‘We are ready to win the World Cup,’ say jubilant Dutch papers

The Netherlands’ surprise victory over Brazil in the World Cup quarter finals on Friday afternoon dominates the newspaper front pages on Saturday.


‘World Class,’ screams the Telegraf above a photo of coach Bert van Marwijk which his arms stretched out in jubilation. ‘Orange heros punish Brazil,’ the paper says, above 11 match photos of the 11 winning players.
‘The Dutch team has done the impossible at the cost of five time world champion Brazil,’ reads the opening sentence.
Secret
The Parool headlined its front page ‘Oranje cannot be beaten’. ‘In the first half the Netherlands was overrun by Brazil but won 2-1 and reached the World Cup semi finals,’ the paper stated.
‘Oranje’s secret has been revealed. The team cannot be beaten,’ it continued, pointing out the Dutch squad has won all five World Cup matches so far.
‘The Netherlands can believe in the world title,’ the paper continues on the inside pages. ‘Wesley Sneijder was the big man. The Inter star did what he promised. He decided the match.’
Photo
The Volkskrant has no news story on its front page, just a half page photo of Dirk Kuijt, Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben with their arms round each other grinning from ear to ear and an unrelated column entitled ‘Telephone sex’.
‘Past Brazil on character’ is the front page headline. Inside the paper asks: ‘Can Oranje win the World Cup? They can. And they can play better too.’
Friday’s win is a win for everyone in a country with ambitions, the paper said. ‘If you want something, you have to go for it,’ it quoted Van Marwijk as saying.
Ready
‘Oranje is ripe for the maximum’ says the normally-restrained Trouw in its coverage, under a photo of a jubilant Arjen Robben leaping on top of Dirk Kuijt.
‘With a holy belief in their own ability, the team threw off their diffidence and worked to stop being behind,’ the paper said.
Trouw also sent a reporter to Schiphol airport where travelers were watching on a massive screen. ‘There cannot be extra time or we will miss our flight,’ said one, who had arrived at the airport early to watch the game.
With four teams left, who is going to win the World Cup? Take part in our poll

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation