GDANSK, POLAND — For Jonathan de Guzman, the Netherlands’ exit from the European Championship isn’t such a strange development at what has been, simply, a crazy Euro 2012.
The Canadian-born, Dutch midfielder has been watching the tournament from Toronto and, from the city of his birth, his adopted homeland is leaving a big mark on him. Pre-tournament favorite and 2010 World Cup finalist Netherlands exited Poland and Ukraine following three straight losses in Group B.
The Dutch were victims of the typical traits of a struggling team: A poor start, an inept defence and a lack of luck. And a touch of fickleness, of course.
“We weren’t creative in attack and that’s disappointing based on the Dutch culture and history when it comes to this team,” De Guzman said by phone.
The favourites remain, as Germany and Spain both won their groups to ensure they cannot meet before the July 1 final in Kiev. That’s great news for neutral fans such as De Guzman, now that the Netherlands are out.
“It’s going crazy, even in Group A with Greece going through. It’s an all or nothing tournament, very competitive,” he said.
The Netherlands’ exit has probably been the biggest shock of a tournament that consistently provides surprises but ultimately rewards the strongest team.
So the Dutch team’s decision to start Jetro Willems was refreshing as he became the youngest player to ever start a European Championship match at 18 years, 71 days. But the team’s lack of experience at fullback compounded a disjointed defence, which hurt what should have been perhaps the tournament’s top attack.
Robin van Persie was the Premier League’s top player for Arsenal, Arjen Robben had another standout season for Bayern Munich and Klaas Jan Huntellar was the Bundesliga’s top scorer. Yet none left any mark on this event. Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart had irregular campaigns with their clubs (Inter Milan and Tottenham) and perhaps those players and the defence’s disorganization ultimately paid the price for the Dutch.
Portugal seemed to grow stronger after the Netherlands equalized, and Cristiano Ronaldo eventually scored his second goal to win it 2-1.
“You’d think (Sneijder, Van der Vaart) would be dominant coming into this Euro. From a spectator’s view, the chemistry just wasn’t there. Things weren’t going well,” De Guzman said. “There was not enough creativeness from the back.”
While De Guzman’s brother Julian plays at Toronto FC, Jonathan played for Holland’s youth teams and still holds out a chance of playing for the Oranje one day. With this showing, De Guzman expects the Netherlands to perhaps streamline younger talents into the team and start looking to the future quicker.
In the meantime, Spain’s lacklustre 1-0 victory over Croatia maintains the defending champions and World Cup winners’ credentials for repeating here.
But Spain was stale and predictable, and coach Vicente del Bosque’s insistence on trying to break down opponents without a recognized striker is becoming as much as a tactic as a stubborn ploy.
Looking at Greece’s improbably victory over Russia and its Euro 2004 title winning run, it seems Del Bosque may be leaning the wrong way with his tactics as only Iker Casillas kept the Spanish from going out of the tournament. Italy and Croatia both made sure their defences were tough and disciplined and their attacks ready to counter when the opportunity presented itself. Sounds like a familiar theme for playing the likes of Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez this season, yet Del Bosque is sticking with a similar formula to what was used at Barcelona.
“Tactically if you play and defend well, you will be rewarded,” De Guzman reasoned. “Basically like (how Greece did). You see how Barcelona went down like that. Best team ever and they went down because of the great defending of Chelsea. Defence wins games, and that’s what you need to win championships too.”
Casillas certainly gave Spain a chance at winning its third European title. “Saint Iker,” as he is known in Spain, made a pair of goal-winning stops in the second half against Croatia before Jesus Navas netted the winner with two minutes to play.
So while Croatia paid the price for gambling with three strikers at the close of its loss, they showed — like the Italians — that you can attack Spain without having to always feel threatened of being exploited as Spain failed to convert a number of clear chances on the break.
Spain’s run has been the opposite of the Netherlands: Strong defence, talent and a little bit of luck. But that luck may run out soon if it continues dabbling.
Just ask the Portuguese, who succumbed to Greece eight years ago despite playing at home and with a talented squad made up of Champions League winners.
“This team strikes like a cobra,” Greek Euro 2004 champion Traianos Dellas explained, “once — and then it’s game over for our rivals.”
Paul Logothetis is a Madrid-based reporter who is in Poland and Ukraine covering Euro 2012 for sportsnet.ca. Follow Paul on Twitter.