Five games played, five games won and a goal difference of 12 to 1, those are the impressive figures of the Dutch national team in their qualification campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

For the time being the team can not be contained, after they beat Scotland (3-0) and Macedonia (4-0) seemingly effortless.

Of course they could have been in a more difficult group, but still.

Away games to Macedonia and Norway are not exactly easy and Iceland and Scotland have caused some major upsets in other qualification campaigns.

When you have a 100% score from five games and one foot on South African soil already you have done well.

But the question how good this Dutch team is is tough to answer.

They are significantly better than Scotland and Macedonia, as was shown this week.

But how do they compare to other top nations such as Spain, Germany and Argentina?

"Where we stand with this group? Well on top of our group," said Dirk Kuyt with a smile after he had scored two goals against Macedonia.

"We will only nµknow next year at the World Cup how good we really are. It's hard to say at this moment. But fact is that we made a big step forward as a team. The fact that we have no trouble at all beating these smaller teams shows we have made progress."

There is no doubt about Holland qualifying for the World Cup after Wednesday's game.

Only in theory Scotland and Norway can overtake Holland on place 1, but few people will actually believe that that will happen.

Early June they can all make it official on Iceland.

"There we will try and take the three points and qualify. In South Africa we can then see how far we can reach," says defender Joris Mathijsen, who is also fairly content with the display of the team.

"Especially in the first half I believe it was quite all-right. We took the chances we got well."

"It's great to play in such a good team," Kuyt adds.

"We host a lot of quality. Whether it's Van Persie playing or Sneijder, it doesn't make a big difference. They are different types of players but they are both world class. It's a shame that either one of them has to sit on the bench from time to time. But it's great for the team. When one drops away you don't lose any quality."

Kuyt thinks that in spite of the team losing players like Edwin van der Sar and Ruud van Nistelrooy the team as a whole has matured a lot since the last World Cup.

"Of course we have lost those players and perhaps I forget one or two others, but Wesley, Rafael, Robin, Arjen, myself and others are all two years older now and a lot better than we were then. We have all ended up with European top sides and that is paying off."

"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