Are flawless Dutch on the verge of glory?

The Netherlands’ path to Johannesburg’s Soccer City for Sunday’s World Cup final has been flawless, so far, both in qualification and at the finals here.

Should captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst lift the trophy on Sunday night, the Netherlands will have become only the second side, after Brazil in 1970, to win all of their matches on the way to the title.

Having finished their qualifying group with eight wins from eight, Holland are bidding to win all seven of their matches here to give them an impressive 15 straight victories if they become the first Dutch team to win the title.

After the famous Dutch sides of the 1970s reached – and lost – the finals of both 1974 and 1978, the current crop seem to have coped under the huge weight of expectation from their Oranje fans.

Before these finals, Holland had a horrible habit of breezing through the group stages at major tournaments with dazzling football, only to be sent home early when it came to the knock-out phase.

Euro 2008 was a classic example as the Netherlands routed France, Italy and Romania in the group stages, but were sent crashing out by Guus Hiddink-coached Russia in the quarter-finals.

Since taking over from Marco van Basten two years ago, coach Bert van Marwijk has insisted his side keep their feet on the ground, focus solely on the next game and lose the Dutch arrogance of the past.

“What happened before my time, with all due respect, I don’t look at it,” said the 58-year-old.

“I did things my way, we play good football and sometimes beautiful football, but in the past we started winning and got over-confident, even arrogant.

“I try to tell my players there will always be a next match.

“I try to give them more stability by teaching them how to defend properly, I love attacking football, but we must have possession of the ball.”

Their World Cup qualification campaign was been littered with efficient results, rather than flashy victories against weaker sides.

Having beaten Scotland, Norway, minnows Macedonia and Iceland home and away, Bert van Marwijk’s side scored 17 goals and conceded just two in their qualification group.

Despite their star-studded forward line including Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben, Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie of Arsenal and Real Madrid’s Rafael van der Vaart, they were not dazzling.

Their biggest win of the qualifiers was a 4-0 win over Macedona in Amsterdam in April 2009 with Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt netting twice as they raced into a 3-0 lead by half-time.

The Dutch opened their finals campaign with a low-key 2-0 win over Denmark, then saw off a dogmatic Japan side 1-0 before conceding their first goal in a 2-1 win over Cameroon.

Along with Argentina, they were the only team to come out of the group stages with a 100 percent record.

The weight of pressure seemed to have caught up with them as they laboured to a 2-1 win over Slovakia in the round of 16 before ten-man Brazil were beaten 2-1 thanks to two goals by Sneijder in a remarkable turnaround as they looked set to be overrun after the first-half was dominated by the Brazilians.

Van Marwijk says the key games on their run to the final have been neither the defeat of Brazil, nor the 3-2 semi-final win over Uruguay, but the matches against minnows Japan and Slovakia, which he feared.

“They were two key games for us,” he said.

“The match against Japan in the group phase, then the victory over Slovakia in the second round.

“Everybody predicted an easy game, but I really feared we would go out.

“I was afraid the demons of the past would resurface and send us home.

“After that, against Brazil, it was easier for me to motivate the players.”

Now all that remains is for the Dutch to claim win Number 15 with the eyes of the world upon them to write their names into World Cup history.

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