The carnival hit “Viva Colonia” is also available in Dutch. Sung by the hit king Wolter Kroes, he was even number one in the local charts in 2008. On Tuesday night he found his way back into the Dutch folk soul. The footballers of the national team showed a cabin video on the Internet in which they are dancing wildly in their orange jerseys. “We’re back, that’s great, Viva Hollandia,” they sing fervently in Dutch. Yes, the Netherlands are back on the world football stage. In a year they will play for the first time since 2014 in a world championship. How difficult it was for them to qualify in the 2-0 win against Norway reveals a lot about the state of Dutch football.
Shortly before the start of the ultimate qualifying game in Rotterdam, the bond coach Louis van Gaal appeared in a wheelchair at the open door of a VIP box behind the VIP box. A notepad and cell phone were in his lap. During the game he made notes of things. Again and again he picked up the cell phone and pressed the redial. Then you saw the assistant coach Henk Fraser pressing the accept button on his headphones down on the bench at the edge of the field.
Under no circumstances could the Netherlands lose to Norway. There had been a series of dire events in the previous days. First, because of the corona incidence, the government banned even a single spectator from entering the De Kuip stadium, despite 44,000 tickets sold. Then the footballers in Montenegro gambled away a 2-0 lead and put their already safe World Cup qualification in danger again with a 2-2. And then the Bondscoach fell off his bike and broke a hip bone. “On Sunday,” van Gaal now confessed, “I was afraid that everything could go wrong.”
Norway has no place in a World Cup without Erling Haaland
In the rain of Rotterdam, the 70-year-old watched an almost unbearably static game from his wheelchair. In every seat in the stadium there was an orange flag that nobody waved, and there were two gates in the square that nobody pressed. Preventing goals was first and foremost. When the news arrived from Podgorica in Montenegro half an hour before the end that Turkey was leading, it was clear that a single goal from the Norwegians would be enough to make the Netherlands miss Qatar in 2022 after the 2018 World Cup. “It’s difficult when you know that every mistake has fatal consequences,” said defense chief Virgil van Dijk for understanding.
When the paralyzed Norwegians, whose association voted in June not to boycott the World Cup in Qatar, even tried to put a little more pressure on in the last ten minutes, Steven Bergwijn (84th) and Memphis Depay shot (91.) the two goals for the Netherlands. It was clear to see: Norway has no place in a World Cup without Erling Haaland. The miracle striker is currently injured. “In the first leg in Oslo he was the only one who caused danger,” recalled Oranje coach van Gaal.
The national players Julian Ryerson (Union Berlin), Mats Möller Daehli (1. FC Nürnberg) and Jens Petter Hauge (Eintracht Frankfurt) were just as unhelpful for Norwegian coach Stale Solbakken. The first two sat on the bench. Hauge was substituted on in the second half and 28 minutes later. You all have to watch the World Cup on TV. Norway was at the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship for the last time.
Van Gaal says his players “executed brilliantly”
Even with the Dutch, three German legionaries only sat on the bench: Freiburg goalkeeper Mark Flekken, Dortmund attacker Donyell Malen and Wolfsburg center forward Wout Weghorst. There is currently no way around FC Barcelona’s Memphis Depay. With twelve goals (as many as England’s Harry Kane) and six assists, the 27-year-old is the top scorer in the European World Cup qualification. He excused the poor game against Norway with obligatory pragmatism. “We did what had to be done,” he said, cool as a cowboy.
When the redeeming hits fell, van Gaal showed no emotion in his wheelchair. Perhaps the joy he had lived would have caused him only physical pain. “We played very compactly for 90 minutes,” he justified the dreary but effective performance of his team: “The players implemented the plan brilliantly.” In any other context, the word “brilliant” would not have been used that evening either.
And so it took a nightly Internet video to send euphoria out into the country after a bleak soccer game. In 13 months, they want to make up for all the footballing promises that the Netherlands could not keep in the European Championship round of 16 under coach Frank de Boer or in the subsequent World Cup qualification under Louis van Gaal. Viva Hollandia!