It could be that final. Europe 3 Latin America 0 in the quarter-finals - who would have predicted that on Friday morning? - could see a Dutch-German showdown at the end of next week. I suspect if the Dutch go down to the Germans again in the World Cup final it could see them leave the Euro…… 

It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the 2:1 victory over Brazil for the Netherlands. Plenty of ghosts were laid to rest on that Friday afternoon, and a proud footballing nation is once again walking tall after two decades of disappointments. The first victory over Brazil at the World Cup since Cruyff led them to a 2:0 win in ’74.

This is undoubtedly the best footballing unit the Netherlands have put together since the victorious European Championship squad of 1988. It is also by far the most balanced, coming in somehwere between the outrageous skills of the Cruyff era and the van Basten-Gullitt-Rijkaard ’88ers. There is no weak position in the entire team, and there is an effective combination between the defensive stubbornness of van Bommel and de Jong and the fluid attack of Robben, van Persie, Kuijt, and Schneider. It is also a team led by an effective no-nonsense manager who has done a fine job keeping expectations calm and realistic. The only worry is Robin van Persie, who doesn’t seem to be as sharp as he could be, and doesn’t like being substituted. If there is still an ego problem in the team, that is where it lies.

The contrast with the 1990s-2000s could not be starker. The post-88 group was an amazing bunch of talent – the trio named above plus Davids, Seedorf, Kluivert, Koeman, the de Boers – but they also possessed some of the biggest egos in the sport. A succession of tournaments saw the Dutch show occasional devastating talent  accompanied by self-destruction with clashes within the team, either player-to-player or player-to-manager. The 1990 World Cup was a fiasco as Gullit fell out with Leo Beenhakker, and the 1992 European Championship saw a team that ripped the Germans apart 3:1 collapse into anonimity against the Danes. The same tournament in 1996 saw them only turn up to be decimated by England 4:1, with Gascoigne in his prime.

The World Cups of 1994 and 1998 were the watershed. Two losses to Brazil stopped this particular Dutch footballing generation in its tracks. The 1994 quarter-final loss was a bitter pill. Brazil strolled to a 2:0 lead (the second with more than a hint of offside) before the Dutch got themselves together, Bergkamp ghosting through the Brazilian defence and Aaron Winter – one of the unsung greats of that team – heading in a corner to make it 2:2. But the Brazilians regrouped and an unbelievable Branco free kick sealed it. ’98 was much the same. The one superstar in the  Netherlands team without an ego problem – Dennis Bergkamp – produced one of the all-time most sublime goals to remove serious title contender Argentina in the quarter-final, only for them to lose out again in the semi.  ’98 was also the first of the penalty traumas, to be followed by a similar exit from the 2000 European Championships, this time on home soil. This was the low point – in 2002 the Netherlands failed to qualify for the World Cup, edged out by a pumped up Ireland and and an aggressive Portugal, something that would return later.

2004-2006 saw false promise as the Dutch came apart twice against Portugal, the second involving a complete collapse of discipline, yellow and red cards all over the place. Having displayed an inability to cope with deliberate provocation from the Portuguese, the 2008 European Championships were a trauma of another kind. Given the strongest group, the Dutch wiped out the French (4:1) and the Italians (3:0), the first victory over the Italians for 30 years, and with the tournament apparently at their feet (shades of ’92), they succumbed in the next round against an efficient and imaginative Russian squad under Guus Hiddink. What happened that night is still not clear – whether it was being out-psyched by fellow countryman Hiddink or the collective shock in the team after the loss of defender Boularouz’s child –  but one thing is clear – it sobered up the whole mentality of Dutch national football. You can play like a dream and claim moral victory all you want but it doesn’t mean shit in the record books. This is the true legacy of the Cruyff era, and since 2008 this is what the Dutch have set out to overcome. The victory over Brazil was the best possible indication that they are on the right track.

Expressing criticism, it is fair to say, comes to the Dutch quite easily, not least against their national football team. Even when they are winning. The victory over Brazil was their fifth in a row at the World Cup, the best sequence since 1974, yet before Friday afternoon there was little sense that the home front was enjoying it. Where is the beautiful game? was the cry. Even now you hear on the train that Brazil defeated themselves by an own goal and a red card. As an England fan, where such victories would be treated as manna from heaven, this is difficult to swallow. Friday was a massive game, above all for the way that Brazil came off the starting blocks and aimed to blow the Dutch away in 20 minutes. The determination to turn the game around, even if only 1:0 down, was simply awesome. 

Of course, this can all still go wrong. The Dutch will be missing de Jong and van de Wiel against Uruguay, both of whom were outstanding. This could balance out the loss of Suarez for Uruguay after his impressive goal-keeping against Ghana. And then if they make it, the Germans could be looming yet again.