Total Football

The Dutch Master, Marco Van Basten, who was one of the world's most dangerous strikers in the 80s (until injury cut short his career), is now the coach of the Dutch National Team which recently qualified for the World Cup. Despite having no coaching experience, he seems to understand the necessary building blocks required to create an efficient, tight-knit, hard-working team. "Rather than go for the best players, we go for the best team" is his motto. And his results have been very impressive.

In layman's terms, he's applied the concept of chemistry to soccer formations, much like Luis Felipe Scolari of Brazil (and now Portugal). I, for one, will be rooting for Marco.

Fascinating a nation
by Ernst Bouwes

Here we go! Qualified with still one match to go, which had not happened since the first attempt in 1934.

The reign of Marco van Basten as coach of the Dutch team continues to fascinate a nation which only fifteen months ago seemed to turn its back on its players.

In the first years of this century a star ensemble of orange millionaires from foreign leagues had managed to alienate the fans with uninspired performances, turning the successive national coaches into perennial scapegoats.
In the wake of a dramatic Euro 2004 exit the KNVB took the bold step of appointing Marco van Basten. A man with no experience. His task was to build a team for a succesful European Championship campaign in 2008 and hopefully qualify for Germany two years before.
To everyone's surprise, probably even his own, Van Basten renovated the squad in about two months and spilled only one point in the qualifying group, while climbing to second place in the FIFA World Rankings in the process. Having just beaten the 4th-placed Czech Republic in Prague they might even stay there for a while.
The matches against the Czechs form an interesting yardstick to measure the Dutch team in recent times.
In Portugal both teams produced a memorable football show in which Holland threw away a two-goal lead to lose in the dying minutes. A lot of compliments, no points.
A couple of months later they met again in Amsterdam for the first World Cup qualifier. Van Basten had just replaced Advocaat as national coach and managed to start the game with eight different players.
Of the three who kept their place only Edwin Van der Sar featured in the starting line-up in the return this weekend.
Meanwhile, along with the keeper it was just Rafael Van der Vaart and Dirk Kuijt who experienced both kick-offs against the Czech Republic in the qualifiers.
So, within sixteen months the Czech players were confronted with no less than 29 different people wearing an orange jersey. You can imagine the bewilderment of a national coach like Karel Brückner when he compares the notes of his scouts with the squads that Van Basten selected to play against his team.
All previous files and documents about the Dutch playing style and its executors can be dumped in the garbage can as Van Basten keeps on discovering new talents.
Most international games seem like over-analysed standstills as the top players and coaches are so familiair with each other. Even most tactical tricks are old hat.
Then here comes this new guy on the block without experience or pedigree, who immediately disposes of reputed stars with all their Champions League status from his squad.
Instead of analysing the warming-up of his squad with the hands on his back and his eyebrows frowned, he goes in goal for a playful shoot-out with his assistants. He brings a player in with minimal league experience (6 games) to stop the dangerous Milan Baros and succeeds.
Collapsing under the pressure of the hacks to select player X or Y? Ha, not Van Basten. His whole demeanor is flying in the face of every rule of coaching a national team.
“ We try to select the best team, not the best players ”
— Marco Van Basten
In an interview with De Volkskrant this weekend Van Basten reminisced about his time as a player: 'We tend to forget Kees Rijvers (former coach of PSV Eindhoven in the seventies and the national coach at the start of the eighties.). He inspired a lot of players of our age and set the agenda for innovation.
'He selected Gerald Vanenburg, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and me at an early age for the Dutch team, which would later become the backbone of the European Championship-winning team of 1988. He had a big part in it, although he was ousted years before. He chose players in which he had confidence, be them 18 or 28. The same as we do now. Some may not have played so many games at the top level, but we might spot a certain quality or talent which we need in our team. That is important. We try to select the best team, not the best players.'
This can result in a squad with a majority of players from the Eredivisie, whereas his predecesors preferred the Dutch legionnaires in the bigger European leagues.
'In those competitions results are all that matters. In Holland we still like to play football. That is the kind of players we can use. And there is enough talent within our own league.'

So what are the Dutch chances next year? They still have not been beaten since Van Basten started and have not conceded a goal in their last eight qualifiers.

It is not pretty to watch and certainly not the dominating style the national coach hoped to achieve. However, that style has become sort of a myth.
Dominating the game and pushing the opponents in their own half is widely overrated, especially in Holland. Most teams are happy to lean back and surprise the dominator with the odd razor-sharp counter, then defend their lead.
Van Basten has adapted the best of both worlds with a style of cautious attacking play. He prefers a hard worker who is also a goal-poacher like Dirk Kuyt over the typically Dutch pointless right-winger. On the left he has Arjen Robben who can open up any game at any moment.
Add to that one or two (Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Philip Cocu) world class players and Holland becomes a much more efficient team than the one with eleven world class players on the pitch and another five on the bench.
'Score easily and are difficult to beat' will probably be next year's lines in any World Cup prediction about the Dutch. A bit like the Germans. And it has never done them any harm