The Dutch touch a place in us all

It goes back a long way; those of a particular generation go misty-eyed recollecting grainy film of Cruyff and his team playing Total Football, and the first goal in the World Cup Final of 1974, when the Dutch were awarded a penalty before a single German player touched the ball!

The next generation remembers Cruyff’s successors: Gullit, Rijkaard, van Basten, and their success at Euro 88. They had brains, they had the physique, they had the skills. They had us on a platter. Things have been a little strained since then, with occasional glimpses of that class — peerless Bergkamp, fitful Kluivert, injury-prone van Nistelrooy, fadeaway Overmars, bulldog Davids. But they’re back again, just like a long-lost friend, finally playing the kind of football we know they can.

There’s a group of talented youngsters — the prodigious Robben, the enigmatic van der Meyde, the yet-to-be-discovered Sneijder and van der Vaart — in the side offering proof that the style will be perpetuated. But it is essentially a team on the wane, with too many stars (including seven of the XI that played Latvia) on the wrong side of 30.

The message, then, is this: enjoy this season’s crop of Oranje while it lasts. They’re exasperating, infuriating, frustrating…but only because we know they can be so exhilirating.