Pierre van Hooijdonk was on the bench 25 years ago when the Netherlands could beat the Belgians for the last time. In 1997 it was 3-1 in De Kuip. “That we have not been able to beat Belgium since then? That has to do with the fact that I have stopped for 20 years,” he laughs on the phone.
“No, of course those stats don’t come out of the blue,” he continues seriously. “I think Belgium simply had a better generation than us in recent years. But now the two countries are a lot closer to each other.”
Still, Van Hooijdonk doesn’t have such high expectations about tonight’s game. “These Nations League matches really come at a time when no one is waiting for it. Even the supporters are a bit football tired I think.”
“The match against Belgium does of course entail some prestige and is important in the battle for the first place in the group, but I think neither country will really care if the result is disappointing,” says Van Hooijdonk.
According to the football analyst, few words are used in the Netherlands at the Red Devils, neither in the press, nor by national coach Van Gaal. “I think Van Gaal is mainly busy with his own team. It will be a practice match with a view to the World Cup. Both teams will undoubtedly use all 5 substitutions.”
A new wind has been blowing at Oranje for some time now. The fans are again more optimistic than in previous tournaments, but Van Hooijdonk remains modest: “There are better teams than ours at the moment. A quarter-final at the World Cup is a realistic goal. I think Van Gaal wants to test how they do today. against a strong opponent.”
Van Hooijdonk has great respect for the Belgian generation of recent years. “This team has so much quality, but they have not won any prizes. For me they are a bit the boys of the missed opportunity. That is a shame, because it doesn’t happen often that everything fits together like this.”
“It reminds me a bit of our generation of the late 90s. We had a great team then, but in the end we also ended up in the semi-finals 3 times in a row,” he concludes.
