Another World Cup has come to an end, and once again, it ends in disappointment for the Oranje. There is no moral victory when it comes to the World Cup. It’s either win or bust, and for the Oranje, it was another tournament that ended in disappointment and left many wondering with what ifs.
- By Ibrahim Ayyub
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The 2022 World Cup came and went, and once again, the Oranje came up empty-handed. There is no moral victory when it comes to the World Cup. It’s either win or bust, and for the Oranje, it was another tournament that ended in disappointment and what-ifs. That has been something that has plagued them after every World Cup exit.
What if the Oranje weren’t distracted by calling their significant others to debunk false German stories about them the night before the 1974 World Cup Final?
What if the Oranje had Johan Cruyff with them for the 1978 World Cup?
What if Johan Cruyff, and not Leo Beenhakker, coached the Oranje at the 1990 World Cup? What if Frank Rijkaard kept his cool against Germany, and Marco van Basten was fit during that summer?
What if Johan Cruyff, and not Dick Advocaat, coached the Oranje at the 1994 World Cup? What if Ruud Gullit decided not to retire from the Oranje right before the World Cup? What if the referee had blown the whistle on the foul that Brazil’s Branco committed on Marc Overmars seconds before he was felled by Wim Jonk, before scoring from the ensuing free kick?
What if the referee had awarded a penalty to the Oranje in the 1998 World Cup Semi-Final against Brazil after Pierre van Hooijdonk had his shirt pulled by Brazil’s Junior Baiano? What if Phillip Cocu was the last penalty taker instead one of the first five in a penalty shootout?
What if Holland versus Portugal during the 2006 World Cup Round of 16 clash didn’t turn into an audition for Cobra Kai?
What if Arjen Robben had chipped the ball over Iker Casillas and Bert van Marwijk opted not to go defensive against Spain in the 2010 World Cup Final?
What if Louis van Gaal didn’t get it wrong against Argentina by setting his team up to defend in the 2014 World Cup Semi-Final against a tired Argentina before falling to them in a penalty shoot-out?
After the 2022 World Cup, what if Louis van Gaal didn’t get it wrong against Argentina yet again with his lineups and approach? Why did he opt to start with Memphis and Steven Bergwijn instead of Wout Weghorst or Luuk de Jong who are 6′ 6″ and 6’2” against the Argentina backline whose tallest player was Cristian Romero (6’1)? It was no surprise that Weghorst scored a header against the 5′ 9″ Lisandro Martinez. Why did he opt to have the team sit back and defend in extra time, when the momentum had completely shifted after Weghorst scored that last gasp equalize? The pressure was always on Argentina, so the Oranje had the upper hand. Yet, the Oranje sat back and defended and were lucky not to concede during those extra thirty minutes.
When the referee blew the final whistle, I dreaded the upcoming penalty shootout. A brief word about the referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz. I have never been a fan of his and look forward to the day he hangs up his whistle for good. He is more interested in being the center of attention and will ignore the most obvious bookable offenses. However, he shows no hesitation to book you if you dare to open your mouth and say something he will not like. The fact he didn’t send off Leandro Paredes after his reckless challenge and for subsequently blasting the ball at the Dutch bench is not surprising. Yet, all that time he spent trying to defuse tension, resulted in ten minutes of stoppage time that helped the Oranje grab the equalizer.
If van Gaal was planning for penalties, then why didn’t he call up Jasper Cillessen? Surely, if you’re going to face Argentina in the World Cup, then why not call up someone who trained with Messi for years? It’s well known that Cillessen isn’t great at stopping penalties, but wouldn’t you prefer he be the one giving Andries Noppert advice on facing Messi instead of Frenkie de Jong? Speaking of penalties, seeing Virgil van Dijk step up and take the first penalty was admirable. Leaders lead by example but seeing him step up to take a penalty brought back bad memories of Frank de Boer, Jaap Stam, and Paul Bosvelt taking penalties for the Oranje. I prefer not to see defenders take penalties for the Oranje unless their name is Ronald Koeman.
Speaking of Ronald Koeman, he returns to the bench that he vacated a few years ago. Hopefully, the transition from van Gaal to Koeman is a smooth one. We are already had to go through with what if Dennis Bergkamp hadn’t retired and Louis van Gaal didn’t get it wrong during the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers? Also, what if the KNVB didn’t try to go back in time with the hiring of Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat during the disastrous 2018 World Cup Qualifiers? Here’s hoping the Oranje will qualify for the 2026 World Cup and maybe, just maybe, we won’t be left asking what if anymore.
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I was too puzzled by Van gaal tactics against argentina. Should have deploy our tall strikers weghorst & de jong and play pump the ball into the box from the beginning. We are better than them in all department actually and as what you said it is the Argentines having pressure not us.
I think van gaal over-confidence again cost the defeat. relying too much on Heerenven keeper for the penalties. As much as Noppert was outstanding in eredivisie but World Cup stage is a different playing field.
We were lucky in the group stages. What if Mane is fit and played. We could lose in the opening match. The Ecuadorians were die-hard stubbord dedicated side that completely control the game and having most possession. We were simply still respect Qatar and not playing genuinely and Qatar standards ( no disrespect) was incomparable to ours. Against USA then we saw how good and decisive we can do. Also Noppert was lucky on few occassion.
What if messi was given a red card for handball, What if Peredes was given a red card after two leg fouling Ake and kicked the ball towards holland camp. What if the referee didn’t gave argentines the penalty which Messi fabricated “Hollywood style”.
We could have won the match and all the way towards a final with the French which I believe we have a very good chance in lifting the trophy.
Moving forward with koeman that will definitely revert back to our traditional strong 4-3-3, I say we win all 3 trophies starting from the Nations league, EURO and WC despite KNVB target for koeman for just one trophy. We may add another U21 EURO too ……HUP ORANJE HUP
This article represents every oranje supporter and it is summarized in one word “the team with the worst luck ever”
When you look at most big nations in football and compare them with netherlands you will find that there is no differences in the teams and the generations but just they have starts on their t-shirts but we dont have
teams like brazil had two or three golden generation starts with pele then to romario ends with ronaldo got them 5 world cups
italy with paolo rossi and canavaro generation got two worldcups and 2 others in 30s
Argentina with Maradona and messi got 3 wroldcups
Germany with klinsman and bekenbauer also the 2014 generation got them 4 worldcups
France with Zidane and Mbappe got 2 World cups
even teams who got only one good generation like Spain,England and Uruguay got them one worldcup
when you look at Netherlands we got Cruyff,Neskens,van Hanegem,Ruud krool..etc in 70s and we lost two worldcups final (Despite what happened)
and then got the deadly Trio Guillet Rijkaard Van Basten with also ronald koeman who just got us one Euro and 0 Worldcups
then we got one of the best generation if not the best in 90s with Van de saar, De Boer brothers,Cocu, Overmars,Kluivert,Bergkamo Damn that team was scary and we lost in penalties against brazil who lost the final 3-0 against france back then
and unfortunate Euro penalties lose against italy
and this team also got 0 trophies
in the end with Robben Sneidjer Van Persie Generation with a second place in 2010 and third in 2014
1 Euro won
1 Euro semi-finalist ( i dont remember exactly)
3 Worldcup finals
2 Worldcup semi-finalist
all those generations with only one Euro and 0 worldcups
this shows you how unlucky this nation really is