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Holland's burden Arrogance lifts Dutch above fellow semifinalists
Posted: Sunday June 25, 2000 05:21 PM
Of the four teams who've made it to the semifinals of Euro 2000, none have had as big a burden of expectation to carry as Holland. The Italians arrived as fallen idols, so anything they've done has been a bonus. Portugal has no track record at this level, so its progress has been a pleasant surprise. And France, as world champion, at least has the cushion of having already won the biggest prize, which makes anything else that this generation of Frenchman achieves mere frosting. Holland on the other hand is a perennial underachiever, whose many years of stylish and innovative football have put just one trophy -- the 1988 European Championship -- in the Dutch cabinet. As well as the underachievers' tag, the current Dutch players are also continually weighed down by comparisons with teams of the past. The championship winners of '88 -- led by the legendary Dutch triumvirate of Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and current coach Frank Rijkaard --forming one part of the intimidating legacy, and the "total football" generation of the previous era championed by the brilliance of the legendary Johann Cruyff. There's also the little matter of the Dutch fans, who don't just expect their team to win, but to win well -- extremely well. Knowing they had all that on their shoulders, my admiration for the manner of the Dutch victory over Yugoslavia in the quarterfinals was total. We've talked about Portugal's flow and flair.
We've marveled at the depth of talent in the French squad, but the latest Dutch performance in my opinion was on another level. It wasn't just because they equaled the biggest margin of victory in European Championship history (sadly for the Yugoslavs, incidentally, they've now been on the wrong end of a 5-goal deficit on two out of the three occasions it's happened). It wasn't just that, in Patrick Kluivert, they now have a gifted striker who at last seems able to control his temperament on the big stage. It was the fact that for the first time in this tournament the Dutch played with the arrogance of a side that demands its own identity.
Arrogance, as France proved in winning the World Cup, and as Brazil and Germany have shown in winning all of their trophies, is a vital ingredient of any championship side. And, after their quarterfinal display in Rotterdam, it seems that the Netherlands are finally in the mood to strut their stuff, believing hat no one can live with them if they play their game. Terry Baddoo is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International. Baddoo is part of the World Sport crew that is in the Netherlands and Belgium covering Euro 2000.
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