Holland's dreams of winning the World Cup on the soil of footballing arch-enemies Germany only lasted until the last 16 but to some extent the seeds of their demise were sown by coach Marco van Basten when he named his 23-man squad back in May.

Few would blame him for omitting experienced players like Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf but his decision to overlook the admittedly uncapped Klaas-Jan Huntelaar seemed strange for a coach who was putting his faith in youth.

Huntelaar had scored 33 Eredivisie goals at a rate of more than a goal a game for Heerenveen and then Ajax last season and 43 in all competitions.

Yet Huntelaar was left to play for the under-21s in Portugal with Van Basten urging him "to prove me wrong" - it was more Van Basten who proved himself wrong.

Roy Makaay was also omitted which put the goalscoring burden very much on the shoulders of Ruud van Nistelrooy who was already out of favour with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

By the end of Holland's tournament, Van Basten had also lost faith with Van Nistelrooy who was left on the bench as Holland tried in vain to overturn Portugal's 1-0 lead in the last-16 match that sealed the Oranje's fate.

Dirk Kuyt looked out of his depth as he tried to replace Van Nistelrooy but even though Holland had a numerical advantage for most of a match where both teams eventually finished with nine men they could not get the goal they needed.

How Holland must have wished Huntelaar could have been thrown into the cauldron.

The draw in Leipzig had not been kind to Holland who were drawn in the "group of death" with Argentina, the Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro.

However, victories over the Serbo-Montenegrins and Ivorians - while not overly impressive - ensured the Dutch negotiated the first hurdle with a game to spare, meaning the final fixture with Argentina was a somewhat routine affair which ended in a goalless draw.

Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie were used as support for Van Nistelrooy on the flanks and showed some impressive touches in the group matches.

The Dutch were looking to go better than the 1974 World Cup which was held on German soil when they strolled to the final, inspired by Johan Cruyff.

In the final they scored in the opening minute with Johan Neeskens converting a penalty before a West German had touched the ball but the Germans rallied to win 2-1.

In 1988 Holland won their first and only major trophy on German soil with Van Basten the emblematic figure of that triumph with five goals including a spectacular tournament-clinching volley in the final against the Soviet Union.

Holland were desperate to lay the ghost of 1974 but failed to do so and had nothing in reserve when Portugal dug in to defend their early lead.

They may have complained about Portuguese timewasting and theatrics but with Van Basten having chalked off Huntelaar and Makaay's names before going to Germany his refusal to use Van Nistelrooy against the Portuguese, even when the occasion desperately demanded it, seemed perverse.

In the end the Oranje were sent home with the taunts of their German counterparts ringing in their ears with "Ohne Holland wir fahren nach Berlin" (We are going to Berlin without Holland) becoming the most widely sung song in Germany following the Portugal debacle.

Van Basten has been given more time to assemble his new-look team but Holland will be hoping he has learned from his mistakes.