World Cup 2014 The Netherlands Predictions - How Far Can The Dutch Go In The World Cup?

When in June 1988, Marco Van-Basten placed the ball over the giant Soviet goalkeeper Rinat Dasaev to score one of the best goals of the history of football at the Olympiastadion in Munich, everyone knew that the Holland was about to be coronated as the new European champions. That was magical a team, led by Rinus Michels, although they failed to impress two years later at the World Cup, which took place in Italy and during which they sucumbed at the hands of West Germany in the last 16 round.

Despite having a fantastic set of players, the current Dutch team is still miles away from that 1988 side lead by Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, and Frank Rijkaard. Their current boss (and future Manchester United head coach), Louis Van Gaal, is nevertheless performing a fantastic job with a team packed with young and promising players and he has certainly prepared the path for a bright future for the Dutch National Team.

The Netherlands UEFA qualification group was a perfect stroll in the park for them, as they managed to win nine out of their ten matches and only allowed one draw against Estonia. Van Gaal’s side scored some impressive thirty-four goals and conceded only five, which makes them a serious case of success, especially if one considers the difficulty level of their UEFA qualification group, with teams such as Romania, Hungary and Turkey.

The Netherlands were placed on Group B of the Brazil’s World Cup, alongside with the all-powerful Spain, Chile and Australia. If the Socceroos don’t present an imminent threat to the Dutch side, the same cannot be said about Spain and even Chile. The current World champions are firm favourites to walk through to the group stage together with Holland, although, the highly competent Jorge Sampaoli’s Chile cannot be ruled out of that battle.

Back in 2010, at South Africa, the Netherlands reached the final where they sucumbed precisely at the hands of Spain after extra-time and now they will have the chance to somewhat avenge that sour and painful defeat. Holland has already lost three World Cups by now and they will certainly not want that history to repeat itself again at Brazil.

Although they are probably not the clockwork orange of the times of Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels, they are a very competent and strong team that are firm favourites to win the group and even to reach the semi-finals, just to say the least.

The Netherlands Match Predictions

13 June 2014: Spain 1 The Netherlands 1 Best Odds 23/10

18 June 2014: Australia 0 The Netherlands 2 Best odds 4/11

23 June 2014: The Netherlands 1 Chile 1 Best Odds 9/4

The Netherlands’ Provisional 29-man squad list for the World Cup

Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen, Tim Krul, Michel Vorm, Jeroen Zoet

Defenders:Daley Blind, Joel Veltman, Stefan de Vrij, Daryl Janmaat, Terence Kongolo, Bruno Martins Indi, Tonny Vilhena, Karim Rekik, Patrick van Aanholt, Paul Verhaegh, Ron Vlaar.

Midfielders:  Jordy Clasie, Jonathan de Guzman, Nigel de Jong, Leroy Fer, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Georginio Wijnaldum.

Forwards:Jean-Paul Boetius, Memphis Depay, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Dirk Kuyt, Jeremain Lens, Quincy Promes, Robin van Persie