Before EURO 2016, the Netherlands was highly appreciated for their good performance at the 2014 World Cup. However, when EURO had 24 teams for the first time, the Netherlands had to sit at home turn on TV to watch colleagues from other countries compete.
2 years later, right now in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the Netherlands is also preparing to say goodbye to the tournament right before it even begins.
In Group A, the Netherlands is ranked 3rd after Sweden with 3 points less and a goal difference of +7 compared to+19. In the final match, the Netherlands has the right to decide when meeting Sweden itself, however, looking at the above goal difference, no one thought the Netherlands could create something that was only in their imagination.
Why has the Netherlands continuously failed in the international arena for 4 consecutive years? The answer will be when looking at their starting lineup in the match against Belarus in the early morning of October 8. In that list, only Robben is playing for a truly large club, Bayern Munich, the remaining stars (including Blind who are playing for M.U but need to be liquidated) are playing for mid-table teams in different tournaments and no one has made a name for themselves.
When a "golden generation" of the 21st century passed with Van Persie, Sneijder, Van der Vaart..., or further away with Cocu, Van Nistelrooy, Kluivert..., the Netherlands had no worthy successors. They were confused and "reluctantly" called back Ryan Babel - a former Liverpool star - to lead the front line.
The lack of a next generation of players, the pain of replacing them, is no one's fault. If blaming the clubs, it is not necessarily the right thing when last season, Feynoord, PSV and Ajax brought up a series of promising names.
The most "affordable" reason is that the Dutch's ideology and playing style are no longer consistent and for a long time, this team has lost its identity and is slow to follow the times. At the 2010 World Cup, the Netherlands reached the final but at that time, they were no longer a " whirlwind" but were likened to a "poison wind".
In the era of globalization of football, integrate but do not let it dissolve. The Netherlands just wanted to maintain their identity, but when they chose additional external factors to improve, they fell into the trap they created themselves. Now, when they cannot shape their playing style and constantly change coaches, the Netherlands has become even more chaotic.
In another big football period, having to sit at home watching TV, Dutch football players need to soon have solutions to reform from the beginning, such as not having a TV but a football field that will become a " close friend" of Dutch football for many years to come.
