Football, Euro 2024 – Five years later, the Netherlands are doing without their Golden Generation

That evening, they had terrorized the whole of Europe. On March 5, 2019, Ajax Amsterdam players gave Santiago Solari’s Real Madrid a football lesson (4-1) and qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League. The heroes were between 19 and 21 years old and were called Frenkie de Jong, Mathis de Ligt and Donny Van de Beek. All were Dutch and were already called upon to straighten out the national team, whose players had had to be content to follow Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in front of the television.

But five years later, while the Netherlands challenge Poland for their first match of Euro 2024, this golden generation finds itself on the floor of the Oranje. None of the players from this formidable Ajax Amsterdam should be part of Dutch coach Ronald Koeman’s first starting lineup. And few would certainly have been willing to bet on it in 2019.

In an ideal world for the Netherlands, there could have been five of them and today constitute the backbone of the selection. For Euro 2024, only central defender Matthjis de Ligt is part of Ronald Koeman’s list, but no longer arrives with a starting tag. The former most precocious defender in Europe lost his place at club, to the benefit of Kim Min-Jae and Dayot Upamecano at Bayern, and in the selection behind the knockout Stefan de Vrij. Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui, the two hosts on the left side of Erik Ten Hag in 2019, instead chose to play for Morocco. The second would have even met the coach before the 2018 World Cup to discuss the Dutch selection. But his choice was already made and Ronald Koeman could not convince him to put on the Oranje tunic.

Donny Van de Beek, for his part, completely lost his way and never confirmed expectations outside the Netherlands. Just like, to a lesser extent, his former midfield partner Frenkie de Jong. Deprived of the Euro due to an injury, he is still a starter at FC Barcelona but has not yet reached the potential of the top European midfielder that was loaned to him. Particularly in selection, where his performances even annoy some observers: “Frenkie de Jong is always in the spotlightwhispered Ruud Gullit for De Telegraaf. It’s boring to say, but what is it based on? We didn’t see enough of him at the World Cup in Qatar.”

Today, instead of the two friends who were to settle in the Dutch midfield, it will rather be the insipid pair of PSV Eindhoven Joey Veerman-Jerdy Schouten who should be aligned. A destiny which says a lot about the impact that the failure of this golden generation had on the Dutch selection, but also a reversal of roles at the top of the Eredivisie, the national championship. With the withdrawal of Brian Brobbey, replaced by Joshua Zirkzee, only Steven Bergwijn will represent Ajax Amsterdam in the Oranje jersey.

Ajax is therefore no longer really the providential club of the national selection, which used to fly the Ajacide flag with still seven players from the club at the 2022 World Cup. All the recent difficulties were materialized during this catastrophic start to the season, during which Ajax Amsterdam occupied last place in the league for a time before ending the season in 5th position.

As if the club had never recovered from the heartache of seeing its gems disappoint, it floundered along with the former players from its academy. This Sunday, Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands will have to cope without their golden generation who were supposed to promise them a serene future. Players of the same age, but much less promising, like Tijjani Reijnders will be preferred. Because football is necessarily pragmatic. And the Oranjes will not have to procrastinate for too long on what this team could have been.