`For this generation of footballers, it is the perfect situation. I already told you that they have different types of qualities. But they are also the right age, 26 to 28, and they are experienced.

"The conditions are in place for them to play a great tournament. They have already made history with their clubs, so this is the right moment for this generation to prove something with the national team."

Believe it or not, but Frank Rijkaard, the Dutch manager, had not been asked for a rallying call. He had not even been asked if his squad was capable of winning the tournament.

Rijkaard had just been asked, and not even this week, if he thought the Netherlands had improved from the side he part-coached with Guus Hiddink in France '98. The above was Rijkaard's unexpected and, well, frank reply.

It is far from difficult to imagine that, if his players display the same conviction, then in 22 days time when the Henri Delauny trophy is lifted off its perch in the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam, that for the first time in 12 years, and for only the second time in their history, the Netherlands will have justified their jostling favouritism to win a competition.

Judging by Rijkaard's stirring call, the feeling is that the time is now.

From one perspective at least, albeit a minor one, that would be welcome. We would no longer have to endure "The Future Is Orange" cliche.

If the time is right, then it is the present that should do the Dutch talking.

The last sentence contains the biggest word in the Dutch language, of course. "If". If the immediate past had been orange then the Netherlands could have won the World Cup.

They would surely have graced the final more elegantly and competitively than Brazil, but it was Hiddink's team's fate to exit to Brazil in the semi-final on penalties in Marseilles. It had been 1-1 after extra-time.

The Dutch captain that night, Frank de Boer, however, was able to make one of the points Rijkaard would repeat two years later - youth.

"We'll never forget tonight," said De Boer, "but we're trying to keep cheerful. We're still a young team. There will be other tournaments." Like Euro 2000.

Both men had made a valid argument. Of the likely orange 11 to start tomorrow against the Czech Republic in Amsterdam - the Netherlands' first competitive international since Brazil - only Dennis Bergkamp is over 30.

Yet the other 10 are nearly all as famous as Bergkamp, and as illustrious. It is remarkable to think that seven of the team won the European Cup for Ajax as far back as 1995.

The figure rises to eight if Patrick Kluivert is included. Kluivert, then 18, was a secondhalf substitute against Juventus.

The sense of continuity and community that should be represented by such a sparkling nucleus - Edwin van der Saar, the De Boer brothers, Michael Reiziger, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars and Kluivert - has been one of the legitimate reasons the Netherlands entered Euro '96 and France '98 heavily backed.

Communal spirit though, has not been a definitive Dutch characteristic. At Euro '96 Hiddink sent Davids home amid accusations of a racial split in the camp.

This was later denied, even by Davids, who claimed the problem stemmed rather from Hiddink "having his fingers up some players' backsides like a puppet-master".

Hiddink himself said after the Brazil elimination two years later: "I am proud of the way they played and for showing there are no divisions - not any more." Davids had been tremendous in that match.

Yet the accusation of internal tumult follows Holland the Netherlands around, prodding like one of Hiddink's alleged fingers.

However, even this week Jaap Stam was provoked to comment defensively on the stable - a relative term in this context - mood within the party.

"It's true there have been problems in the past," said Stam, "and even in the run-up to this competition two of our physiotherapists have left the squad. That's all over now, though. We have a good camp. I think we have a good spirit in the dressing room."

Much of the credit for the improving relations within the family orange is being directed towards the young manager.

"He's so cool it's unbelievable," said Bergkamp on Wednesday. "Rijkaard does not treat us like little kids."

At 37, Rijkaard is youthful enough to have been one of the kids on that Ajax block which conquered Europe. His charges today therefore were once his colleagues and drinking pals.

But the transition from friend to boss, while not seamless, has been smooth.

Rijkaard's achievements help. He was a member of the Netherlands' 1988 European Championship-winning team and part of the great AC Milan side of the early '90s.

Explaining the contrast he has experienced since taking the job, Rijkaard said: "The only difference now is that I don't react when players are joking. I don't react. That's the difference between being a player and a coach. The gap between the players and me is not that big, but I have to respect their space."

When the Netherlands went on a run of one win in Rijkaard's first 14 games, the natural respect for Rijkaard began to be questioned.

Then, seven weeks ago, Germany arrived at the Amsterdam Arena. The Netherlands won 21. The scoreline was a disguise, however. The Netherlands had played Germany off the pitch.

Though Scotland have scraped a goalless draw there since, in the last fortnight Romania and Poland have been overcome impressively.

The wealth of attacking options provided by Bergkamp, Kluivert, Ron Makaay of Spanish champions Deportivo La Coruna and Pierre van Hooijdonk, are such that, even with Ruud van Nistelrooy's knee injury, there was no place for Chelsea's £15 million man Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Not even after 24 goals for relegated Atletico Madrid.

Like Stam, Rijkaard and Frank de Boer, Philip Cocu has stressed this week the new Dutch maturity. "In 1996 the fighting was why we played so badly," Cocu said. "Hiddink liked to give power to the players and would say: `Show me you are responsible.' But we were too young to handle responsibility."

Four years on, the orange consensus is that the players are worthy of responsibility.

As De Boer said yesterday: "We have learned from our mistakes in 1996. We have a more professional attitude. The relations in the group are much better now, mainly due to the higher age of the players. We have grown up."