Beenhakker. The rest is history.