@Mne_Oranje I agree. With Gakpo, Van Bommel, Daal, or even Summerville (though I prefer him on the right wing) the position is well covered for the upcoming years. Having said that, Santos was a real plague for Givairo Read the other day, a right back who is supposed to become elite one day.
Ayoni Santos ontbreekt in de wedstrijdselectie van Sparta Rotterdam. De 21-jarige vleugelspits is er volgens trainer Rogier Meijer met zijn hoofd niet bij. https://t.co/ceDrWL4NgM
From Total Football in 1974...
To sitting in a low block, defending in a 5-4-1, with a centre-back playing as a wing-back and just 35% possession against Morocco in 2026.
I'm sorry, but I believe the Netherlands have a squad capable of much more.
The Netherlands deserve better. Johan Cruyff deserves better.
Ronald Koeman prefirió jugar con 3 centrales sacrificando a Reijnders y el control del centro del campo contra una Marruecos que precisamente te gesta su superioridad en esa zona.
Rinus Michels y Johan Cruyff retorciéndose en su tumba. Atentado a la historia del fútbol holandés.
65 players in the WC were born in the Netherlands. 25 play for the country, 25 Curacao, 6 Cape Verde, 3 Morocco and Turkey, and 1 each Ghana, New Zealand and the US (Sergino Dest).
Netherlands is just 0.2% of world population but birthplace of 5.2% of WC players.
The only footballer to rival Ronaldo Nazário as the best pure striker of all times.
Three Ballon d'Ors, two European Cups, a European Championship, FIFA World Player of the Year.
He never played a single match after his 29th birthday.
This is Marco van Basten.
283 goals in 379 matches.
The most complete striker of his generation.
He played at one World Cup. Didn't score a single goal in it. And it wasn't his fault.
Born in Utrecht. Nicknamed "The Swan." 6'3", balletic, devastating in the air and on the ground. At Ajax he scored 128 goals in 133 league matches. Three Eredivisie titles. A Cup Winners' Cup. Golden Boot.
In 1987 Milan signed him alongside Ruud Gullit. Injuries wrecked his first season, 11 appearances. Then he exploded. Ballon d'Or in 1988 and 1989. Two European Cups. Three Serie A titles. A team unbeaten for 58 consecutive league matches.
His goals were impossible, pure art.
Euro 88. West Germany.
Hat-trick against England. The winner against West Germany in the semi-final. Then the final against the Soviet Union, a volley from the right side of the box, an angle so tight commentators still argue about how the ball found the net.
Top scorer, MVP. The best version of Van Basten the world ever saw on a major stage.
Then 1990. Italy. His one and only World Cup.
The Netherlands arrived as European champions. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Koeman, all at their peak. Expectations were enormous.
It fell apart before a ball was even kicked.
The players had voted for Johan Cruyff as national coach. Rinus Michels overruled them and installed Leo Beenhakker instead. Off the record, federation officials called Cruyff a psychopath. Gullit and Van Basten publicly criticised Michels in the press. Michels wrote back. The chaos never settled.
Three group games. Three draws. Van Basten was invisible.
Round of 16. San Siro, his own home ground. Against West Germany. The match the Dutch trio were supposed to dominate on their own turf.
Instead Frank Rijkaard spat in Rudi Völler's hair. Twice. Both men sent off. The Netherlands lost 2-1 and went home.
Van Basten, the best striker on the planet, fresh off winning back-to-back Ballon d'Ors, didn't score a single goal at his only World Cup.
The criticism in the Dutch press was brutal. He had been built up as the man to finally deliver a World Cup. He left with nothing, blamed alongside everyone else for a tournament that had imploded around him before it even began.
He never got another chance. Missed the 1994 World Cup through injury. By 1998 he was retired.
An ankle injury, first sustained in 1987, operated on repeatedly throughout his career, ended everything in 1993. He was 28. Spent two years trying to come back. Multiple surgeries. None of them worked.
In 1995, after two years trying and failing to recover, he announced his retirement at a press conference at Milan's headquarters.
The next day he walked out at the San Siro one last time to say goodbye to 60,000 fans who adored him. Fabio Capello, his coach, broke down in tears on the touchline.
He never played again.
24 goals in 58 caps for the Netherlands. One World Cup. Zero World Cup goals. One European Championship won as the best player alive.
Still, with Ronaldo Nazário, the only name that belongs at the very top of the conversation for greatest striker who ever lived.
The streets will never forget San Marco. 🇳🇱
‼️ RÉCORD HISTÓRICO ‼️
Holanda supera a la Brasil de Pelé y se convierte en la PRIMERA selección que enlaza CATORCE partidos CONSECUTIVOS SIN PERDER en TODA la historia de la Copa del Mundo. La oranje no pierde en el torneo desde la final de Sudáfrica 2010.
Y en el horizonte cercano... Holanda-Brasil u Holanda-Marruecos el 29 de junio en Monterrey. Eso serán palabras mayores.