Memories of 1998: how did we not win it?

My friends, 21 days to go to the 2026 WC! Can you feel the excitement?

We still have question marks behind the names of Jurrien Timber, Memphis Depay, Emegha, but this means we might exclamation marks behind the name of Summerville!

We will cover the 2026 squad later, but lets dive into the past once more, with 1998 as the main theme.

We came out of a disappointing Euros campaign under Hiddink, who had inherited the talented “Van Gaal” generation, but in 1996, the fractures were becoming visible. Leading up to a public falling out between Edgar Davids on the one side and Hiddink, Blind and De Boer on the other.

We all remember the drama: Davids sent home, Seedorf annoyed as he was not the key man for the Dutch and actually underlined this by his penalty failure and a thrashing by England!

Hiddink appeared to be the master diplomat as he was able to bring Davids back in from the cold, for one of the most exciting WC campaigns in France.

There are Dutch World Cup teams you admire. There are Dutch World Cup teams you debate endlessly in cafés. And then there is the 1998 side: the team you secretly rewatch on YouTube at midnight while muttering, “How on earth did *that* team not win it?”

Managed by Guus Hiddink, the Netherlands arrived in France with a squad dripping in talent, swagger and just enough chaos to remain unmistakably Dutch. They played some of the tournament’s best football, produced moments of sublime brilliance, and once again proved that Dutch football can be both breathtaking and emotionally hazardous to its supporters.

This was Total Football with frosted tips.

## The Squad: Silk, Steel and Seedorf

The spine of the team was outrageously strong.

At the back stood captain Frank de Boer, spraying diagonal passes like a quarterback who had wandered into a football pitch by accident. Alongside him: the rough and rumble Jaap Stam, who defended as if personal insults had been directed at his ancestors.

Midfield featured the majestic Edgar Davids — all dreadlocks, tinted glasses and endless energy — plus the velvet-touch brilliance of Clarence Seedorf and the intelligence of Phillip Cocu.

Up front? Pure danger.

Dennis Bergkamp floated through games like a footballing poet, while Patrick Kluivert supplied power and finishing. On the wings lurked the explosive Marc Overmars and the endlessly entertaining Boudewijn Zenden.

And then there was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who somehow felt like both a starter and a super-sub simultaneously.

Classic Dutch abundance: six world-class attackers, three positions, and at least four newspapers complaining about selection choices every morning.

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# Group Stage

Netherlands 0–0 Belgium

The Low Countries Low Blow

The tournament began with a derby against Belgium, and it was… tense. Very tense.

The Dutch dominated possession but struggled to break through a stubborn Belgian side. Bergkamp hit the bar, chances came and went, but the opening match finished goalless.

In true Dutch fashion, the national mood immediately shifted from “we can win the World Cup” to “this system has fundamental flaws.”

Still, the football looked promising.

Netherlands 5–0 South Korea

Orange Juice, Extra Pulp

Against South Korea, the Dutch exploded into life.

This was the Netherlands everyone had hoped for: quick passing, intelligent movement, overlapping fullbacks, devastating transitions. By halftime it was already effectively over.

Goals came from all directions. Overmars was electric, Cocu controlled the midfield, and the team played with the kind of confidence that makes neutrals fall in love with Dutch football all over again.

At 5–0, Hiddink even had the luxury of rotating players and conserving energy. Rarely has a Dutch side looked so balanced between artistry and pragmatism.

Naturally, this meant supporters immediately started believing again.

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Netherlands 2–2 Mexico

The Great Dutch Hobby: Making Life Difficult

The final group game against Mexico seemed comfortably under control.

Goals from Cocu and Ronald de Boer put the Dutch 2–0 ahead. The football was flowing. The knockout rounds beckoned.

Then, in classic Netherlands tournament tradition, concentration drifted away like a bicycle left unlocked in Amsterdam.

Mexico scored twice late on to make it 2–2, exposing the occasional fragility beneath the beautiful football. Still, the Dutch topped the group and moved on.

The dream remained alive.

# Round of 16

Netherlands 2–1 Yugoslavia

Davids Delivers

The knockout clash with Yugoslavia was tense, fiery and technically superb.

Bergkamp opened the scoring with typical elegance, but Yugoslavia equalised through a penalty. The game seemed destined for extra time until Edgar Davids stepped up in the dying minutes.

The goal was glorious chaos.

Davids surged forward, exchanged passes, and fired home via a wicked deflection. Cue absolute pandemonium.

It was one of those moments that perfectly captured this Dutch team: aggressive, stylish, emotional and just slightly wild. And didn’t we all tear up a bit, when Davids ran straight to Hiddink to celebrate with the master.

# Quarter-Final

Netherlands 2–1 Argentina

Dennis Bergkamp Touches Heaven

Some matches stop being football games and become mythology.

This was one of them.

Against Argentina, the Netherlands produced arguably the defining Dutch World Cup performance of the modern era.

Kluivert opened the scoring after a magnificent long pass from Frank de Boer — a 60-yard laser-guided missile that still deserves its own museum exhibit.

Argentina equalised through Claudio López, tensions rose, tackles flew in, and then came *the moment*.

In the 89th minute, Frank de Boer launched another extraordinary pass from deep. Bergkamp killed it instantly with one touch, flicked it past Roberto Ayala with the second, and finished with the third.

Three touches. Football perfection. Dutch analyst Jack van Gelder got crazy

It remains one of the greatest goals in World Cup history and perhaps the ultimate Bergkamp moment: elegant, cold-blooded and impossibly technical.

Dutch fans still speak of it with the reverence normally reserved for fine art or Johan Cruyff anecdotes.

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# Semi-Final

Netherlands 1–1 Brazil (Brazil won on penalties)

So Close You Could Taste It

The semi-final against Brazil felt like a final before the final.

The Dutch were magnificent for large stretches. Davids dominated midfield battles, Stam defended ferociously, and the team played without fear against the defending champions.

But Brazil had Ronaldo Nazário.

The Brazilian striker opened the scoring before Kluivert equalised late with a towering header from a superb cross by Ronald de Boer.

 

Extra time came and went. Pierre van Hooijdonk – nicknamed Pi-Air – saw a big chance coming his way and when he was about to head the ball home, a Brazilian defender bundled him on to the floor. Penalty? The ref didn’t think so….  Then penalties arrived — football’s cruellest lottery and historically not the Netherlands’ favourite hobby.

Brazil goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel saved penalties from Cocu and Ronald de Boer. Brazil advanced.

You could argue the Netherlands played the better football.

# Third Place Playoff

Croatia 2–1 Netherlands

The “Nobody Wants To Be Here” Cup

The so-called losers final against Croatia felt emotionally flat after the agony of losing to Brazil.

Croatia, inspired throughout the tournament by the brilliant Davor Šuker, edged the Dutch 2–1. Boudewijn Zenden scored for the Netherlands, but the team looked drained. Zenden wanted to do his typical flip celebration (he used to be a gymnast in his youth) but he realised mid jump that Arthur Numan was going to totally bulldozed by him so he allowed himself to fall flat on his face. Team sacrifice.

The third-place match is football’s equivalent of being invited back to a restaurant after your marriage proposal there failed spectacularly.

Still, Croatia fully deserved their bronze medal, while the Dutch were left wondering what might have been.

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Guus Hiddink’s Balancing Act

One of Hiddink’s greatest achievements was managing the personalities.

This was not a quiet squad. Dutch national teams rarely are. Debate, tactical disagreements and dressing-room politics are practically part of the federation’s DNA.

But Hiddink largely kept the balance right.

He trusted Bergkamp as the creative soul, used Davids as the emotional engine, and gave freedom to attackers without completely sacrificing structure. He also showed tactical flexibility: sometimes pragmatic, sometimes flamboyantly attacking.

Critics argued he could have used Seedorf more centrally or rotated differently in key moments, but overall Hiddink produced one of the Netherlands’ finest post-1974 tournament runs.

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Legacy: The Best Team That Didn’t Win?

Ask Dutch fans about 1998 and many will sigh before smiling.

This team had everything:

• technique
• flair
• personality
• tactical intelligence
• genuine world-class players in every line

Unlike some earlier Dutch sides, they also had resilience and defensive steel. They were less romantic than 1974, less dysfunctional than Euro ’96, and more balanced than many Oranje generations before or after.

And yet, like so many great Dutch teams, they fell just short.

In later interviews, the likes of Ronald de Boer, Cocu and Bergkamp admitted that they lacked the true belief to go all the way. Bert van Marwijk would use that insight (Frank de Boer and Phillip Cocu would assist Van Marwijk in South Africa) to install that mantra of winning the World Cup from day 1. Mission Finals World Cup he called it.

Still, for pure watchability, the 1998 side remains unforgettable.

Not world champions.

But unquestionably world class.