Analyst is certain: ‘A combination of Robben and Dumfries would genuinely make you world champions’

Arjen Robben played 96 international matches for the Netherlands national team between 2003 and 2017, and was active at three different European Championships and World Cups. Especially in 2014, Robben was in the form of his life when Oranje, under the leadership of head coach Louis van Gaal, finished third at the World Cup in Brazil.

In 2010, the former PSV player could have made himself immortal in the Netherlands in the World Cup final when the former striker, around the sixtieth minute, after a through ball from Wesley Sneijder, went one-on-one with Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas. Robben, however, saw his effort turned away by the toe of the Spanish goalie and ultimately the Netherlands national team, under Bert van Marwijk, lost after extra time 0-1 due to a goal by Andres Iniesta.

At the 2026 World Cup, former PSV defender Denzel Dumfries is one of the key players for Oranje. Dumfries made his debut for the national team in 2018 and has been an undisputed player for the Netherlands national team ever since.

Robben has not been an international anymore since 2018, but former coach and today analyst Robert Maaskant believes that a pairing between the former forward and Dumfries would ensure that the Netherlands would become world champions. ''What do you think would happen if we still had Robben on the right flank? Of course he would have played everything without a doubt. A combination of Robben and Dumfries would really make you world champions, then you can’t be stopped. Those two players in their prime'', says the former coach of, among others, Willem II and NAC Breda in the Sportnieuws.nl World Football podcast.

Ralf Seuntjens, just like Maaskant, believes that it is not down to Dumfries that Oranje has had so many offside players on the right over the past few years. ''Of course they have to play a lot on the inside, while it just so happens that they are not offside players who enjoy coming inside from the right. But of course that has nothing to do with Dumfries'', said the current striker.

''That is purely down to the quality of the forwards'', says Maaskant.

According to Seuntjens, there is also a lot of progress at Oranje in the position of the right winger. ''You really see progress. Of course, it’s a cooperation between the right-back and the winger, but you can see that it’s being trained. Against Japan, you saw that come back very nicely: Summerville came in well, while Dumfries really lined up as a right winger. I don’t rule out that against Tunisia we’ll play a ball from Gakpo or Van de Ven onto the head of Dumfries,'' the striker concludes.