You're reading: Dutch need more ‘lef’ to avoid Euro 2012 exit

KRAKOW, Poland — "Lef." It's a tiny three-letter word that for decades has meant what Netherlands football is all about.

The
term translates to nerve, daring and guts all mixed into a smooth,
creative kind of play that made Oranje famous around the globe. Look at
Johan Cruyff, and you see “lef” personified. It showed how a nation of
only 16 million turned into world beaters on the field.

Now, for
the first time in living memory, the Dutch team doesn’t have enough of
it. After losing its first two matches at the European Championship,
even the coach says so.

“It’s all got to do with a bit of ‘lef,'”
Bert van Marwijk said after the Netherlands lost to Germany 2-1, making
it two straight losses at Euro 2012.

Now, the Dutch are counting
on, and pleading with, archrival Germany to beat Denmark on Sunday to
stand a chance to advance from Group B. And even then, the team still
has to beat Portugal by two goals, one of the few nations it always has
had trouble with.

If people want to know what is wrong with
basically the same team that took Spain into extra time before losing in
the World Cup final two years ago, looking at the soul of the Dutch
team is a perfect place to start.

And just as an army marches on
its stomach, a forward line needs to feed off the strength of its
defense. The Dutch defense has far too little.

For years it had
been rumored as the weak link in the team, with no worthy successor to
the likes of Ruud Krol, Ronald Koeman or Frank de Boer, people with the
vision and skill to split opposing defenses with a single pass.

Instead,
the Dutch now rely on John Heitinga and Joris Mathijsen. Derided as
journeyman players for years, they stuck together well enough to get the
Netherlands to the World Cup final two years ago, but Germany and Mario
Gomez exposed their frailty on Wednesday.

The lack of confidence
and swagger at the back means the Dutch also play with two defensive
midfielders, Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong, instead of the likes of
the creative Rafael van der Vaart.

And it also applied to the wing
backs. Jetro Willems is a teenager playing his first games in orange,
and even if he tried to show some moxy with surges upfield, his lack of
experience has been clear. On the other side, Gregory van der Wiel is
considered simply to have had a bad tournament.

“Defensively, we showed too little ‘lef,'” Van Marwijk said.

That word again.

“Lef”
only works though, when it is backed up by the talent the Dutch have
been famous for. Otherwise, daring and cunning turns into foolhardy
recklessness. Perhaps that is why the Dutch were so conservative against
Germany, letting the Germans play the kind of forward, creative game
the Dutch have long been famous for.

Six players falling back
leaves huge gaps in midfield, further highlighted by the lack of pace of
the 35-year-old Van Bommel in the sweltering evening heat of Kharkiv,
Ukraine.

Several times now, Van Marwijk has been seen on the sidelines trying to spur his men forward.

“I screamed myself hoarse,” he said. “To no avail.”

One
of Cruyff’s most famous dictums is “Every disadvantage has its
advantage,” but for Van Marwijk, it has been turned upside down.

With
Premier League top scorer Robin van Persie and Bundesliga counterpart
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at his disposal, Van Marwijk must have been the envy
of so many coaches lacking even one world class striker.

But the
embarrassment of riches has turned into a simple embarrassment as the
two have combined for a single goal despite a flurry of open chances,
especially against Denmark in the opener.

Dutch fans are mystified
at Van Marwijk’s failure to come up with a system that could line them
up alongside each other for the benefit of both.

Van Persie is
coming off a draining season as the heart and soul of an Arsenal team
which depended almost exclusively on him to the make the difference from
August till May. That grueling season seems to have caught up with the
striker, who has been guilty of some inexplicable misses in Ukraine.

Then
there is Arjen Robben, another huge star on the world stage who has yet
to shine at Euro 2012. His moves have been predictable for years, but
somehow, like the hand speed of a world champion boxer, he was always
able to act faster than defenders could think.

“A Robben in form is unstoppable,” Van Marwijk said.

Not
this time, as his trademark move inside from the right to set up a
left-foot shot too often found a defender’s outstretched boot at the
end.

Finally, there is luck, too. Playmaker Wesley Sneijder is
again on top of his form with pinpoint precision passing. Two years ago,
he also had an uncanny knack to turn up at the right time in the right
place to score five World Cup goals.

None so far at Euro 2012.

The
team was supposed to have matured to the ideal age since losing the
final to Spain, ready to finally reap. Instead, it is with its back
against the wall.