I grew up with the idea of the ‘bad Germans’. Their national team seemed smug, arrogant, while Bayern München irked as well. We watched the Bundesliga highlights every Saturday, hoping Beckenbauer & Co would lose. On European nights we hoped for all the German clubs to lose,...

Unbeaten since 1996 Since the unification of Germany the teams have met seven times. At Euro 1992 in the group, when an early Rijkaard goal set Holland up for a glorious 3-1 win over their rivals, who were already qualified which made it  an ’8-3′-defeat. (Get yourself beaten up...

“Don’t let me have to go Barcelona to beg him.” For some reason, which he took with him in his grave, Rinus Michels did not want to ask Johan Cruyff to coach Holland at the World Cup 1990, ignoring the outcome of a player’s vote. As FA-boardmember he forced his friend...

More than a game definitely describes this semi-final of the European Championships. Holland were lucky to still be alive, having survived a bomb scare in the qualifier against Malta with possible elimination as punishment and than a late and very lucky winner against the Irish in the group....

Having beaten Brazil on Wednesday, few natives had doubts we could go on and win the final. However, with all groupmatches in the second round played at the same time, we had seen little of the Germans on television as we focused on our own team. Nor did the Dutch technical staff. Scout Cor...

The Dutch had an incredible start to the international 59-60 season as they hammered the Belgians 9-1 in Rotterdam in the annual derby. Halfway the first half the score was 5-0! Meanwhile, the Germans had picked up after a miserable year, in which they even lost to Egypt, with a 4-0 win...

Times changed quickly in the fifties. West-Germany were crowned world champions in 1954 in tournament for which the Dutch did not even dare to participate in the qualifiers. With only one win in 19 games since the start of the decennium, Holland were rubbish. The Dutch FA only allowed...

During the thirties the power in continental football had shifted to Central Europe, where the professional topclubs played in the Mitropa Cup. Germany did have a strong national team which reached its zenith in 1937 with 10 wins out of 11, including the famous 8-0 over Denmark in Breslau....