Oranje After Euro 2008: A New Era?

source: goal.com

The Dutch FA has appointed former Feyenoord manager Bert van Marwijk as Marco Van Basten’s successor. San Marco was Holland’s boss for the past four years, but failed to achieve his goal of winning Euro 2008. Will Van Marwijk make any major changes, or will he follow the path Van Basten created?

The Van Basten Regime
After his appointment as Holland manager, Van Basten promised the Dutch attacking and dominating football. Despite these promising words, Oranje largely struggled under the Van Basten regime. Nevertheless, The Netherlands never had any problems qualifying for the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008, despite some horrible displays.

The 2006 WC in Germany was something to forget about as quickly as possible for The Netherlands. Oranje survived the ‘group of death’ with Argentina, Serbia and Ivory Coast, but made a total fool of themselves with a disgraceful performance against Portugal in the next round. Referee Ivanov needed twenty cards (sixteen yellow, four red) to keep the teams under control as hotheaded Holland was defeated 1-0.

Euro 2008, however, was a tournament to be proud of for the Dutch. Once again drawn in a ‘group of death’, Holland thrashed Italy 3-0, France 4-1 and Romania 2-0 to set up a meeting with Russia in the quarter-finals. Expectations were high, as the world had touted Oranje as the champions elect. Nevertheless, things didn’t go according to plan or predictions. Guus Hiddink’s men outclassed their opponents and defeated The Netherlands 3-1.

Despite the lack of finals and trophies, the Van Basten era can’t be considered a waste of time. The young manager decided to opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation, instead of the traditional 4-3-3, and this choice turned out to be a good one. Their lack of world-class defenders makes it necessary for Holland to use an attacking style of play and Holland have some classy attacking midfielders and forwards who perfectly fit into the system.

Furthermore, San Marco was responsible for the debut of several talented youngsters on the big stage. Players like Ibrahim Afellay, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ryan Babel, Karim Boulahrouz, Robin Van Persie and Maarten Stekelenburg made their first international appearances thanks to Van Basten and should be important players for Holland on their way to South Africa.

A New Era Under Van Marwijk?
The appointment of Bert van Marwijk as new Holland boss wasn’t a big surprise. He was in charge of Feyenoord in 2002 when they won the UEFA cup and is widely regarded as a manager who knows what he’s doing. His knowledge of the Eredivisie in combination with his experience abroad as Borussia Dortmund manager made him the perfect candidate. The majority of the Holland internationals reacted to his appointment in a positive manner.

However, the likes of Edwin van der Sar and Ruud van Nistelrooy, two of Oranje’s most experienced players, decided to retire from international football after the Euros. Van Nistelrooy’s decision came as something of a surprise, but Ajax skipper Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is definitely capable of replacing the Real Madrid hitman immediately. Van der Sar’s retirement was widely expected, but might pose a bigger problem for Van Marwijk. Ajax goalie Stekelenburg is a good goalkeeper at club level, but it remains to be seen if he has what it takes to fill Van der Sar’s international boots.

The end of the Van Basten regime was positive news for players like Mark van Bommel and Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf. Both players had problems with the former Holland manager and refused to play for The Netherlands as long as he was in charge.

The Holland vs. Russia friendly on 20 August gave a first sneak preview to Van Marwijk’s plans for the Oranje side. As expected, he opted to play with a 4-2-3-1 formation, with important roles for his two holding midfielders. Bayern Munich skipper Mark van Bommel returned to Oranje, alongside all the usual suspects. However, veteran Seedorf was left out of the squad for the friendly. The return of the 32-year-old midfielder to the Holland squad now seems very unlikely and his international career has probably come to an end without winning a major tournament.

Thus, it appears that Van Marwijk isn’t planning any major changes. The biggest difference is the fact that Van Marwijk refused to make any empty promises about dominating and attacking football, but opted to make a positive result his primary objective and regard a beautiful match as a nice side effect.

The Way to South Africa
Holland’s World Cup qualifying group includes Scotland, Norway, Macedonia and Iceland. The Dutch and the Scots will likely do battle for a place in South Africa, with Oranje being the sky-high favorites to top the group.

After the retirement of Van der Sar, Stekelenburg will most likely succeed him as Oranje goalie. Veteran shot stopper Henk Timmer will function as a back-up for the upcoming friendlies and qualifying matches, but he’s not the type of goalie Holland need to bring with them to South Africa. The Netherlands currently have two hugely talented goalkeepers in Newcastle player Tim Krul and Vitesse starlet Piet Velthuizen. The latter is an especially suitable candidate to become a full international.

Holland will traditionally have some trouble in defence, with Johnny Heitinga and Khalid Boulahrouz their only reliable defenders. Players like Joris Mathijsen, Andre Ooijer, Gio van Bronckhorst, Wilfred Bouma and Tim de Cler are all good defenders, but not good enough for the biggest stage. However, talented PSV duo Dirk Marcellis and Erik Pieters are both developing quickly and will probably be ready to shine with the national team in 2010.

The midfield definitely won’t be a problem for The Netherlands. Mark van Bommel and HSV star Nigel de Jong are both world-class in their positions, while Demy de Zeeuw, Stijn Schaars and Orlando Engelaar are very useful as holding midfielders.

The attacking part of the midfield is Holland’s trademark and most other countries can only dream of so much attacking class. Real Madrid trio Rafael Van der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben are simply outstanding. Arsenal forward Van Persie, Liverpool winger Babel and PSV star Ibrahim Afellay complete the attacking line of the Dutch, while hot prospects like Royston Drenthe, Nordin Amrabat and Jonathan de Guzman are all eager to fight for a place in the Holland squad, too.

Huntelaar will be the leading striker for The Netherlands as they gun for South Africa, with Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt most likely to figure as his back-up. Therefore, Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink will probably miss out.

The potential is there for the Dutch to be celebrating in South Africa come 2010. However, The Netherlands have the tendency to fail at crunch time. It’s up to Van Marwijk to keep his side focused and bring Holland their first World Cup win in history.

In the words of a certain telephone provider: The Future’s bright, the future’s Orange!