PSV coryphaei disagree with each other about Oranje: “Where do you get that from?”

The Netherlands national team, despite a 2-1 victory over World Cup debutant Uzbekistan, had not exactly the best final tune for the World Cup given the style of play that the team led by head coach Ronald Koeman showed against the Uzbeks. Last Wednesday, Oranje also lost the farewell match in Rotterdam 0-1 to World Cup participant Algeria.

Despite this, PSV legend Willy van de Kerkhof thinks that the Dutch national team will be standing with the World Cup on 19 July. ''I'm really convinced that we will become world champions. You have to have a bit of luck, but we had that too in 1978. And we deserve it, don't we, or what?'', says Willy in the Willy & René PSV Podcast on Omroep Brabant.

This statement causes amazement for brother René. ''Where do you get that from? You have to be realistic: players of the level of Cruijff and Van Hanegem, we don't have them anymore. We don't really have players who can decide a match on their own'', René said to Willy.

Both brothers were part of the Netherlands squad that, for the second time in a row, managed to reach the final in 1978. After extra time, the host nation Argentina was ultimately too strong with a 3-1 win, and thus Oranje lost the second World Cup final after 1974 against West Germany (1-2), where they also featured in the Dutch team and above all had to make do with a substitute role.

Willy believes that Orange as a collective is very strong and can therefore go far as well. "Our strength lies in the collective. And according to me, that's also in good shape. If you don't have to face France and Spain in the last eight and the last four, you could just make it to the final," said the former footballer.

Next Sunday the Netherlands plays its first match against Japan and René thinks he knows how Oranje should approach the game against the Asian country. ''I was a forward myself, so I start up front: Summerville, Malen and Gakpo. I thought Summerville played well against Algeria. He was not unfamiliar on the right side and had a few actions from which Malen should have scored. Memphis does everything to get fit again; he even gave our friend Noa Lang a hard kick during training, but he isn’t fully there yet, so Malen plays'', René tells.

The brothers also expect that during the World Cup national coach Ronald Koeman will not make much use of Guus Til, the only PSV player in the Oranje squad. ''When the need arises, then Koeman will still choose Weghorst over Til,'' Willy thinks, to which René replies: ''How do you get that out of your mouth? I’d still choose Brobbey over Weghorst,'' concludes the former footballer.