Few nations boast the soccer pedigree of the Dutch. The Netherlands advanced to the semifinals of the previous two World Cups, losing in the final to Spain in 2010 and finishing third in 2014.
Netherlands is often called the “best team to have never won the World Cup.” And, it’s hard to argue, as no other nation has reached the final more times without a victory, three times (1974 to Germany, 1978 to Argentina and 2010 to Spain).
However, trouble brewed shortly after the last World Cup. The Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2016 European Championships. Then, in UEFA World Cup qualifying it finished third in its group behind France and Sweden, which had the same amoung of points as the Netherlands but took second place via the goal-differential tiebreaker. The Netherlands has been in this situation before. After finishing the 1998 World Cup in fourth place (losing in the semifinals to Brazil), the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.