Dutch fly through qualifying, seek to shrug off tendency to sink in must-win games

Perfect in group play, pressure looms for Dutch

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — The Dutch have mastered breezing through the first round. Winning those all-or-nothing games, well, that’s a different matter.

The Dutch topped their group with a perfect nine points, showing the same ease as in recent group campaigns at Euro 2008 and the 2006 World Cup. Those games lifted the hopes of their millions of fans, only to have them devastated when the Dutch stumbled at the very first next hurdle.

It was Portugal in the second round four years ago, Russia at Euro 2008. Now Slovakia awaits Monday.

“We have to show now that we learned from the last two or three tournaments,” striker Robin van Persie said.

Easier said than done for the Dutch, who have a long history of looking two games down the road while the next still has to be played.

Once they start producing their “clockwork orange” end-to-end moves — “total football” where defense and attack blur into one, smooth choreography — they are a joy to behold and live up to their title as best team never to win the World Cup.

Yet it also lays bare their weakness. Sometimes, they get so taken with the beauty of the game they forget the point is to win.

Take the final group game against Cameroon on Thursday.

In front of tens of thousands of orange-clad fans at Green Point Stadium, the Dutch charmed and thrilled at will. Yet for a team with nothing to play for, already-eliminated Cameroon sure found several holes. And when coach Bert van Marwijk asked his players to hang tough in the second half, he instead got a lackadaisical effort.

“We thought we could finish the match professionally in the second half and score a few times,” Van Marwijk said. “That takes a lot of discipline and concentration. Instead, we were far too nonchalant and easygoing. So, for sure, the problems were coming.”

After Van Persie’s opening goal in the 36th minute, Cameroon clawed its way back into the game with a 65th-minute penalty following Rafael van der Vaart’s handball on Geremi’s free kick.

“The penalty awoke us from our slumber,” Van Marwijk said. “This is certainly a lesson for our next game. We cannot allow ourselves to have a period of such complacency on Monday.”

Slovakia was one of several surprise teams to make the second round. It beat Italy 3-2 in a thrilling match Thursday to send the defending champion home, bottom of its group.

But the World Cup rookies had already impressed Van Marwijk during qualifying, when they won a group that included neighboring Czech Republic and regular World Cup qualifier Poland.

“I thought ahead of the game that I would not be surprised if Slovakia eliminates Italy,” Van Marwijk said. “So there is absolutely no way we can underestimate them.”

He’d rather have something like the boring 2-0 wins over Denmark and the 1-0 victory over Japan, than a risky beauty contest.

“If we are as concentrated as during the first two games and look for space with direct moves, then we are at our best,” Van Marwijk said. “Then we have patience. We have speed. We can score. But you cannot afford to play that nonchalantly for 20 minutes.”

In the end, winger Arjen Robben saved the Dutch against Cameroon. Making his first appearance at the World Cup since recovering from a left hamstring injury, his lighting run and shot against the post set up the 83rd-minute winner for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

It was another moment of Dutch mastery. But as history has shown, it means nothing.

“We d better be on our guard,” Robben said. “People may say we will be the favorites. But we will certainly prepare us very carefully. And we will be sharp for the game.”