From Cruyff to Van Basten, Gullit to Bergkamp, the Dutch have always been an international powerhouse. 

From the elegance and flair of the ‘total football’ side of the '70s, through to the rough and rumble sides of the early 2010s, the Netherlands have always been a relevant, global presence. 

With that said, the Dutch have only achieved that ultimate glory just once when they hoisted the 1988 European Championship in Munich. And that will never make up for the pain of losing three World Cup finals. 

So, despite defining the 1970’s and revolutionising the sport, with many of those tenants still being felty today, there’s something of a pronounced bridesmaid feel about the Dutch when it comes to crowning achievements. 

And this hollowness has only been amplified in recent years with the national team failing to qualify for both the 2016 Euros as well as the Russian World Cup two years later. 

With that said, Dutch fortunes appear to have changed in recent times producing a near-flawless qualifying stage, while setting the group stage of these Euros on fire winning all three of their matches and firing home a tournament-high 8 goals in the process. 

The Dutch seem to back to their breathtaking best, yet are we sleeping on a legitimate tournament threat? Let’s take a look. 

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The 70’s revisited

While the attacking fluidity might not be as exciting as that of Johann Cruyff’s 70’s sides, the ‘total football’ philosophy still lingers making this Dutch side a nightmare to defend. 

They’ve scored the most goals and boast the most expected goals too with 8 and 7.6 respectively. The 3-4-2-1 system that Frank De Boer has deployed has seen a heavy emphasis on getting either wing-back in a lot of space, with intricate passing and clever movement from their central players. This can be seen as Denzel Dumfries and Frenkie De Jong are having excellent tournaments, with the former being linked with moves to Bayern Munich and Internazionale.

With Memphis Depay leading the way, Netherlands have been carving teams apart at will. They have the 5th most shot-creating actions per-90 with 22.33 and are 2nd for goal creating actions per-90 with 4.0. They have the 4th most shots with 45 so far, with their efficiency shining through. They rank third for both goals per-shot and goals per shots on target with 0.16 and 0.44 respectively. 

As well as being ruthlessly efficient, they've also developed a nice variety of goal sources as well, making them even harder to predict and to defend against. 

However, there's a pattern emerging with the goals they are scoring. They use width through either the wing-backs or either number 9 moving into the channel, to get a cut back to a 2nd or 3rd man runner into the box. All but 6 of their 8 goals have been scored in this fashion, suggesting they'll need to expand their repertoire as the tournament progresses. 

Thankfully for the Netherlands, they have the likes of Donyell Malen, Wout Weghorst and Quincy Promes to call upon and whom are all able to offer the team different avenues to goal should De Boer be needing to change things up.  

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Unlocking the Gini 

In every major tournament, each winning team has a player who takes the tournament by storm and makes a name for himself on the biggest stage. 

In 2018 it was Mbappe, in 2016 it was Renato Sanches, and should the Netherlands go all the way, Gini Wijnaldum will put his name on the list. 

Whilst he isn't exactly an unknown amongst the footballing landscape, he has always been seen as a good player, playing in an unbelievable side. 

His name was never mentioned with the elite in his position, and he was often regarded as the 'best of the rest'. However, so far at Euro 2020, that notion has changed big time. Playing in a more advanced, number 10 role than what he’s done previously for Liverpool, Wijnaldum has been one of the best so far this tournament and functioned as the driving force behind the Netherland's early success. 

In his new, more creative role, he’s flourished. He is equal second in the golden boot race with 3 goals already, and has been the focal point of all Dutch happenings going forward. Operating in-between the lines, he drifts mainly to the right-hand side to link up with Dumfries and create square passing patterns, with the left-sided central midfielder and the bombing of Patrick Van Aanholt. 

He is a fantastic athlete, and his well-roundedness provides a problem for the opposition both in the air and on the ground. With the Netherlands emphasis on late runners into the box, Wijnaldum has the intelligence to arrive just at the right time, whether the ball is in the air or on the ground, to capitalise on nearly every chance he gets. He has yet to miss a big chance so far, and has a goal per shot on target ratio of 0.75, the 4th most of anyone who has scored more than 1 goal at this tournament. 

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Can they go all the way? 

Sure can. And their draw has opened up rather nicely too. 

The final match-day mayhem has resulted in all of France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain being pitted on the other side of the Dutch half, with a reasonable path to at least a semi-final opening right up. 

Currently, the Stats Insider futures model is indicating the Dutch have the best probability of all teams to make the semis with a 50.1%chance, while their overall prospects currently sit at 10.8%. 

While no, it'll take quite a bit to erase the pain of their three World Cup losses, yet a second European trophy will be gladly accepted, while they'd become just the fourth nation along with Germany, France and Spain to be crowned European champs multiple times. 

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