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| Under the management of Louis van Gaal Holland breezed through to the World Cup finals |
PERHAPS Louis Van Gaal is not such a bad manager after all.
With much the same Dutch squad he breezed through to the World Cup finals in Rio on the back of nine wins in 10 qualifying games, finishing top of Group D, 12 points ahead of Turkey.
The Manchester United manager even took them on from there. After a relatively productive tournament, the Dutch only failed to reach the final when Argentina beat them in the semi-final shoot-out and they bounced back from that disappointment to thrash traumatised hosts Brazil, claiming third place as a result.
That, it appears, was Van Gaal's big mistake. Remarkably, seven of the last nine World Cup bronze medallists have failed to qualify for the next round of European Championships two years later - the Germans post 2006 and 2010 the only exceptions.
The biggest crime for the Dutch this year is that it has never been easier to reach the finals of a major tournament, with UEFA taking 15 months to whittle 53 members of the Confederation down to a largest-ever field of 24 finalists.
Now, following the 3-0 defeat to Turkey in Konya on Sunday, the country that pioneered Total Football and reached back-to-back World Cup finals in the 1970s, as well as the last two just five years ago, are even outsiders in the race to claim a play-off place.
Turkey are two points ahead of them with fixtures against the two teams who can relax having already qualified.
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| Robin van Persie during Holland's 3-0 defeat to Turkey |
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| Ronald Koeman watches on as Southampton boss |
The Dutch face an uncomfortable trip to Kazakhstan before the October 13 showdown in the Amsterdam Arena against the Czech Republic, which will decide the fate of the second manager of the qualifying campaign.
Guus Hiddink lasted just a year after succeeding Van Gaal, making way for Danny Blind, father of the Van Gaal's centre-back at Manchester United, Daley.
Yet two games into his reign he is already under pressure as the descent towards retirement of Robin Van Persie and Wesley Sneijder leave the Netherlands too blunt to overcome some naïve defensive howlers and an over-reliance on Arjen Robben is proving to big a burden.
While the Dutch FA, still shell-shocked by the way their players tried to kick Spain off the pitch in the 2010 World Cup final, want a return to a Johan Cruyff-inspired ideal of ball-playing maestros, it is hard to imagine the litany of blunders committed in this campaign would have happened under a disciplinarian such as Van Gaal.
A last-minute header by Daryl Janmaat against his own post teed up the Czechs to snatch victory before a stupidly soft penalty in Reykjavik sent Iceland on their way. Separate red card and penalty incidents then marred the return last week.
Yet from the ruins of this campaign, one man is emerging as a saviour - a man who famously pulled his nation through qualification to the 1994 World Cup, at the same time as pulling back David Platt.
Ronald Koeman is who many in Holland now feel the country should have turned to when Van Gaal left. Southampton fans be warned.
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