Netherlands tag of Neverland breathes on

Many bookies predicted a Dutch and Deutschland progress from the “Group of Death” in the ongoing UEFA Euro 2012 tournament. There were reasons for the Oranje team and supporters to feel confident as they embarked on their European adventure.

Bert van Marwijk’s team qualified for the continental championship in comfortable style with nine wins out of ten, their consistent performance earned them the second position behind the current World and European champions, Spain in the FIFA Coca-Cola monthly ranking for a significant period. Being runners-up at the last FIFA World Cup, the Dutch team was expected to at least match their performance at South Africa or go a step further.

However, the abundance of attacking talent has turned out to be a curse rather than a gift. A team blessed with two golden boot winners of two top European leagues (Robin Van Persie and Jan Klass-Huntelaar), mercurial playmakers (Wesley Sneijder and Rafael Van der Vaart) and the explosive Arjen Robben, and not to forget the workaholic, Dirk Kuyt.

What went wrong?

For a team touted as one of the pre-tournament favorites, they soon became the laughing stock by finishing bottom of their group without a point to their name. Major disaster.

It is the first time in more than a decade that the Dutch have failed to reach the second round at either the World Cup or the Euros.

‘Chemistry‘ and bonding was a big problem.

The likes of Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Klaas Jan Huntellar, who were coming after fantastic performances for their clubs in respective leagues, were all over the place.

It was a mix of playmakers of different minds, always operating in accordance with their own opinions. Playing nine months with different clubs was the major factor here. Most of these players are used to being the main man for their club’s team attack, but they never gelled together here. They were mostly confused while attacking.

Van Persie, who is one of the biggest transfer targets this summer for a number of clubs, missed a lot of opportunities. His decision making was poor and apart from the one goal he scored against Germany, was poor throughout. Robben, on the other hand, can arguably be seen among the better performers but it was the same old story for the Bayern Munich winger. Robben moaned about the presence of too many big egos in the Dutch squad, yet he himself was too selfish while on the pitch. He forgot that football is a team game and you have to pass around the ball. He also was a problematic personality in the dressing room- storming off the pitch after being substituted against the Germans.

For a team full of immense talent, ego was the biggest enemy for them and their coach – Bert van Marwijk could not deal with the so-called ‘big name’ stars.

Holland have not only embarrassed themselves, their fans and their country with three rubbish performances, they have also shown that they need a major overhaul in their team and the style of their play if they want to banish the tag of Neverland which hangs over them like the Sword of Damocles.

Or, what do you think the Netherlands need to be?