THE Netherlands women have just won the last edition of the Champions Trophy, and their men’s team are early favourites to reach the World Cup final in Bhubaneswar, India.
Unfortunately for Malaysia, the Netherlands, Germany and Pakistan are paired with them in Group D — because of the national team’s 12th standing in the world.
Coach Roelant Oltmans’ men open their World Cup campaign against nothing less than the formidable three-time World champions on Dec 1.
Netherlands first won at home in 1973, later in Pakistan in 1990 and their last triumph was in 1998, also on home soil.
Malaysia played the Netherlands four times in the World Cup, lost three and won one, and the defeat margins were not too big.
The first was a 4-0 defeat in 1973 in Amstelveen, followed by a 2-1 win in Kuala Lumpur 1975 — where Malaysia achieved their best in the World Cup, fourth placing.
In 1978 in Buenos Aires, the Netherlands won 2-1, and in 1982 in Bombay it was a 3-1 win for the Dutch.
The comforting thought for Malaysia is that before their opening encounter is that Oltmans is Dutch and he knows all their players.
“Yes, I know all the players and read up on them regularly on Dutch websites... I predict Netherlands are good enough to play in the final, and win the title as well,” he said.
“But that is not our worry at the group stage. We are looking for a surprise or two and I have my plans. Of course, I can’t reveal them, but I can tell you that we will play our own style of hockey and let them worry about their style and game.”
In other events, the records will also show that the Dutch have had difficulties scoring against Malaysia, and their win margins were always small.
At the Azlan Shah Cup in 1996, the Netherlands won 2-0, and their most recent encounter was about 10 years ago in the 2007 Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur, where the Dutch won 3-1.
Armed with a silver medal from the Asian Games, Oltmans and his men will be playing to topple the towering Dutch — and if they succeed, it would be the biggest upset of the World Cup.
The players to look out for in the Dutch side are midfielders Billy Bakker and Robbert Kemperman, Mirco Pruijser, striker Jeroen Hertzberger and penalty corner expert Mink van der Weerden.