Johan Derksen makes a striking prediction: ‘I think the Dutch national team…’

Johan Derksen believes it is quite possible that the Dutch national team will not make it through the group stage of the World Cup. The television personality made this claim on Wednesday evening on *Vandaag Inside*.

“Will the Netherlands become world champions?” presenter Wilfred Genee brought up the topic during the broadcast. “What do you think, lads?” Rutger Castricum was the first to reply, in a cynical tone.

“Yes, I think so, don’t you? If you’ve seen them play, you’d think so. It was Ecuador,” he says, referring to the Oranje’s 1-1 draw in Tuesday evening’s friendly. 

Derksen then speaks up. “I don’t think the Dutch team will survive the group stage,” predicts De Snor. The Dutch national team will face Japan, Sweden and Tunisia in the final tournament.

“I had a quick look back at it yesterday and I thought it was all so mediocre. Then when you see: Tunisia, Japan and Sweden… Japan and Sweden are in top form, teams with a lot of strength and stamina,” says Derksen.

“Tunisia also has a lot of players playing abroad these days, so it’s no longer a footballing backwater,” he continues. That is why his conclusion is that the Dutch team faces a tough challenge in the group stage.

“I’ll have to see if this bunch of run-of-the-mill footballers survive the group stage. They have poor goalkeepers,” says Derksen, analysing Ronald Koeman’s squad. “I think Bart Verbruggen is a poor goalkeeper, and yesterday’s (Mark Flekken, ed.) is no good either. Robin Roefs is the best, but he was injured.”

“They have three or four strikers, but not a single one who’s a proper top-class striker. That’s a problem, you know! All those players are bit-part players abroad; they’re not stars. It’s no coincidence that Micky van de Ven’s team (Tottenham Hotspur, ed.) are bottom of the table (17th, ed.) in England,” he explains.

The top two teams in each group qualify automatically for the knockout stage, as do the eight best third-placed teams from the World Cup groups. “It’s fairly easy to go through,” admits Derksen. “But it’s not a foregone conclusion that we will.”