Oranje ready for new success

Even though the Netherlands are one of the smallest countries in Europe it's a nation with great footballing tradition. Even though it's now two decades since their last success, European Championships 1988, Netherlands are always considered as potential favorites.

The Netherlands have never won the World Cup, but they have finished runners-up on two occasions. In 1974 and 1978, lead by the legendary midfielder Johan Cruyff. From recent history their best tournament is France 1998, which they finished 4th, losing to Croatia in the 3rd place match.

They always seem to get past the group stage, no matter how strong the group is, "The Group of Death" in Germany 2006 being a notable success.

Today's team is quite young. A generational change has been successfully made and the team cruised through qualification for South Africa 2010. The only weak point could be the manager, Bert van Marwijk.

Not a very fashionable name, van Marwijk, took over the reign in 2008 from Marco van Basten. While the team has done great under him, there is doubts whether van Marwijk has the experience to lead the team to success in a major competition. The 57 year old has been mostly manager of local league sides, but neither of the bigger ones PSV nor Ajax, and while ha has delivered the occasional trophy, he hasn't been able to build a real dynasty in any of the teams.

But to his credit, one thing that is notable from his are of the Oranje manager, he's brought a tight defensive play to his side. Netherlands have always been a attractive attacking force, but defensive lapses have cost in more than one match. Nowadays the Netherlands rarely seem concede more than one goal, with that only happening twice under van Marwijk, and that might end up being a huge plus, if the side manages to get into tight play-off matches once again.