Striker Robin van Persie and head coach Louis van Gaal show their elation after the Netherlands' defeat of Spain. Photo / AP
Striker Robin van Persie and head coach Louis van Gaal show their elation after the Netherlands' defeat of Spain. Photo / AP
The Netherlands' 5-1 win against Spain was held in many quarters as a return to classic Dutch values, after the organised thuggery of the 2010 World Cup final.
On the BBC, Thierry Henry evoked Johan Cruyff, saying that he and coach Louis van Gaal "brought Total Football to Barcelona and the Spanish squad; I think tonight, the Dutch got their style back".
In one sense, this was true. The Netherlands played with a verve, a swagger and a purpose that we have not seen from them since at least the late 1980s, when a team containing Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten swept to the European Championship under Rinus Michels, himself the architect of Total Football at Ajax in the late 1960s.
However, if you study each of their five goals, the picture becomes fuzzier.
Three came from long diagonal balls over the Spanish defence. Stefan de Vrij's header came from a set-piece from the left. And one came from the leaden boot of Iker Casillas, allowing the ball to squirm away so Robin van Persie could win it.
Then there are the statistics. In a resounding victory, the Netherlands had just 43 per cent of possession, and committed 18 fouls to Spain's five.
So was this the return of Total Football? Or have the Netherlands and van Gaal created something new?
For as long as anyone can remember, Dutch teams have played 4-3-3. At Ajax, 4-3-3 is the formation they play from under-9 level all the way to the first team. It is not so much a philosophy as a religion.
Under Cruyff, Barcelona adopted the same style, winning the European Cup for the first time in 1992 and setting a blueprint that all future managers felt obligated to follow. The influence of Cruyff and Barcelona is evident in the Spain side of recent years: short and sharp passes, quick interchanges, fluidity in the final third, and ruthless pressing without the ball.
When Van Gaal took over the Netherlands job after the disaster of Euro 2012 and started planning for this tournament, 4-3-3 was the logical way to go. He had perhaps the world's best winger in Arjen Robben, one of the world's best strikers in Van Persie, and attacking midfielders in Wesley Sneijder and Kevin Strootman who could link defence and attack.
Strootman was the key to the system. A strong, quick runner with exceptional vision, Strootman's ability to carry the ball out of midfield at speed and set defences on the back foot gave Holland a wealth of angles going forward.
"Strootman is a player who brings a balance to the entire team," Van Gaal said. "I will have players like Rafael van der Vaart and Sneijder, of course, but no one will be able to replace Kevin."
Then, in April, Strootman got injured. Van Gaal now had no system and no time as he mulled over his options.
Fullbacks Daryl Janmaat and Daley Blind often looked exposed when playing in a back four. Perhaps an extra central defender would give them more cover. Perhaps introducing a second defensive midfielder would create more space further up the field for Robben. All the evidence pointed to a three-man defence.
The system has always been king to Van Gaal. If a player did not fit into the system, or did not want to fit into the system, he was out. This is why he is such a fiercely divisive character among players.
Cruyff played Total Football in its purest form with 10 outfield players all theoretically interchangeable in their roles. It required outrageous talents, thrilling individuality and pure instinct. To play the Cruyff way, you had to pack the team with gifted individuals and allow them to "feel" their way through the game.
This has never been the Van Gaal way. At Barcelona in 1999, he insisted on playing Rivaldo on the left. Naturally, Rivaldo wanted to play in the centre. Rivaldo was temporarily dropped, but despite losing the battle he won the war: Van Gaal was sacked at the end of the season.
Two years later, Van Gaal was back. Within three weeks Rivaldo saw what was coming, and left. At Bayern Munich, he fell out with Luca Toni and Lucio. But for those he identified as having potential, the rewards could be lucrative.
Under Van Gaal's tutelage, Bastian Schweinsteiger was transformed from a winger into one of the world's best midfielders. David Alaba was turned from a midfielder into a marauding left-back.
"You have to play as a team and not as individuals," Van Gaal said this year. "That's why I'm always going back to the vision, then the team, and then which players fit in my system, a 4-3-3, because I'm always playing that."
On Saturday, however, his team set up in a 3-4-3 formation - essentially a reactive formation designed to combat Spain's dominant midfield.
The wing-backs did not venture too far forward, and with midfielders Nigel De Jong and Jonathan de Guzman essentially screening the back three, the Netherlands reverted to a 5-2-3, or even a 7-3, without the ball. And seeing as this was Spain, they were quite often without the ball.
There was a crudeness to them, too. From the very start, the Netherlands were physical in the challenge and spicy in the tackle.
Then, when the Netherlands got the ball, they would move it not with short passes and intricate triangles, but with long diagonal balls, unleashing the pace of Robben and the movement of Van Persie, exposing Spain's high line and creaky defence.
Was it classically Dutch? Van Gaal argued that it was.
"For five weeks in a row we've been focusing on this system, because 4-3-3 is what we played in the qualification matches," he said. "This is really the Dutch school with wingers. But it's more than that. The Dutch doctrine is exercising pressure playing in a compact way, but also switching positions."
Winning ways
4-3-3 is the traditional Dutch formation 3-4-3 was how they set up against Spain 5-2-3 was what they sometimes reverted to 7-3 was their formation without the ball
Image 1 of 7: Actors perform during the opening ceremony before the group A World Cup soccer match between Brazil and Croatia, the opening game of the tournament, in the Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo. Photo / AP
