Dutch football has been on the decline for some time now with failure to qualify for major tournaments and lack of form in general. Under the leadership of Virgil Van Dijk, the Netherlands football team rejuvenated a bit and reached the finals of the Nations League. The talismanic Liverpool defender will not feature at the main events which is a cause for worry but there are other key men that can do the business for the Oranje. They are a team that is loved by the neutrals but with only the Euro 1988 to show for in the trophy cabinet, they have largely underachieved. Ahead of the Euro 2020, let us look at how the Dutch are looking like. Euro 2020: Netherlands Announce 26-Man Squad For European Championship

Strength

Netherlands’ strength lies in the individual brilliance of players like Matthijs de Light, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay. These players are central to their clubs’ plans and know what it is like playing at the highest level. Memphis Depay in particular has been scoring goals for fun for the national team and a lot is riding on his shoulder.

Weakness

Manager Frank de Boer got the job with Ronald Koeman moving to Barcelona and it has been a struggle ever since for the former player. With just 4 wins in 9 games, pressure will be on him to get the right results. His inability to read situations well has caused discontent amongst the fans.

Opportunity

Netherlands have players like Donny Van de Beek and Georginio Wijnaldum that have not had the best of seasons at the club level. The Euros is an excellent platform for these players to showcase the talent they possess and possibly audition for the new clubs.

Threat

Form is an issue for the Netherlands with the team only producing one decent display in some time and that too against Gibraltar. If they perform poorly against Ukraine in their opener, things could go downhill quickly.

The Dutch are a good team but certainly lack what it takes to be a winner. They will be judged on the basis of the improvement they show at the Euros.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 04, 2021 06:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).