But coach Bert van Marwijk believes he has discovered the missing link which prevented the 'Total Football' pioneers of 1974 and the team of 1978, who took the Netherlands to back-to-back finals, from lifting the greatest prize in football.

On Sunday at Soccer City in Johannesburg, Van Marwijk promises a side built in the image of Spanish club side Barcelona. A team who play beautiful football when in possession and scrap like fury to win the ball back.

Van Marwijk revealed he had been studying Barcelona for the past two years and credited the Spanish ethos with his team's willingness to work even harder when things were not always going to plan in the 3-2 semi-final win against Uruguay.

Van Marwijk explained: "What happened before my time, I don't look at that. I do things my way. First and foremost, you have to believe in something.

"You have to genuinely believe in a style. We play good football, beautiful football too. Often, when we have started winning, we become overly confident and we end up going home quite quickly. I keep reminding my players that there is always a 'next match.'

"We defend as a team. I love attacking, beautiful football but you have to start with the players doing their defensive jobs and in the right positions.

"I always make the comparison with Barcelona. They play my kind of football, but look at what happens when Barca lose the ball - Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta and Xavi are prepared to pressurise the ball and win it back.

"If you can get that mentality in the team, you're on the right path. That's what we've managed to do so far."

Not just at this World Cup either. The win against Uruguay was Holland's 14th consecutive World Cup win, six here in South Africa and eight straight victories in qualifying.

The vision is clearly paying off.

Of course, there is more to it than just hard work. Holland do not have Cruyff's flair of 1974, but they do have star performers in Arsenal's Robin van Persie, Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben and especially Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder.

Van Persie and Sneijder are not supposed to get on after a training fracas and a row over who should take free-kicks. They are said to have barely spoken in two years.

But you would not know it. And that is perhaps Van Marwijk's greatest gift to this Dutch team. They are not the best of friends, but when it comes to pulling on the orange jersey they are a band of brothers. All in it together.

The evidence is in their group huddle, their collective celebrations and, most importantly, the way they work for each other.

Van Marwijk rams it home at every opportunity, even if it means deflecting the glory from Sneijder, who has scored five of his side's 12 goals this tournament from his position as chief playmaker.

"Wesley plays an important role in the team," conceded Van Marwijk, who also singled out Liverpool'sDirk Kuyt as epitomising his side's more selfless ethic.

"But it's not all about him. Even the players in the squad who have not featured have done their bit. We are strong as a 'team' and I want to stress the word 'team'."

It is not a word which has figured that highly where the Dutch have been concerned this past 32 years.

On Sunday, however, it is an ethos which might deliver football's Holy Grail to a nation of just 16 million. That would be some achievement.

But then didn't someone once say the future was Orange?