Netherlands national football team
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Republic of Ireland, the latter of which eliminated them from the Finals tournament. Van Gaal resigned at the conclusion of the Netherlands' unsuccessful campaign. Dick Advocaat returned to coach the Netherlands for a second time and led the team to the semifinals of Euro 2004 but lost to Portugal and, after receiving criticism for his tactics and player changes, stepped down. This was to be the end for the many of the team's World Cup veterans (mostly made up of the Ajax generation of 1995.) Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Marc Overmars, Jaap Stam, and Patrick Kluivert had either retired or were not selected for the upcoming World Cup by new coach Marco van Basten.
The Netherlands qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and finished second in Group C after beating Serbia & Montenegro (1–0) and the Côte d'Ivoire (2–1) and drawing Argentina (0–0). Both Argentina and the Netherlands finished the group stage with seven points, but the Argentinians had a superior goal difference and finished first as a result. The Dutch were eliminated in the second round after losing 1–0 to Portugal, in a match that produced 16 yellow cards (which matched the World Cup record for most cautions in one game set in 2002) and set a new World Cup record of four red cards (two for either side) and was nicknamed "the Battle of Nuremberg" by the press. Despite criticism surrounding his selection policy and the lack of attacking football from his team, Marco van Basten was offered a two-year extension to his contract by the Dutch FA, which would allow him to serve as national coach during Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. The move was widely regarded as a vote of confidence in van Basten and his assistants by the KNVB officials. The Netherlands began their Euro 2008 campaign with a win in Luxembourg on 2 September 2006. On 8 September 2007, the Oranje beat Bulgaria at the Amsterdam ArenA on goals by Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy. On 12 September 2007, the Netherlands won a hard fought victory against Albania, with van Nistelrooy scoring the winning goal in stoppage time. This win took the Dutch squad into second place in Group G, on par with Romania for points, but behind on goal
World Cup 2006–present