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.
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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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DenmarkDenmark - National football team
The Denmark national football team is controlled by the Danish Football Association and has represented the country of Denmark in international football competitions since 1908. The team has been a solidly competitive side in international football since the mid-1980s, with the triumph in the 1992 European Championships (Euro 1992) tournament as its most prominent victory, beating the the European champions in the semi-final, and the world champions in the final . They also won the Confederations Cup in 1995 defeating Argentina 2–0 in the final match.
On October 10, 2009, Denmark qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by winning their qualification group with a victory over Sweden. Apart from the men's senior team, Denmark competes with a women's national team, and has teams at various youth levels for both men and women, most prominently the under-21 national team.
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Additionally, there is a league national team, or B-team, of the best players from the domestic Danish Superliga, playing official games in the winter break of the national league, as well as an old-boys national team. Historically, the team competed in the Summer Olympics until and including the 1988 tournament, whereafter Olympic games count as under-21 national games. After failing to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, coach Olsen considered leaving the job, having received several offers from club teams, but decided to stay and extended his contract until after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, spurred on by his and the team's popularity among the Danish population..
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