Oranje out for the count – What the papers say

Well, that was it then. It’s over. Or nearly. What the papers say about Oranje’s second defeat in a row.

The Volkskrant searched its metaphor cabinet and came up with ‘draadjesvlees’, as much a highlight of Dutch culinary art as last night’s performance was an example of the beautiful game. ‘In the cauldron that was Charkov, the Dutch team fell apart like meat that was left to simmer for too long’, the paper writes. ‘Where was the unity that characterised the team during the World Championships?’ Coach Bert van Marwijk did not change tack until it was too late, in spite of frequent calls to give Huntelaar an opportunity to show what he could so, the paper writes, but with ‘Oranje’s mission control’ Van Bommel and De Jong nowhere to be seen and Germany’s Schweinsteiger free to do as he pleased it wouldn’t have made much difference anyway.
The chance that the Netherlands will save its skin is ‘about as likely as a marriage between Mark Rutte and Angela Merkel’, the Volkskrant concludes.
It’s not just the fans, the economy suffers too. The ING bank’s economic desk has been totting things up, RTL.Z reports. The supermarket sector was estimated to make an extra €10m per match and with Oranje on the sidelines some €40m will not end up in the tills. Research bureau Gfk says it won’t be as bad as all that: ‘We think it’s closer to €22m but removing all the orange bunting and flags and throwing away the products that will remain on the shelves will cost another €3m’. Bars that have invested in big screens will also be in trouble. On the other hand, people are more likely to book a holiday, RTL Z writes.
AD quotes ‘writer and mass psychologist’ Jaap van Ginneken who thinks this defeat will teach the Dutch a little humility. ‘We will have a more realistic approach to things and won’t automatically assume we’ll reach the final. (..) We have been doing this for decades. And we’re only prepared to look at information that will tickle our ego’, says Van Ginniken who has also noticed that losing countries can experience a 14% stock exchange tumble. He does offer comfort to retailers left with a mountain of orange souvenirs: ‘Any successes during the Olympics or the Tour de France, no matter how small, will be celebrated three times over’, the mass psychologist predicts.
NRC had seen it coming: ‘Van Marwijk and his team have been on the road to nowhere for months now and this game is the proof’, the paper writes. ‘The Germans showed the deadly efficiency of modern football . ‘Perhaps the best thing about the game was the replacement of Mark van Bommel with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the second half, a revolutionary move by a coach who for too long kept faith with the ‘South Africa team’. The Oranje of 2010 is no more, the paper concludes.