Yet there are always doubts about whether they will go one better than the losing finalists in 1974 with Johan Cruyff, or four years later when Rob Rensenbrink scored five times in the tournament.

Their ability has never been in question, with Bert van Marwijk's current crop winning home and away against Iceland, Scotland and Macedonia, conceding just twice in the process.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Dirk Kuyt provided the goals, Mark van Bommel the steel in midfield and Rafael van der Vaart the creativity.

The question has always been their mentality and whether the squad has the harmony to succeed. Accusations in the past have been of Holland squads having too many philosophers, vocal ones at that, and not enough yes-men.

Edgar Davids, himself sent home for disciplinary reasons during the European Championships in 1996, believes times have changed.

"I believe, honestly, that they could win the World Cup," said the former Ajax, Inter Milan and Barcelona midfielder.

"They have the players. The players have talent but now they have matured in competitions by playing in two tournaments together. Most importantly they have experience, and a lot of key players rather than one.

"People say the Dutch are too expressive but that is a problem in every dressing room. Every professional team has that in common."

Davids played two seasons at Tottenham and monitors English football. Having played under Fabio Capello in Serie A, the 37-year-old feels England are genuine competition for Holland.

"England, absolutely, will be one of the favourites," he said. "I love their team, they have some excellent players and, personally, I really like Steven Gerrard. He is box-to-box with power and will, he has scoring ability and technical ability.

"I've played under Capello. He is very strict and tactical and he is always very organised in his defence."

Both England and Holland have underachieved at the World Cup in the modern era.

The Dutch crept through the group stages of 1990 before getting knocked out by eventual winners West Germany, then they reached the quarter-finals and the semi-finals in the next two tournaments.

In that 1998 campaign they were knocked out on penalties to Brazil - they have a spot-kick hoodoo to rival England's, another contribution to their potential still being unfulfilled.

Reaching the last four is a huge achievement, but the overwhelming feeling is that Holland have produced enough talent to have been crowned world champions at least once. They failed to qualify in 2002, then in 2006 reached the second round.

Reaching the knockout stages in South Africa appears straightforward enough, with Japan, Denmark and Cameroon their opposition in Group E.

Coach Bert van Marwijk said: "We know Denmark very well and will analyse them even more so we are not surprised. Cameroon can play very good football, so they will be dangerous even if they didn't do very well at the African Nations Cup. I know their danger."

Van Marwijk has been speaking to Ruud Krol, the former Holland defender who is manager of Orlando Pirates, about conditions in South Africa.

There were reservations about the quality of surfaces at their training base but Van Marwijk was confident of the problems being solved when he recently visited the country for a FIFA coaches' summit.

The key to their finals could be whether Arsenal forward Robin van Persie is back to his best following a serious ankle injury that has ruled him out for much of the season.

Van Persie was in contact with Van Marwijk during his recovery, before making his comeback in the defeat to Tottenham with a month of the domestic season remaining.

"He is a very important player for me, so it is very important for me that he is fit," Van Marwijk said.