But here we are, into the last four and up against England, whom they last faced at the Euros back in 1996. Even one of the country’s top coaches has no problem admitting his surprise at how far The Netherlands have made it.
“I think everybody is surprised, but tournament football is weird and strange. I've been in tournament football myself on many occasions and there are some unwritten laws in tournament football where justice is not always served,” former Manchester United assistant coach René Meulensteen tells Tribalfootball.
“You get knocked out because the opposition provides moments of absolutely sheer quality which you can't defend against. That's why the best teams are there in the semi-final. Or you give stupid fouls away, a stupid penalty, maybe a stupid red card. All those things can decide those knockout games.
“Also, the pressure that goes with it, who's dealing with it best because of what's at stake, obviously. I really hope it's going to be a better game than we saw in the quarterfinals. I hope we're going to see much more action, otherwise this European Championship starts to turn out a little bit dull,” Meulensteen adds before, at the request of Tribalfootball, suggesting how the Dutch could beat England on Wednesday.
“It's strange because both teams have got a lot of quality but neither have really played at their best. I think the pressure will be more on England but the Netherlands definitely gained confidence by the way they played against Romania and also from coming back against Turkey.
“They need to be far better in defensive transition. That's the big problem. Holland have a very poor counter-press. They haven't really got that down by quickly turning into a good defensive block and they tend to be a little bit open.
“If you give a team like England the space to find the pockets they can cause all sorts of problems, so I hope Koeman will address that. It's going to be interesting to see how he goes about it because Holland could really play with three speed machines up front, depending on whether they want to surrender possession a little bit more to England and hit them on the break.
“I don't think they will, though, I think you need to press England high so they surrender the ball to you and it's going to be a game where fortune favors the brave. Who wants it more but also which top players are really going to hit the level that we all expect to make a difference.”
Speaking of top players - while captain of Oranje, Virgil van Dijk is not remotely as popular with the Dutch supporters as he is with the Liverpool faithful and Meulensteen isn’t in awe of Big Virg’s performances either.
“I don't think he necessarily has all the personality and charismatic traits to be the captain that you should have. But I think the biggest point of criticism is that he should be able to do much more from the back in terms of making things happen.
“Obviously, he hardly gives the ball away, but he just passes it on to somebody else rather than go looking to find a pocket or hit the switch. It's all too easy for him, he rather takes the safe option and that doesn't create anything. At times, especially when the opposition is in a good shape, you need to make a shift to find a way to penetrate and a lot of times it comes from the centre-back stepping into midfield. Everybody expects a bit more from the Dutch captain.”
- René Meulensteen was speaking to Tribalfootball on behalf of Free Bets.