Bratwurst Boy: How could Holland claim him???
It was meant hypothetically. I just looked at his style of play and he is the only German player that would be able to fit in the Dutch system nowadays. That's why. I did not say that we actually wanted him :)
Bratwurst Boy: Shouldn't you look to your ex-colonial islands instead? Ya now...those rastafari-spitters...
It still hurts? Well, it was 21 years ago and it was a settlement for 1974 when we should've become world champion as we definitively had the best team: Johan Cruyff was part of it and whenever Johan Cruyff (voted best European player of the 20th century) is part of the team, that team is (technically) the best. Actually we should've been world champion in 1978 too, but then the Dutch team was pretty much bullied by the Argentian government of the day. I read that on the night of the finals no live music was allowed in the whole of Buenos Aires, except in the Hotel where the Dutch were staying. More specific, they installed a live band right underneath the bedroom windows of the players. The band played until 4 in the morning.
What happened in 1988 was just revenge for 1974. We got it (become European Champion in Germany, but beating Germany was even more important -although I have to say that the Dutch nearly always have good experiences with tournaments held in Germany. In 1987, when Fifa threatened to disqualify the Dutch because of some incident in Cyprus with a stick or fireworks, the Germans protested and said they would prefer the Dutch instead of the Greek. Why - I think that is obvious.) and we don't mind the German team now. Of course, you always got idiots, but in principle that game was the most important of all Germany vs the Netherlands games since 1974. Emotions rose high and we were simply the better team: van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard and Koeman, all in one team. No other team could match that.
You had your revenge, we had our revenge, it should be ok now. At least for me. However, since my significant other is German, I predict some quite interesting conversations should Holland meet Germany in SA next year :S
M-G (avid football fan)
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