The ever-formidable trio of Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, and Dirk Kuyt will lead the attack with Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder providing fire support. Meanwhile Mark von Bommel and Nigel DeJong will set up their usual midfield karate dojo.
Everton's Johnny Heitinga leads the defensive lineup along with Malaga's Joris Mathijsen, Ajax's Gregory van der Wiel, and Stuttgart's Khalid "The Cannibal" Boulahrouze. Not sure why he's called "The Cannibal," but assume it's because he looks like Richard Kiel's "Jaws" character from those '70s Roger Moore Bond films.
A trio of goalkeepers has been selected that along with regular starter Martin Stekelenberg of Roma, includes Newcastle's Tim Krul and Michel Vorm from Swansee.
In addition to other familiar standby supporting players such as the formidable Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, and PSV defender Wilfred Bouma there are a number of less familiar faces in this summer's team.
FC Twente striker Luuk de Jong has been included in the attack as has Heerenveen's Luciano Narsingh. De Jong provided a crucial goal for the Oranje in qualifying against Finland last fall. The striker also notched up 25 goals on the season for Twente, making him the club's top scorer.
Feared throughout the Eredivisie for his speed and dribbling skills, Narsingh made his international debut in last week's friendly loss to Bayern Munich, during which he scored one of the Netherlands' two goals in that 3-2 defeat.
Midfielders hoping to somehow elbow their way into the lineup ahead of the usual crop of coveted maestros, include Stijn Schaars and Kevin Strootman. Schaars is an attacking midfielder who currently plies his trade at Sporting Lisbon. He was with the Dutch squad in South Africa two years ago but saw little to no action. Strootman is a central midfielder at PSV who has one previous international goal to his credit.
Feyenoord's Ron Vlaar and PSV's Jetro Willems are both new additions to the defense since South Africa. Vlaar has actually been in and around the team since 2005 while Willems is previously uncapped.
Saturday the Dutch suffered a surprise defeat to Bulgaria in a friendly leading up to the tournament, which begins in 12 days.
Oranje coach Bert Van Marwijk laid much of the blame on Heitinga.
"A pass like Heitinga's is just forbidden," said Van Marwijk to SBS. "You just don't do that."
Despite back-to-back warmup friendly losses against Bayern and Bulgaria, the Dutch remain among the favorites for this summer's tournament, along with Spain and Germany. Holland's only previous major trophy was a European Championship title they won in 1988 with a team that featured the likes of Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit.
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