Friday's draw for the World Cup finals in South Africa revealed that it should be possible for the national team of the Netherlands to make it to the second round.

But what happens then?

A look at the schedule reveals that the road to the final is blocked by the two teams that are above Holland in the FIFA World Ranking at the moment: Brazil and Spain.

Playing in Group E Holland would face a team from Group F In round 2, which could be reigning World Champions Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand or Slovakia.

But after that stage the going gets tough, as it will most likely be either Brazil or Spain in the quarter final.

Johan Cruijff seems to think that that's where the road will end for the team of coach Bert van Marwijk.

"The draw is good to the extend that it should be possible to reach the quarter final, when Holland do what they must do. But they will travel to South Africa to win the tournament and to achieve that they will have to knock out either Brazil or Spain. That is possible when you are well settled in the tournament by that time, but you will be facing the current number 1 and 2 of the world. Holland are third on that list and looking at the current situation I believe that is the highest they can achieve."

"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football