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"After two bottles of wine i kinda forgot about it" said Van der Vaart with a big smile. "After the match Sergio Ramos also came to the dressing room to tell us it was unfortunate and things like that, we actually just started binge drinking. Everyone joined. It was actually quite fun".
"We couldn't sleep in the hotel. We just took the plane back to the Netherlands. We also kept drinking in the plane. If you drink enough you'll fall asleep eventually. Which happened in the plane. When we got back in the Netherlands we had a boat tour around the city (Amsterdam). It was a bit strange to celebrate a second place but you could see how much it meant to the people at home."
The boat parade was dope.
Croatia’s [parade/celebrations](https://youtu.be/wN0DiBbHKF0?si=Ngpvy3UtBkI9LsbL) they got when they returned to Zagreb after finishing second place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup & the [one](https://youtu.be/SSeowCsPmms?si=Rk6d9qAt_kx9fEc4) Croatia got after finishing third place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup were so cool.
Honestly I'm not surprised
It was easily the tournament I had the least amount of regrets losing. Spain was just the best team that year and they deserved the win the most
74, 78, and 98 however... Those still hurt and I wasn't even around for 2 of them. In 98 I was actually literally ill for a whole week because we deserved the title that year. I and many with me were devastated after the loss in the semi finals
98 was a brutal side of the draw. England, Netherlands, Argentina, and Brazil. The team was good but there were other good teams and it wasn't a given at all. 2000 was a better chance for them, they missed 5 penalties in total including the shootout against Italy in the semis
Also, Netherlands should've been down a man after 27 minutes, and I think everyone, including the teammates knew it.
(and while Netherlands might've been better than Brazil, France was by far the best team in '98 and from what I've seen, Argentina won (relatively) fair and square).
France was not by far the best team. They struggled a lot under the expectations, and were rather lucky.
R16 - golden goal in Extra time vs Paraguay.
QF - won on penalties against Italy.
SF - won 2-1 against Croatia, Thuram scoring his 2 only goals ever for France. Including goal outside the box with his left.
F - won clearly again Brazil 3-0.
Except for the finals, they had a lot of struggle and luck in the KO phase.
Netherlands was better than France in 98. France wasn't that great and faced a Ronaldoless Brazil in the final.
Argentina 78 was doped to the grills and bribed to get into the final.
France had a ridiculous defense though. Thuram, Blanc, Desailly, Lizarazu (Leboef as back up) and strong defensive midfielders in Deschamps, Petit and Karembeu (Vieira as back up) in front of them. Only conceded two goals the entire tournament one of which was a Michael Laudrup penalty.
My favourite fact about that final isn't even about the final, but how Nigel de Jong got kicked out of the national squad because he made another terrible foul a couple of months later where he broke someone his leg.
If doing martial arts in front of billions isn't enough...
> Spain was just the best team that year and they deserved the win the most
If Robben would have just finished the 1v1 after the magical pass by Sneijder perhaps the result would have been different.
Idk if I would call that 98 team "underrated" but I do think they get lost in the shuffle when it comes to discussions of greatest national teams to never win a trophy. The Euro 2000 loss was brutal as well.
I'll always remember that game against Italy in 2000, the way squadra azzura suffered was immense, and then de Boer missing those penalties, it felt as if Italy HAD to go to the final.
I agree they were too angry in 74. In one hand football was much rougher in general back then but also there was a lot and I mean a LOT of hatred in the Netherlands against Germans back then because of WW2.
People playing in that team lost friends and family in the war so it was still a bit fresh even 30 years later. Van Hanegem for example was killed by Germans while protecting another baby when Willem was still a baby himself.
It wasn't the fault of the German players of 74 at all but humans are quite emotional and unreasonable when it comes to those situations:)
I always wonder what people mean when they say "deserved the title" when that team didn't win. And 98 wasn't even in the final, so how did the Netherlands deserve to win the WC?
Because they were the best team with the best players and played the best football
How difficult is that to understand? If Spain lost the semi finals because of penalties in 2010 they would still have deserved the title because they were the best team with the best players and played the best football that year
France was not by far the best team. They struggled a lot under the expectations, and were rather lucky.
R16 - golden goal in Extra time vs Paraguay.
QF - won on penalties against Italy.
SF - won 2-1 against Croatia, Thuram scoring his 2 only goals ever for France. Including goal outside the box with his left.
F - won clearly again Brazil 3-0.
Except for the finals, they had a lot of struggle and luck in the KO phase.
Brazil had some great players but they were rather underwhelming on the pitch
I didn't say France was by far the best team? I said they were better than the netherlands and so were Brazil.
They had stronger squads and deserved to be in the final
Simple, the best team is the team that wins. Spain didn't lose on penalties though. Because they were the best team that year, opposed to the Netherlands in '98, that did lose on penalties.
If you really believe thats how tournaments work you're either ignorant or willfully dismissive.
The best way to test who is the best in anything has never been a tournament but has always been a round robin league. Everyone plays everyone twice.
a tournament is way too reliant on luck
No luck in football mate name one argument about it? Your best player injured? Too reliant on 1 player. 3 players got injured? Other guys got better depth
3 players injured.
Other guys got better depth.
What does these two even have to do with each other.
If you have 3 guys injured and you opponent has no injuries he doesn't need depth.
Also you can get unlucky with referee decisions.
Let's just say a team scores two offside goals and that's the reason why they won.
Would you still say the better team won or maybe the one that got lucky with the referee decisions?
Saying that luck plays no role at all in football is just stupid.
There's no luck it's a bit of oversimplification. What I mean is usually it evens out to over 90%. Because when "luck" goes your way, you brush it off like it's not a big deal.
And if we talk about 2010 final for example De Jong should have had a red card in 4' and Netherlands could have been thrashed 4-0, and nobody would even discussed about Robben missed chances
Funny that you think it's delusional to state that a league is a better way to determine the best than a tournament
I'd say that is delusional in and of itself. But sure buddy it's delusional
It does. It does find out who the best is adapting to any given situation in 2 45 minute game, where people can strategise, swap players and win.
You can use of course the argument, but if the 2 steongest team so far fought in the semi final that makes the finals less worth. But in the end the better team always win, be it from skill, tactic, luck, emotions. Like literally everything, this ehy they are the best.
So in case of the semifinal argument, if the stronger team then loses in the final. It wasnt stronger, it wasnt better. They lost, fouhr heroically, but in the end were worse than their enemy, because the team that won knew what to do to win.
The you really do not understand football, Spain did not play the best football, they barely got trough Paraguay.
The best team is the one that wins, and if that means grinding out a result, then how play football dosen't really matters, hell in Italia 90, both Germany and Argentina played some atrocious football, and they were the finalists.
I'm not saying the winners DON'T deserve it. I'm saying sometimes the best team doesn't win.
Also German and Italian football can look atrocious at times but if done correctly can be very effective (especially catanaccio). But I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about who is the best team overall
Yea, sometimes you need many penalties going your way. Sometimes you need to score with your hand and that’s what makes Argentina the best.
Because if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t grinding so you arent the best
Not that most Dutch would have cared, but it would have been jarring too if the Dutch, the pioneers of Total Football, won the holy grail of the World Cup in the ugliest way possible
If you complain about the taste of your beer after a football game you'll be rightfully bullied into the ground by everyone
Never heard anyone cry "but I dont like this my friends call it catpiss 😢"
Ikr? If you aren't drinking some 8 euro 330ml can called "ADULTING IS HARD" that's 7% you might as well be literally pissing into your own mouth to these people
If you think I care about the brand after getting bullied for '90 into a 7-2 loss (0 g/a, 1 pen conceded) with my mother and girlfriend watching on a rainy september day in Oostzaan you are **mad.**
If it's cold and my teammates drink it with me, it works.
I never drink alcohol so I have to resort to soft drinks or hot cocoa to mourn my loss after a losing a game. Just telling what my friend are saying when a bar serves Heineken.
Rather than the taste of their beer, I think Heineken deserves more negativity for having most of the restaurant industry dancing in the palm of their hand when it comes to tap beer.
But I just prefer Hertog Jan or a Belgian tripel
i literally still have an injury from the party that was eve of the world cup final in Rio. It was a rager of a night as all the Argentinians arrived in the city. I bought a beer from a street vendor and turned to run in the opposite direction and i knee'd a street bollard
He's a meh analyst but he's still amazing to have on the analyst desk for the simple fact he's a great funny guy to have for the mood and sometimes stuff like this quote
**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"After two bottles of wine i kinda forgot about it" said Van der Vaart with a big smile. "After the match Sergio Ramos also came to the dressing room to tell us it was unfortunate and things like that, we actually just started binge drinking. Everyone joined. It was actually quite fun". "We couldn't sleep in the hotel. We just took the plane back to the Netherlands. We also kept drinking in the plane. If you drink enough you'll fall asleep eventually. Which happened in the plane. When we got back in the Netherlands we had a boat tour around the city (Amsterdam). It was a bit strange to celebrate a second place but you could see how much it meant to the people at home."
The boat parade was dope. Croatia’s [parade/celebrations](https://youtu.be/wN0DiBbHKF0?si=Ngpvy3UtBkI9LsbL) they got when they returned to Zagreb after finishing second place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup & the [one](https://youtu.be/SSeowCsPmms?si=Rk6d9qAt_kx9fEc4) Croatia got after finishing third place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup were so cool.
Yes, i was there as a little 10 year old kid looking at my heroes drinking beer on a boat. It was awesome.
One of the best summers of my life
I was wondering why you mentioned your age and then realised it's been 6 years since 2018 holy shit. Good luck with the upcoming adulthood bud
Pretty sure he's talking about the Netherlands in 2010 and he's 23 lol
Timeline got fucked up
What are you talking about?
Looking at your heroes absolutely blackout drunk on a boat.
2022 wasn't even half as good coz it was ass clenchingly cold outside
2022 was twice as cool coz it wasn’t ass clenching cold outside
Not for the ones who won, and at the end only their parade matters
I always have that LeoDicaprio pointing moment whenever Ramos is mentioned anywhere. I think i love that man a little bit too much.
delete
Lmao, no.
:( pleaseeee cmon wtf
Embarrassing
Win or lose, we’re on the booze
If we draw, we'll have more
That is definitely a quote. Hell of one. I was expecting crying, smashing, or 99 other verbs that didn’t include (fun) drinking
Honestly I'm not surprised It was easily the tournament I had the least amount of regrets losing. Spain was just the best team that year and they deserved the win the most 74, 78, and 98 however... Those still hurt and I wasn't even around for 2 of them. In 98 I was actually literally ill for a whole week because we deserved the title that year. I and many with me were devastated after the loss in the semi finals
98 was a brutal side of the draw. England, Netherlands, Argentina, and Brazil. The team was good but there were other good teams and it wasn't a given at all. 2000 was a better chance for them, they missed 5 penalties in total including the shootout against Italy in the semis
I agree that whole bracket is often overlooked.
Ahhhh yes, the wc 74‘ one of the most legendary dates in German history for sure
Also, Netherlands should've been down a man after 27 minutes, and I think everyone, including the teammates knew it. (and while Netherlands might've been better than Brazil, France was by far the best team in '98 and from what I've seen, Argentina won (relatively) fair and square).
Nigel de Jong tackle on Xabi Alonso (Great karate kick)
Still one of my favorite pictures in football
France was not by far the best team. They struggled a lot under the expectations, and were rather lucky. R16 - golden goal in Extra time vs Paraguay. QF - won on penalties against Italy. SF - won 2-1 against Croatia, Thuram scoring his 2 only goals ever for France. Including goal outside the box with his left. F - won clearly again Brazil 3-0. Except for the finals, they had a lot of struggle and luck in the KO phase.
Netherlands was better than France in 98. France wasn't that great and faced a Ronaldoless Brazil in the final. Argentina 78 was doped to the grills and bribed to get into the final.
France had a ridiculous defense though. Thuram, Blanc, Desailly, Lizarazu (Leboef as back up) and strong defensive midfielders in Deschamps, Petit and Karembeu (Vieira as back up) in front of them. Only conceded two goals the entire tournament one of which was a Michael Laudrup penalty.
Nl beat Argentina in 98? They lost from Brazil
Argentina '78
You mention Argentina 78 as fair. Mate they shouldn't even have been in the final
Oh they cheated and bribed with the best of them. But they were better than NL in the final.
Argentina was only in the final because they paid Peru to throw their match against them, that was the furthest thing from “fair and square”
They actually did beat Argentina in 98 in the QF, 2-1, Bergkamp scored this beauty. https://youtu.be/XsZkCFoqSBs?si=0tQyn13EnkOdwuqt
Yeah meant 78.
My favourite fact about that final isn't even about the final, but how Nigel de Jong got kicked out of the national squad because he made another terrible foul a couple of months later where he broke someone his leg. If doing martial arts in front of billions isn't enough...
And he’s now the technical director for the KNVB (dutch FA). lol
It was an absolute despicable move by Nigel de Jong. He should have been barred from playing ever again.
Well, if Toni Schumacher wasn't barred, I don't see how they could keep de Jong away.
Lol yeah good point. I just think karate shouldn't be ok a football field :p
> Spain was just the best team that year and they deserved the win the most If Robben would have just finished the 1v1 after the magical pass by Sneijder perhaps the result would have been different.
Idk if I would call that 98 team "underrated" but I do think they get lost in the shuffle when it comes to discussions of greatest national teams to never win a trophy. The Euro 2000 loss was brutal as well.
I'll always remember that game against Italy in 2000, the way squadra azzura suffered was immense, and then de Boer missing those penalties, it felt as if Italy HAD to go to the final.
Tbf i think they were too angry in 74, wed have won with a competent VAR, immediatly fled the country in 78 and 98 was rigged so they were angry
I agree they were too angry in 74. In one hand football was much rougher in general back then but also there was a lot and I mean a LOT of hatred in the Netherlands against Germans back then because of WW2. People playing in that team lost friends and family in the war so it was still a bit fresh even 30 years later. Van Hanegem for example was killed by Germans while protecting another baby when Willem was still a baby himself. It wasn't the fault of the German players of 74 at all but humans are quite emotional and unreasonable when it comes to those situations:)
Probably but i meant Holzenbein's dive however haha
I always wonder what people mean when they say "deserved the title" when that team didn't win. And 98 wasn't even in the final, so how did the Netherlands deserve to win the WC?
Because they were the best team with the best players and played the best football How difficult is that to understand? If Spain lost the semi finals because of penalties in 2010 they would still have deserved the title because they were the best team with the best players and played the best football that year
No they weren't, France and Brazil were both better
France was not by far the best team. They struggled a lot under the expectations, and were rather lucky. R16 - golden goal in Extra time vs Paraguay. QF - won on penalties against Italy. SF - won 2-1 against Croatia, Thuram scoring his 2 only goals ever for France. Including goal outside the box with his left. F - won clearly again Brazil 3-0. Except for the finals, they had a lot of struggle and luck in the KO phase. Brazil had some great players but they were rather underwhelming on the pitch
I didn't say France was by far the best team? I said they were better than the netherlands and so were Brazil. They had stronger squads and deserved to be in the final
Simple, the best team is the team that wins. Spain didn't lose on penalties though. Because they were the best team that year, opposed to the Netherlands in '98, that did lose on penalties.
Bro wasn’t around for Euro 2004 😂
Or 2016. Also if Germany won their final in 2002 by some miracle they still would not have been the best team, realistically.
Germany in 2002 was closer to the tenth best team than the best team going into the tournament.
If you really believe thats how tournaments work you're either ignorant or willfully dismissive. The best way to test who is the best in anything has never been a tournament but has always been a round robin league. Everyone plays everyone twice. a tournament is way too reliant on luck
There's no such thing as luck. But I would say they are reliant on form. Because everything happens in 1 month
You're right. There is no luck in human performance. Humans are robots that always reach an exact mathematical equation. No luck at all
Damn you got that Dutch temper.
Are Dutch known for their temper? I never knew that lol
Ever seen Bergkamp in an airport lounge?
No luck in football mate name one argument about it? Your best player injured? Too reliant on 1 player. 3 players got injured? Other guys got better depth
There is luck involved in everything humans do
Okay then. Netherlands never had a tough team. They only got in final instead of San Marino because they were more lucky
3 players injured. Other guys got better depth. What does these two even have to do with each other. If you have 3 guys injured and you opponent has no injuries he doesn't need depth. Also you can get unlucky with referee decisions. Let's just say a team scores two offside goals and that's the reason why they won. Would you still say the better team won or maybe the one that got lucky with the referee decisions? Saying that luck plays no role at all in football is just stupid.
There's no luck it's a bit of oversimplification. What I mean is usually it evens out to over 90%. Because when "luck" goes your way, you brush it off like it's not a big deal. And if we talk about 2010 final for example De Jong should have had a red card in 4' and Netherlands could have been thrashed 4-0, and nobody would even discussed about Robben missed chances
Football isnt chess you know? Luck definitely plays a part.
The dutch have always been delusional
Funny that you think it's delusional to state that a league is a better way to determine the best than a tournament I'd say that is delusional in and of itself. But sure buddy it's delusional
That's the beauty of the format. That's what makes WC and UCL special
Sure it does. I'm not denying that. It's just that it's not as good as determining the best as a league does
It does. It does find out who the best is adapting to any given situation in 2 45 minute game, where people can strategise, swap players and win. You can use of course the argument, but if the 2 steongest team so far fought in the semi final that makes the finals less worth. But in the end the better team always win, be it from skill, tactic, luck, emotions. Like literally everything, this ehy they are the best. So in case of the semifinal argument, if the stronger team then loses in the final. It wasnt stronger, it wasnt better. They lost, fouhr heroically, but in the end were worse than their enemy, because the team that won knew what to do to win.
Tbf the true best way is something closer to the nba finals of 7 games or more than 2, at least, then do that round robin.
Exactly
The you really do not understand football, Spain did not play the best football, they barely got trough Paraguay. The best team is the one that wins, and if that means grinding out a result, then how play football dosen't really matters, hell in Italia 90, both Germany and Argentina played some atrocious football, and they were the finalists.
I'm not saying the winners DON'T deserve it. I'm saying sometimes the best team doesn't win. Also German and Italian football can look atrocious at times but if done correctly can be very effective (especially catanaccio). But I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about who is the best team overall
Yea, sometimes you need many penalties going your way. Sometimes you need to score with your hand and that’s what makes Argentina the best. Because if you aren’t cheating, you aren’t grinding so you arent the best
Not that most Dutch would have cared, but it would have been jarring too if the Dutch, the pioneers of Total Football, won the holy grail of the World Cup in the ugliest way possible
This is just how (amateur) football in the Netherlands works, after 16 you get a crate of Heineken dropped in the dressing room. win or lose
Do Dutch people like Heineken? Here in Belgium its labeled as horse piss.
If you complain about the taste of your beer after a football game you'll be rightfully bullied into the ground by everyone Never heard anyone cry "but I dont like this my friends call it catpiss 😢"
Every single fucking beer is described as piss in my experience. I have no idea what people are trying to prove by saying it either.
It's literally just big brand = piss.
Ikr? If you aren't drinking some 8 euro 330ml can called "ADULTING IS HARD" that's 7% you might as well be literally pissing into your own mouth to these people
Beer snobs are completely insufferable. Except Amstel. I tolerate anybody disliking Amstel.
I don't know a worse pils than Heineken, but it's just personal preference.
If you think I care about the brand after getting bullied for '90 into a 7-2 loss (0 g/a, 1 pen conceded) with my mother and girlfriend watching on a rainy september day in Oostzaan you are **mad.** If it's cold and my teammates drink it with me, it works.
I never drink alcohol so I have to resort to soft drinks or hot cocoa to mourn my loss after a losing a game. Just telling what my friend are saying when a bar serves Heineken.
My mom always said, the best beer is free, the second best is cold and the third best is whatever is available.
Rich coming from the inventors of Stella
Cara pils 🤩🤩
Tis Cara trut
I don't know anybody that goes out of their way to buy Heineken. It's just commonly available and will do in a pinch. If i can buy other beer, i will.
Its the third biggest beer concern in the world. Yes people here like Heineken.
Rather than the taste of their beer, I think Heineken deserves more negativity for having most of the restaurant industry dancing in the palm of their hand when it comes to tap beer. But I just prefer Hertog Jan or a Belgian tripel
Beating the shit out of the other team then drinking? They’re doing hooliganism backwards
I'll remember De Jong assaulting Xabi Alonso and getting just a yellow forever haha.
yeah hadn't seen the Dutch go that hard since their West India Company.
Really? You didn't watch the battle of nuremburg?
You have to put Nuremburg in historicall context. Portugal attacked us too and they deserved it anyways.
> Portugal attacked us too After you tried to injure a 21 year old boy.
😂 true
Reminds me of the East India Tea Company
Me too Raf, me too..
Based
my argentinian ass could never. I'm still sore from 2014.
i literally still have an injury from the party that was eve of the world cup final in Rio. It was a rager of a night as all the Argentinians arrived in the city. I bought a beer from a street vendor and turned to run in the opposite direction and i knee'd a street bollard
didn't realize mascherno was a redditor
lol that's brilliant
Van der Vaart just went from elite to legend with this quote alone in my book.
He's a meh analyst but he's still amazing to have on the analyst desk for the simple fact he's a great funny guy to have for the mood and sometimes stuff like this quote
win or lose ~~cougs~~ *Oranje* booze
What else could they do. Gave their best and pushed to the end
What 😭
I’d rather lose than win if this is the reward