NetherlandsNetherlands - National football team
The Dutch national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands and is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). It won Euro '88 and reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978, but lost both finals to their respective host nations, West Germany and Argentina. At the peak of its success in the 1970s, the team was famous for its mastery of Total Football and was nicknamed Clockwork Orange for its precision passing. In the Netherlands the team is colloquially referred to as Oranje. It is currently ranked fourth in the FIFA World Rankings and third in the World Football Elo Ratings.
Netherlands - VideoNetherlands - NewsNetherlands - National football team
The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905. The players were selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch football association. After 90 minutes, the score was 1–1, but because the match was for a trophy (the "Coupe van den Abeele"), the game went into extra time, in which Eddy de Neve scored three times, making the score 1–4.[1]
The Netherlands made their first appearance at the World Cup final tournament in 1934, and after coming back in 1938, the Dutch national team entered the wilderness of world football. They came out of this wilderness in the 1970s with the invention of Total Football (Dutch: Totaalvoetbal), pioneered by Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team coach Rinus Michels. The Dutch made huge strides, qualifying for two World Cup finals in the decade.
In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, the team lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, despite having gone 1–0 up through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before any German had even touched the ball. The Dutch were trying to embarrass the Germans at home while they were only up 1–0. This would prove their undoing. Supported by the crowd, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller led to a victory for the Germans. Despite losing the final Clockwork Orange and Johan Cruyff had written a new page in football's history..
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SlovakiaSlovakia - National football team
The Slovakia national football team represents Slovakia in international football and is controlled by the Slovak Football Association. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the Slovakia Football Association was founded in 1993, and has been affiliated to both FIFA and UEFA since the same year. They will be participants at the 2010 World Cup for the first time since independence. The first official match of the first Slovak Republic (1939–1945) was played in Bratislava against Germany on 27 August 1939, and ended in a 2-0 victory for Slovakia. After the Second World War, the national football team was subsumed into the team of Czechoslovakia, and for over fifty years Slovakia played no matches as an independent country.
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During this period they contributed several key players to the Czechoslovak team, including the majority of the team that won the 1976 European Championships.
Slovakia's first official international after regaining independence was a 1-0 victory in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates on 2 February 1994. Their match back on Slovakian soil was the 4-1 defeat against Croatia in Bratislava on 20 April 1994. Slovakia suffered their biggest defeat since independence (6-0) on 22 June 1995, in Mendoza, against Argentina. Their biggest wins (7-0) have come against Liechtenstein in 2004 and San Marino in 2007.
Slovakia played in a major championship as an independent team for the first time in Euro '96 qualifying, but finished in third place in their qualifying group, behind Romania and France, having recorded wins against Poland, Israel and Azerbaijan, twice. In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, Slovakia finished fourth in their six-team group with five wins, one draw and four defeats.
Slovakia will participate in the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their history as an independent nation after finishing in first place in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 3 ahead of Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, and Poland. On 14 October 2009, they clinched qualification with a 1-0 away win against Poland..
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