Netherlands are heading to the World Cup in Brazil currently ranked number 15 in the World, but nobody should take notice of the FIFA rankings.

  • By Spencer Steevensz
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van p v ecuaAs the 23-man squad that will represent the Netherlands for the 2014 World Cup starting off on June 12th takes off on a plane heading to Brazil, FIFA released their latest ranking, and the Netherlands sits down at number 15, two seeds below the USA, and one seed below group stage opponent Chile.

What does this mean? Absolutely nothing.

Two seeds below the US? Even Jurgen Klinsmann would disagree with that. While this won’t be a confidence booster going to Brazil, Van Gaal and his men won’t pay it any heed, and neither should we.

We know what Netherlands are capable of!

We know the doubters who talk about how our star players are getting older and our young players are untested are just lacking a little faith. In June 2010 Luis Suarez was a little known Uruguayan striker for Ajax, and by July he was a (largely villain-ized, due to the handball against Ghana) household name throughout the world. The same could be said of Daryl Janmaat, who looks to be headed to Napoli, or Bruno Martins Indi, who may follow coach Louis Van Gaal to Manchester United, or Georginio Wijnaldum, Memphis Depay, Terence Kongolo, Joel Veltman or Stefan De Vrij.

The talent is young, and many have not featured prominently on the international stage, and they’ll be relishing in their first chance. Not to mention, any team with the attacking prowess of Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie, and Wesley Sneijder, who has re-proven his place in the elftal, should not be discarded lightly.

On to Brazil… HUP HOLLAND HUP!




Spencer Steevensz (104 Posts)

I'm a digital/social marketer out of Chicago. I grew up loving Dutch football - total football is the only way to play. I support PSV in the Eredivisie, and whatever team has the most Dutch guys on it in any other league. Hup Holland Hup!