Moving quick on 20th team in list, one of my favorites Netherlands. I really want them to finally win it but it's gonna be difficult. This preview is provided by u/AlmostNL. I took a bit liberty with title given their wasn't one when you shared it. I hope I did justice to it. About Nicknames — Oranje (Orange) Association — Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond (KNVB) Confederation — UEFA (Europe). Best World Cup finish — Finalists (1974, 1978, 2010) Top national team scorers — Memphis Depay (55) Robin van Persie (50) Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (42) Most Caps — Wesley Sneijder (134) Edwin van der Sar (130) Frank de Boer (112) Manager/head coach — Ronald Koeman Captain — Virgil van Dijk FIFA ranking — 7th Confusing the world with the IJ or Y, a record low of only three players with the van prefix, and owning a colour like no other country (suck it, Côte d'Ivoire), you know and love them: It's the Netherlands! History: With three finals and two semifinals, the Netherlands is often considered the best footballing nation to have never won the world cup. The golden generation of the 70s, led by Cruijff, is often considered one of the best ever and with two finals in '74 and '78 they took a break of 32 years to lose their third final in 2010. Especially this attacking force with Sneijder, van Persie, Robben, and others led this modern era to the 2010 finals, only to then lose all matches at the 2012 euros. Naturally, we went on to reach third place in 2014, with that van Persie goal as the absolute highlight. Charity cases that we are, in 2018 we joined Italy in not qualifying for the world cup to give other nations a chance. Of course that is a one time thing and we were back in 2022 to give all of Argentina a heart attack by equalising late in extra time in the quarters, only to lose to them on penalities just like in 2014. The Netherlands has always been known for its attacking talents, Cruijff, Kluivert, Robben, but now in the year 2026 we have Memphis Depay as all time top scorer with 55 goals. For the last decade he's been the best we got and endless criticism is here (more of that below). Our defensive players are now world class and with a midfield like this the team can definitely make a deep run. After brothers van de Kerkhof, Koeman, de Boer, de Jong, and others we now have Quinter and Jurrien Timber, both selected to travel to the land of the free to make us proud and continue this strong tradition. Group and opponents: Sweden, Japan, and Tunisia. Surely we can do this, right? Highest ranking and oozing with confidence after losing to Algeria in a friendly before departing to the US, this can't go wrong. (all times converted to Dutch times) We start against Japan on June 14th, 22:00, then continue with Sweden on the 20th at 19:00, ending with a comfortable 1:00 kickoff on the 26th. Squad Player Team Goalkeepers Bart Verbruggen Brighton Robin Roefs Sunderland Mark Flekken Bayer Leverkusen Defenders Micky van de Ven Spurs Nathan Aké Manchester City Virgil van Dijk Liverpool Denzel Dumfries Internazionale Jorrel Hato Chelsea Jan Paul van Hecke Brighton Jurriën Timber Arsenal Mats Wieffer Brighton Midfielders Ryan Gravenberch Liverpool Frenkie de Jong FC Barcelona Teun Koopmeiners Juventus Noa Lang Galatasaray Tijjani Reijnders Manchester City Marten de Roon Atalanta Bergamo Guus Til PSV Eindhoven Quinten Timber Olympique de Marseille Forwards Brian Brobbey Sunderland Memphis Depay SC Corinthians Paulista Cody Gakpo Liverpool Justin Kluivert Bournemouth Donyell Malen AS Roma Crysencio Summerville West Ham United Wout Weghorst Ajax Amsterdam Coach and staff: The Dutch loooooove to give old famous players jobs in management, that is why we have Ronald Koeman at the helm. Despite winning a grand total of zero games against top 25 countries under Koeman we still put our faith in him. Together with his brother Erwin (told you we have a strong tradition of brothers), Wim Jonk, and Ruud van Nistelrooij as assistants we set course with stupidly high expectations yet again. No other nation appoints a manager who leaves to coach "his" Barcelona in a crisis only to be welcomed back with open arms for another tournament or two, but we are that nation and we're all for it. His hair is almost as orange as our shirts so that could be it. Players to watch Donyell Malen: Any Serie A enjoyers such as myself know that Gasperini is a magician, and his AS Roma signed Donyell Malen this year who scored 15 in 20 games for Roma in Serie A and Europa League. Will that translate to the national team where he has been alright at best throughout his 52 caps? Me and the rest of the country believes it because we have to, otherwise we're doomed. Frenkie de Jong: Frenkie is back, baby! Missing out on Euros 2024 due to injury, he's here and ready to rumble. In his NT career he's always been really really good and possibly now at the peak of his powers this is the year to show everyone what he's been made of for the past decade. Barça fans know, Ajax fans know, now it's time for the rest of the world to find out. Denzel Dumfries: Words do not describe how much of a fan I am of Denzel Dumfries. Those who remember the Inter - Barça semifinals of last year (you better do) remember Dumfries putting in a performance for the ages. A late bloomer who was criticised a lot for being... bad at football casually proves the world wrong at Inter and after this summer Real Madrid. One of the players who absolutely did not need to adjust to the NT and instantly put in performance after performance. For those of you lucky (or unlucky, however you see it) to understand Dutch you will have the privilege of hearing him give interviews. If we had 11 Denzels we'd win the world cup without a breaking a sweat. Talking points Offense, offense, offense: For the past few years we've been searching far and wide for a good striker, but we always fall back on Memphis. He's good, yes, but not the killers we've all seen in the 20 years beforehand. Van Persie, Huntelaar, Makaay, van Nistelrooij (maybe we can sneak him onto the pitch). Hell, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink only got 23 caps because we had so many strikers. I mentioned that we put faith in Malen and we really do, he's in the form of his life and if he continues that there's a chance we will see stuff of legends. New faces: Koeman has been criticised a lot for bringing the same squad that is aging and not very good anymore. The classic phrase of "17 million coaches" who all know better sitting at home rings true, but the fact many are glad Wijnaldum is not coming along anymore speaks volume. It took him years to notice that Frimpong was tearing it up at Leverkusen before he got a call. This year we have the long overdue inclusion of Summerville, so we got that going for us. The only player under 23 is Hato, and both 23 year olds are goalkeepers. Marten de Roon (AKA Dirono) is the oldest at 35, here for one last dance. Quietly collecting 42 caps without anyone noticing. Characters: With some.... friction in Dutch society we all crave for something to unite us. With that we get Memphis who has a lifestyle and vibe that rubs people the wrong way, Wout Weghorst who loves wearing the shirt but is also the second most hated player in the Eredivisie, and Noa Lang making music that perfectly polarises people. For the first time ever no Feyenoord player made it into the squad and only two players from the Dutch league made it in, one of them (Weghorst) widely mocked for being there as his Ajax only managed a pathetic 5th place with him scoring 8 goals and not knowing where his elbow is. Conclusion: There are two versions: The Netherlands has that dark horse energy that could have them go on another deep run. There is plenty of talent in the squad but the record against top teams that are also competing is really dire. Defensively good, a strong midfield and an offensive lineup that leaves a lot to be desired. My team has Denzel Dumfries and your team does not. We will win the cup and the canals of Amsterdam will turn orange. We jump 8 steps left and 8 steps right, let the lion roar and see a de Roon thundercunt from 25 meters in the finals to win it all.   submitted by   /u/jiraiya--an [link]   [comments]