What's rare has been wonderful

Argentina and the Netherlands have met three times in the World Cup. Tom Humphries recalls the drama and significance entailed

Netherlands World Cup history is short and bittersweet. If you accept the creationist view that Dutch football was invented in Amsterdam circa 1972, the Dutch presented themselves fully formed on the World stage two years later. A World Cup they should have won, but didn't, prepared us for the heartache that is the unconsummated beauty of Dutch World Cup football.

Sometimes they come to tournaments and impale themselves on the point of their own spikey intellects. Dutch football rows are as indelible a cliché as clogs.

Sometimes though they come and without taking home any silverware give the impression they might have won the tournament had they cared to.

It is fitting that their one success, the European Championship of 1988, should have been decorated by Marco Van Basten's extraordinary goal. The Dutch appreciation of aesthetics stayed intact in the face of victory.

While the Netherlands' short World Cup history has been unfolding, Argentina have won two World Cups despite coming back from a place much further back than the Dutch. Having been tagged as "animals" by Alf Ramsey in 1966, the Argentinians didn't make it to the Mexican World Cup four years later and in West Germany in 1974 took a 4-0 thumping from the Dutch before going home in tears.

What happened four years later is history. The Netherlands and Argentina have made themselves key players in the World Cup and their three meetings have all been pivotal games in their evolution.

June 26th, 1974

Gelsenkirchen (attendance: 55,348)

Netherlands 4 Argentina 0

Fifa switched the format for 1974 and introduced two groups of four as the second round, thus eliminating for some reason quarter-finals and semi-finals. Ironically it would take the farce of Argentina's 6-0 defeat of Peru four years later for the system to be abandoned.

The Netherlands and Argentina looked the form teams of round one in 1974 but the Argentinians lost the effervescent Carlos Babington to suspension and decided not to select a young Mario Kempes (only Kempes and René Houseman would play in the final four years later). The Dutch, brilliant throughout the tournament, still view this as the game when they expressed themselves and the total football philosophy most perfectly. The Dutch, it is often forgotten, could play hard, physical football and still apply the silk. This was the day when they did both best.

The Dutch dominated and by the time Johann Cruyff's opening goal arrived should have been three up. The goal remains a classic. Willem van Hanegem chipping the defence, Cruyff pulling it down, rounding the keeper and finishing with his left foot. The Dutch had a goal disallowed before Ruud Krol lashed a loose ball through a thicket of defenders to the net from a setpiece.

By the second half it was raining torrentially but the pattern of the game hadn't changed. The Netherlands slowed the tempo a little. Argentina were playing well but the Dutch were dazzling in their control as they went in search of the vital goals which would give them a cushion of favourable goal difference.

Johnny Rep had a header to make it 3-0 and with the Argentinians reduced to hacking at the Dutch in pure frustration the game ended with Johan Neeskens and Rep moving down the right wing, transferring the ball across the box, where after a one -two with Wim Jansen, Van Hanegem shot. Daniel Carnevalli saved well but Cruyff volleyed with cold brilliance from a difficult angle. Story of Argentina's day.

The Dutch had arrived; it was their second four-goal win on the trot. Argentina went home to lick their wounds and wait.

NETHERLANDS: Jongbloed, Suurbier (Israel 85 mins), Rijsbergen, Haan, Krol, Jansen, Neeskens, Van Hanegem, Rep, Cruyff, Rensenbrink.

ARGENTINA: Carnevalli, Ayala, Yazalde, Houseman, (Kempes 65 mins), Squeo, Heredia, Balbuena, Sa, Telch, Perfumo, Wolff (Glaria 46 mins).

June 25th, 1978

Buenos Aires (attendance: 77,260)

Netherlands 1 Argentina 3 (AET)

With the junta watching, the Netherlands and Argentina blew into the final in memorable circumstances. The Dutch beat the Italians 2-1 at River Plate stadium to make their second successive final (though Cruyff, fulfilling a bizarre promise made four years earlier, had helped get them there but declined to play). Later the same day at Rosario, the Argentinians dispatched Peru by six goals, leaving Brazil and Italy to play off for third place.

Controversy still lingers about the scheduling. Earlier in the day Brazil had beaten Poland 3-1, leaving the Argentinians knowing they required a four-goal margin. The Peruvians proved oddly pliant.

There was going to be a new name on the Cup. For the second tournament in a row the Dutch would be playing the hosts in the final. The Dutch started seven of the side who had dismantled Argentina four years earlier.

It was a night of bad sportsmanship, the Argentinians leaving the Dutch in the cauldron of a stadium for five full minutes before they appeared, then delaying the game while they objected endlessly to a cast on Rene Van der Kerkhof's wrist (the player had worn it from the first game).

That the referee caved into Argentinian gamesmanship was a harbinger of what was to come. The game was hard, brutal and ugly. The Dutch started better and the Argentinian goalie Fillol kept his side in the game till they steadied. A few minutes before half-time the home side took the lead. Argentina were awarded a disputed throw-in. They found Ardiles, who played Luque in. Perfect ball to Kempes, who in his stride slotted it home.

Things improved in the second half as the Dutch began to find space. Fillol remained heroic though and some of the tackling remained borderline criminal. One hack by Sergio Luis Galvan on Neeskens entered the hall of infamy but went unpunished.

The Dutch equaliser came late but came brilliantly. Jan Poortvliet picked up a stray clearance and found Haan in the middle, who in turn found Van der Kerkhof lurking on the right. The cross was splendid. Substitute Nanninga headed home to stun the crowd into silence. Minutes later Neeskens received a punch from Daniel Passarella. Again no punishment.

Extra time was almost avoided when a Krol free found Rensenbrink, who slipped the ball past Fillol only to see it bounce bizarrely wide.

Extra time was Argentina's. Kempes, the hero of thetournament and the man of the match, was now running the game. He beat two Dutch tackles and stayed on his feet to stab the ball past Jaap Jongbloed and into the Dutch net for the breakthrough goal.

In the second period of extra time Kempes owned the match. His one-two with Daniel Bertoni made the final goal (and the referee's refusal to acknowledge Bertoni's handball) so Argentina became world champions at home. Jorge Videla , head of the military junta, presented the trophy to Passarella. An unsatisfactory end to an odd tournament

NETHERLANDS: Jongbloed, Brandts, Krol, Poortvliet, Jansen (Suurbier 75 mins), Haan, Neeskens, Willy van der Kerkhof, René van der Kerkhof, Rep (Naninga 58 mins), Rensenbrink.

ARGENTINA: Fillol, Ortiz (Houseman 75 mins), Luque, Bertoni, Kempes, Ardiles (Larrosa 66 mins), Gallego, Tarantini, Passarella, Luis Galván, Olguin,

July 4th, 1998

Marseille (attendance: 55,000)

Netherlands 2 Argentina 1

Twenty years after Beunos Aires, the Dutch and Argentinians met again at FRance 1998. By now Passarella was manager of his country. If justice is poetic it isn't always swift. Having got away with his assault on Neeskens in the final of 1978 Passarella now saw his side fall apart after a sending off following an equally stupid foul.

The third game between the sides was decided most fittingly by a bolt of genius.

Dennis Bergkamp's stunning last-gasp goal put the Dutch into the semi-finals and capped a match which would go down as one of the classics of the tournament.

On a torridly hot Saturday afternoon the Argentinians had just lost Ariel Ortega for headbutting Edwin van der Sar (Ortega had been making claims for a penalty) and the game looked likely to hit extra time.

Bergkamp struck in the 90th minute. Frank de Boer hit a long ball toward Bergkamp to be rewared by the sight of his colleague killing the ball, turning, beating Roberto Ayala and slotting to the roof of the net all in one sublime movement.

The cost of Ortega's folly was high. In the 77th minute the Dutch had fallen shorthanded when Arthur Numan was dimissed on a second yellow card. Going into extra time with an advantage in numbers, Argentina were fancied. Ortega's dismissal made the prospect of a second successive game of extra time (they had beaten England on penalties) much less palatable. They wilted visibly.

Bergkamp said: "Ortega's sending off gave us new heart but we deserved to win. We were clearly the better side and we were going to win even if it went to sudden death."

In a tournament dominated by defences the game was an oasis of attacking play. Each team hit the post in the first half and scored once. A run by Ronald de Boer ended with a pass to Bergkamp,who headed on to Kluivert for a goal after 12 minutes.

Six minutes later Juan Sebastian Veron played a fine pass into the path of Claudio Lopez. One all and the stage set for the one of the great World Cup encounters.

NETHERLANDS: Van der Sar, Reiziger, Stam, F de Boer (c), Numan, Jonk, R de Boer (Overmars 64 mins), Cocu, Davids, Bergkamp Kluivert.

ARGENTINA: Carlos Roa, Ayala, Roberto, Chamot (Balbo 90 mins), Sensini, Zanetti, Almeyda (Pineda 67 mins), Simeone (c) Veron, Lopez, Batistuta, Ortega.

Probable line-ups

Netherlands (4-3-3)

van der Sar; Kromkamp, Ooijer, Jaliens, de Cler; Landzaat, Sneijder, Cocu; Kuijt, van Nistelrooy, van Persie

Coach: Marco van Basten

Argentina (4-4-2)

Abbondanzieri; Burdisso, Ayala, Milito, Sorin; Rodriguez, Mascherano, Cambiasso, Roman Riquelme; Tevez, Cruz.

Coach: Jose Pekerman

This competition within a tournament was advertised as the Group of Death but has been rendered quite straightforward by the form of the Argentinians and the Dutch, writes Tom Humphries.

Tonight what promised to be the game of the first round is no more than a squabble for bragging rights. Which isn't to say Holland and Argentina don't promise something wonderful.

Argentina have been breathtaking so far; Holland have been interesting. Tonight we get the opportunity to view them in mutually demanding company. We will learn plenty.

Winning Group C promises a second-round meeting with the runners up in the rather weak Group D (Mexico, Iran, Portugal and Angola) and so the winners tonight will fancy their chances of further progress.

Argentina have given just cameo roles to Lionel Messi and Carlos Teves, which has provoked a rethink among those who thought Brazil packed the most potent weapons.

Watching Juan Roman Riquelme is always a pleasure and when the teams meet tonight a Riquelme will be precisely what the Dutch lack. Marco van Basten's side have plenty of flair, and Arjen Robben's dribbling, allied to the finishing of young Robin van Persie and the reborn Ruud van Nistelrooy, makes them a threat.

Holland just lack the central creativity Riquelme offers.

A few changes on either side but nothing to detract from the magnitude of the occasion.

Argentina to win this time.

The other game in this group, Ivory Coast versus Serbia and Montenegro, is of interest only to anoraks.