2010 Netherlands team vs 2014 Netherlands team?

In my opinion, Holland had "luck" in both competitions. No though opponent in 2010 until the quarter final against Brazil (where Holland was quite lucky to win it), and also no real tough opponent in 2014 until Argentina.


I can understand if some people think that I exagerrate saying that, but once again, look at circumstances :

- Against Brazil it was an own goal and a header from Sneijder after Brazil having easily dominated the first half...We all know that that such things happen very rarely.

- 2012 was between the two competitions and the group was tough. Holland finished with 0 points.

- 2014 the game was impressive against Spain until we found out that Spain also lost to Chile. Holland had problems against Australia, Mexico and went to penaltys against Costa Rica...wasn't really different from the group stage in 2010 in my opinion. Spain and Brazil were easily beaten by Holland, but also easily beaten by Chile and Germany...

I don't really see differences between the two competitions, if Uruguay had Suarez in 2010 while playing against Holland, not sure the finale would have been reached.

But I think it's quite impressive that Holland has been able to reach finale and 3rd place with the current players, Holland 98 and 2000 didn't have better results though playing much better.

 

This is actually a hard question. The problem with 2014 was the football. I have rarely seen worse football than Netherlands vs Australia 2014. Balls over 5 meter went wrong. Bad organisation of outlets to pass to in order to strengthen defense. I agree with above poster that the group of 2010 was better.

Until the tournament I felt that in 2010 we played acceptable football. It was just once we started in the group that we became extremely conservative. Super boring. In that sense, have we played 2 rather defensive tourney's. With 2014 having a solid reason to do so, 2010 less so. In weighing this question you have to factor in the ambition level of the football that is attempted. Both 2010 and 2014 were not played with ambitious football.

With the material we got, 2014 is more impressive. Especially if you realize we lost Stroot in the months before the WC. However we also often forget how bad the football was. There is another thing we forget. Who did best against arguably the best NT in history? Germany 2008, Netherlands 2010 or Italy 2012? Let's do a little thought experiment. If the faith of the world depends on beating Spain in 1 of those 3 finals, who would you pick to take on Spain again? I would pick Netherlands 2010. Only NT to get them into extra time and only a dive got them the 10 vs 11 advantage. The goal was a joke, since Elia deserved a free kick or was it a penalty? Can't remember, but he was body checked by 2 man in an MMA way. That was horrible refereeing. We also got a real shot with Robben's open chances and had he converted, I am pretty sure that we would have been able to close shop for the remaining time. It was actually a big achievement to keep Spain in check.

One thing to note about Spain 2014. IMO we broke Spain mentally. Casillas had a good save on Sneijder at the start. Had Silva converted from up close we would have been behind with 2-0. It took 2 peaches of goals that no other country can deliver to shake their believe. Then we got a bit lucky on the third goal, where RvP did bump into Casillas (justice for the mean spirited Costa penalty simulation) and after that Spain was a bit rattled. Casillas lost his nerve with the 4th and we could have scored more than 5 goals. Their defense was not solid, their keeper not secure, yes, but first you have to dig trough the buffer layers to expose that insecurity. Had Spain made it 2-0, then you do not arrive at their insecurity and then Chile has a much harder time probably. Chile never won from Spain in their 10 previous games, so why now suddenly they did? Netherlands paved the way for them. After 2 brilliant goals, the train left the station and Spain was taken to the cleaners. The collapse of Spain in 2014 has been an achievement of the Netherlands. France in the group with them were still not able to really do that much, we did.

I have had a much easier time accepting the loss in 2014 than 2010. 2014 we went into penalty series against Argentina with a keeper that has never stopped a penalty in his life. Plus a coach that did not see the horrible form his main striker (RvP after the Spain game) was in. Huntelaar saved us vs Mexico and he should have started in all the games after that. That is not hindsight. We all said that in the threads after the Mexico game. It was thát obvious. Since I saw obvious mistakes or even amateurism from our side, I have an easier time to accept. 2010 was also so hard since we were the villain. It was and the pain of losing, plus the pain of people feeling all white knight to drag the name of the Dutch NT through the mud. It was funny to see some years later when Barca played Bayern that they were outplayed and that Alba threw a ball against Robben's head in frustration. Where was the class now? Total disgrace. The lesson here is that when the other is simply better, that everybody is running the risk of coming out less elegant in a confrontation that you want to win at all cost. It's rather easy to look all classy in behavior if you are simply better at football in that moment of time.

For me it is almost a tie. Bit of a weak answer, but I really feel about it that way. It is the best relative comparison. In this, I weigh the Spain game in 2010 quite heavy. They were at peak power. Best NT in history. Only against 10 men they were able to score and only in extra time. 2014 was quite fun against the better opponents (Spain, Chile, Argentina, Brazil), but we looked amateurish against the rest. Again, I have not seen worse football from the NT then against Australia.

I agree with Laurent that this generation got more out of their possibility's than the more talented previous generation. Netherlands 1998 is still a shame in my book if you consider that even Netherlands 2014 did better.


Cheers

 

I do know it but actually many dutch people themselves use "Holland" as common word to qualify the whole country.

 

How do you figure we were lucky to beat Brazil in 2010?? Brazil were better in 1st half, but we completely rolled over them in the 2nd half. They were lucky to not lose 3-1 or 4-1

 

DRB suggested that the Netherlands beating Spain affected them psychologically and then they lost to Chile. But actually Spain also lost to Switzerland in 2010, had it pretty hard against Italy and Croatia in 2012, but managed to win the competitions after. I think that Spain simply failed because they weren t hungry. Xavi who was their motor for years had a bad season and shouldnt have gone to the world cup.

Historical victory for the NED considering the large score, but not that worthy considering the circumstances of the game.

 

The Swiss game was tight and a narrow loss. The Italy draw in 2012 was a good game, but competitive as well. Spain started well against Netherlands and were ready to cheat their way to a penalty. They almost made 2-0. Then 2 peaches of goals would pave the way to expose their weakness. Casillas also made a blunder in the CL final. He started with a good save vs Sneijder, but after those 2 goals or 3 goals, he lost it really with the 4th goal. The defense of Spain was unsure, but that is something we had dig ourselves to. We did. That issue came under the microscope and Casillas was vilified. Chile benefited from this dynamic and inward looking of Spain.

They never won from Spain, now they did. Yes, of course the hunger of Spain was lessened, but how did France benefit from that in the qualification group? Netherlands gave Spain a big beating, and maybe we did not beat Spain at their peak, but it was important for our own confidence and also to flip the world opinion back about the Dutch NT. The 2010 final was frozen on many people's eyes and Netherlands was seen as the villain. After that game, Netherlands was redeemed for many people. Also, it made me happy. That counts as well. Making the fans happy is a good thing. Was it epic? No, but then again, somehow I do not feel that about the Germany victory over Brazil either. The romance of the WC has diminished a bit. CL football is simply better as the club teams train so much with each other and can reach higher organisational levels than NT teams can reach with their few training days together.

 

I am going to correct myself a bit. The 5-1 over Spain was pretty damn epic to me. I had a smile on my face for at least a week. Damn it felt good. I was not even interested in giving an analyses after the game. Was just buzzing. No they were not at their peak anymore, but to end their era in such a way and take back the respect of the world that we lost a bit against them in 2010 was really sweet. It definitely was a game in line with the 2008 group match series and something I will remember for a long time.

 

Not quite. That has changed and is changing.

 

It is a huge benefit when the core of your national team is playing in the same league and/or same bunch of club teams (say: Barca + Madrid; Dortmund + Bayern). Or have at least played there from their teens until their early to mid 20s, and internalized the details.

Money also improves your youth set-up. For ex. by enhancing your scouting network (so no talent from distant areas is left unspotted), subsidizing membership fees, subsidizing coaching courses... And can buy analytics and stuff for the laboratory rats..