JUST FOR FUN

Holland have every reason to be satisfied with Friday’s draw. They managed to stay away from European powerhouses such as France and Portugal, while classy African teams such as Ivory Coast and Ghana will be avoided as well in the group stage.

However, being paired with Cameroon, Japan and Denmark certainly doesn’t mean automatic qualification for the knock-out phase of the 2010 World Cup. All of Holland's opponents have considerable World Cup experience, as they’ve played in at least three editions of the tournament before. Additionally, they have done relatively well in the World Cup qualification campaign.

Denmark currently sit 26th in the FIFA rankings and impressed in the qualifying campaign by finishing ahead of Portugal and Sweden. Arsenal youngster Nicklas Bendtner is his side's star man, while players such as Jon Dahl Tomasson, Dennis Rommedahl and Michael Silberbauer all ply their trade in the Eredivisie and will meet some familiar faces.


Japan were beaten 3-0 in an international friendly by the Oranje earlier this year, but put in a decent performance throughout the match. The 43rd ranked team in the world according to FIFA will rely heavily on experienced midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura and young striker Takayuki Morimoto to help them to success, while VVV star Keisuke Honda will be eager to make an impact as well.

Cameroon are eleventh in the FIFA rankings at the moment and will certainly be no pushovers for the Dutch. Their star players are Samuel Eto’o and Carlos Kameni, while midfielder Eyong Enoh will be delighted to meet some of his Ajax team-mates.

Altogether, Holland are clearly the favourites to progress from Group E and they should be able to secure first spot without too much trouble. Cameroon are likely to qualify for the next round as well, but both Denmark and Japan will provide a stern challenge for the Africans to join the Oranje to the next round.


Will there be reason to celebrate in South Africa...

The opponent in the next round will be the second placed team Group H. Italy are expected to come first in that group, while Slovakia, Paraguay and New Zealand will have to battle it out for the second spot. The Kiwis aren’t likely to make it through, meaning that Slovakia or Paraguay will probably be the next opponent for the Oranje.

Slovakia are a talented team with promising youngster such as Vladimir Weiss, Miroslav Stoch and Marek Hamsik. However, they lack the experience of World Cup football and shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for Holland in an eventual final sixteen game.

Paraguay on the other hand have a number of superb attackers in Roque Santa Cruz, Oscar Cardozo and Nelson Valdez. They held Netherlands to a 0-0 draw a couple of weeks ago and appeared solid at the back. Paraguay could pose the Dutch all kinds of trouble and a quarter-finals spot could be in danger for the Oranje.

From there on, it starts getting difficult to predict what teams will still be in it. However, the team that is most likely to make it to the quarter-finals are Brazil or Chile. Chile shouldn’t be too much of a problem for the Oranje, but Brazil are a different piece of cake.

The Selecao impressed during the 2009 Confederations Cup and boast several world-class players in their squad. Kaka, Maicon, Lucio and Luis Fabiano are just a number of high profile names from the roster head coach Dunga can choose from. To make things even worse, Netherlands don’t exactly have pleasant memories from their previous encounters with Brazil. The South Americans ended Holland’s World Cup ambitions in both 1994 and in ’98.

On to the semi-finals, where the Dutch eventually could end up facing France or England. The Three Lions put in an impressive performance against the Oranje in an international friendly earlier this year. However, they looked shaky at the back against the Dutch attack and had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

Holland will look back more fondly on their last game against Les Bleus. Both nations were paired in the ‘Group of Death’ at Euro ’08 and the Dutch proved to be too strong for Raymond Domenech’s men. That said, Holland appear to be up for the challenge against England or France if they make it into the semi-finals and a spot in the final of the 2010 World Cup certainly isn’t impossible.



The Oranje will be desperate to make it into the final, where they could very well face Spain, Germany or Portugal. The Oranje don’t really have a history with Spain, so they’d rather face one of their two rivals. They will be gunning for revenge if they take on Portugal in the final, as they were eliminated by the Portuguese at Euro ’04 and the 2006 World Cup.

However, beating the Germans in the final will be something no Dutchman will ever forget for the rest of his life. The path to the final won’t be an easy one for Holland, but as head coach Bert van Marwijk already said ahead of the draw, "We should be able to beat every opponent if we want to win the World Cup."