Bart Verbruggen on Cruyff, Krul and why Netherlands can win the World Cup: ‘Our defence is one of the best in the world’ | OneFootball

Netherlands are ranked only eighth favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, below Spain, France, Argentina, Brazil, England, Portugal and Germany. Depending where you draw the line, they are either the worst of the realistic contenders or the best of the rest.

Yet there is plenty of evidence to suggest that is a pessimistic view of one of the best squads in North America this summer. Netherlands have one of Europe’s form strikers in Donyell Malen, who scored 14 goals in 18 Serie A games since joining Roma in January, much to the surprise of Aston Villa fans. They have Frenkie de Jong, Ryan Gravenberch and Tijjani Reijnders in midfield. And the defence is like something from a Premier League fantasy team.

Virgil van Dijk, Micky van de Ven, Nathan Ake and Jurrien Timber are an elite quartet, and that is before you get to the power of right-back Denzel Dumfries – about to join Real Madrid from Inter as Jose Mourinho’s first marquee signing since returning to the Bernabeu. Chelsea’s Jorrel Hato and Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke add strength in depth.

Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen is developing into a hugely talented player in his own right, but he feels more secure knowing who will be standing in front of him when the Netherlands begin their World Cup campaign, against Japan on 14 June.

“It makes my life a bit easier, that’s for sure,” Verbruggen says. “As a competitor, you always want to play against the best players but you also want to beat them, and in order to beat them you need the best players on your side as well. And I’ve got the big privilege to be able to play with a defensive line that I think is up there with the best in the world.”

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Bart Verbruggen and Virgil van Dijk in action during last year's Nations League (Getty)

It is a cliche that attack wins games and defence wins tournaments, but World Cup history suggests there is some truth to it. Between 1990 and 2014, no World Cup winner conceded more than four goals in the entire tournament. So are the Dutch, who appear stronger at the back than in attack, being overlooked?

“I don’t really pay attention to what other people say about the team, about us, about me, about my teammates,” says Verbruggen. “I don’t really care, to be honest. I know the quality that we have, and I know that the people who will underestimate us will be surprised in the tournament.”

This may be Verbruggen’s first World Cup of many, but it is likely the last for Van Dijk, the Dutch captain, who will turn 35 during the tournament. Van Dijk has only appeared in one before, four years ago in Qatar, when the Netherlands were knocked out on penalties in a fiery game with Argentina.

“I don’t know if it’s his last chance, but all I know for sure is that he is a massive personality, he’s a massive winner, he’s a leader,” says Verbruggen. “His mentality will be to do everything as good as we can in every single moment that goes into all the small details. It’s not just on the pitch, it’s also our behaviour off the pitch. It’s the way we show ourselves to the world … we all will try to be the very best we can be in every single little detail, and he will drive that.

“I don’t know if it’s his last chance, you have to ask him. But I know for sure that he will want to win it.”

Verbruggen is one of Netherlands’ brightest young talents, a goalkeeper who had established himself as No 1 for both Brighton and his country by 21 years old. Now 23, he is clearly brimming with confidence and self-assurance, striding up to a table of journalists for this interview inside Brighton’s training dome with a big grin and saying: “Hello, boys!”

He grew up idolising Edwin van der Sar, and his first World Cup memory was watching the Netherlands in the 2010 final in Johannesburg, when Andres Iniesta broke Dutch dreams.

“I was eight years old, heartbroken because we lost the final, but so proud of the team. I just fell in love with the squad, and I hope that’s something that we can do. All I remember is Arjen Robben’s chance against [Iker] Casillas, and the goal they scored. But I felt so proud of that team, they had a great run, they beat Brazil, it was just amazing.”

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Verbruggen in action for Brighton at the Amex Stadium last month (Getty)

Verbruggen was still at his first club, Anderlecht in Belgium, when he won his first Dutch cap. His youth coach there, Jelle Ten Rouwelaar, was recently hired by Brighton to continue their relationship and few people have had such an impact on Verbruggen’s ascent as Ten Rouwelaar.

“We make jokes about it but he has helped me massively in my whole career. The first training session we did together, I think I was 15 years old. I’m very grateful for him, he has helped me a lot in the past. He’s still helping me a lot now, and he knows me very well as a goalie, as a person, so he knows how to trigger me or to help me also mentally.”

Netherlands might be the greatest footballing nation never to win the World Cup. It is certainly one of the most influential, given the impact of Johan Cruyff and the Dutch football traditions that followed and still permeate football today. Do the Dutch people demand a World Cup triumph?

“I think everybody looks at Holland as a big football nation. Historically, we’ve always had very good teams and players. We had Johan Cruyff, Dennis Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy… The World Cup is something missing for the Netherlands, for sure. Me and my teammates have the privilege to try to change that. That’s a very exciting task to be given.

“Obviously I’m too young [to have seen Cruyff’s generation] but you will hear the stories, you see the videos. My dad used to tell me about them, so it’s definitely stuff that is engraved in the Dutch heritage. In reality, we’re quite a small country, but we just tend to have very good football players, a very good football team. That is something that is a big privilege to be a part of.”

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Johan Cruyff in the 1974 World Cup leading Argentina a merry dance (AFP)

Four years after watching Casillas deny Robben in the World Cup final, Verbruggen watched the strange, now famous sight of Tim Krul coming off the bench in the last minute of extra time to decide a penalty shootout at the 2014 World Cup.

“At the time I was 11, I was a goalkeeper and had just started at my first professional club. You see that and all of a sudden Tim Krul is your biggest hero, for that moment. It just shows how important the depth of the squad is. That’s a big strength for us, because even the people who maybe don’t start the first game of the World Cup can decide it.”

And perhaps a forgotten part of the wider World Cup story is that goalkeepers often decide tournaments. The 2022 World Cup will be forever remembered as Lionel Messi’s destiny, but Verbruggen is quick to point out the role of Emiliano Martinez in that particular final.

“I’ve never doubted that a goalkeeper can decide a World Cup because you’ve seen it even last time with Martinez – people shouldn’t forget the save he made against [Randal] Kolo Muani. If you do that at the right time, in the big moments, then people will look at you like you decided it. But I don’t really care who decides it, I just want to win the World Cup.”