18th qualifier UEFA (Europe)

The Country | The Road to FRANCE98 | The Team | Honours | Coach

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Land area:	34 000 km²
Population:	15 000 000
Capital:	Amsterdam
Main cities:	Rotterdam, Eindhoven, The Hague
System of government:	Constitutional Monarchy
Head of state:	Beatrix Prime Minister: Wim Kok
Currency:	Gulden
Time difference:	None

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5 October 96	Wales - Holland	1-3
9 November 96	Holland - Wales	7-1
14 December 96	Belgium - Holland	0-3
29 March 97	Holland - San Marin	4-0
2 April 97	Turkey - Holland	1-0
30 April 97	San Marin - Holland	0-6
6 September 97	Holland - Belgium	3-0
11 October 97	Holland - Turkey	0-0

19 points
26 goals scored
4 goals conceded

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Goalkeeper:	VAN DER SAR (age 27, 21 caps)
Defenders:	REIZIGER (age 24, 22 caps) F. DE BOER (age 27, 50 caps) STAM (10 caps) BOGARDE (age 27, 10 caps)
Mid-field:	R. DE BOER (age 27, 36 caps) SEEDORF (age 21, 26 caps) JONK (39 caps) COCU (age 27, 15 caps)
Striker:	BERGKAMP (age 28, 57 caps) KLUIVERT (age 21, 15 caps)

Number of players used during the qualifying rounds: 23

National team colours: orange and white

FIFA ranking (on 16 October 1997):  8th

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• World Cup: 5 participations (1934, 1974, 1978, 1990 and 1994). Finalist in 1974 and 1978

• European Championship: 6 participations. Winner in 1988

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Guus HIDDINK
In Valencia 3 seasons ago, where Guus Hiddink was the coach, he had a racist banner removed from the ground before a game began. It was an act praised by the entire Spanish "Liga", and, as it happens, typical of Hiddink, who sent Edgar Davids back home in the middle of Euro 96 after a quarrel! Clearly managing a team of stars holds no terrors for him. An ex-PSV Eindhoven player and coach (3 times Dutch champions and European Cup winners in 1988), he also managed Fenerbahçe and Valencia. Hiddink, who is a close friend of Johan Cruyff, advocates attractive football and relies on the right blend of his country's Italian and Spanish exiles to make up the body of the national team. Even though they were beaten by Brazil in the 1994 quarter-finals in the U.S.A and by France in Euro 96, the Dutchmen will still be hoping to cut a swathe in FRANCE.

 

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