Estilo

«Winning is not the most important thing. The most important thing is to play a good game.» Foppe de Haan

«Dutch crowds don't like it when southern European players come here and introduce diving. Machlas [a Greek striker] or Dani [who is Portuguese] say: "At home, we are heroes if we win a penalty". But in Holland the crowd doesn't like it at all. If an English defender kicks the ball into the stands, he gets a big cheer. Do that here and you get booed by your own fans. It's seen as destructive. In every Dutch team the defenders, even the goal keeper, must be able to play football.»

«The Dutch are devoted to their good football (a phrase with distinct Calvinistic moral overtones) and also have an equally Calvinistic urge to proselytise their beauty and goodness to the world. As Feyenoord boss Leo Beenhakker observes: "At a World Cup or a European Championship, ninety per cent of the teams are there to win. But there's always one country who only wants to show how good they are. And that's Holland. It's our drama. With all our talent, our technical and tactical skills, our offensive football, we have only once won a major tournament [in 1988], and that was by accident. We love the game, but we lack something.»

«"I don't go through life cursing the fact that I didn't win a World Cup. I played in a fantastic team that gave millions of people watching a great time. That's what football is all about. The Dutch team of the seventies was fantastic to watch. (...) That is the best reward I can have as an ex-player (...) There is no medal better than being acclaimed for your style. (...) Be happy, express yourself and play. Make it special for you and for everyone watching. That is the greatest reward.» Johan Cruyff

«Dennis Bergkamp, the coolest, most austere aesthete of current Dutch players, has said that "Behind every action must be a thought". As Johan Cruyff puts it: "(...) You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late.". Como se pode depreender das seguintes imagens.


Um dos melhores golos de sempre! Dennis Bergkamp no 2x1 face à Argentina no Mundial de 1998 (França). Frank de Boer lança a bola pelo ar (cerca de 60m!) e Bergkamp com apenas três toques (do seu pé direito) domina a bola, tira o defesa do caminho e mete a bola na baliza, colocando a Holanda nas meias-finais (face ao Brasil, com quem perderam nos penalties).

As citações são retiradas do livro Brilliant Orange. The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football, de David Winner.