Van Bommel and De Jong were nothing but destroyers in that World Cup run. I find that there is still this elitist view by European teams that they are above the rest of the world. You'd think South America came up with diving but the Spanish and Italians are masters of theatrics too. You've Keane and Co. sneering at the non-whites for dancing when they score or win a game. The Dutch went out there to stop Argentina playing from minute one, they sewed the seed of bad blood with that but if they had just played properly from the start they'd have won.
I hate to go there but Europeans have notions of themselves in all facets of life why would football be any different? The Argies have given themselves a name over the decades but they didn't just do it for no reason the other night. The Dutch have been dining out on Cruyff and Total Football for decades but there hasnt been a team in the last 20 years that wasnt as cynical as any Italian side defending a 1-0 lead with 10 mins to go.
It's pot kettle stuff from nearly every team in the tournament. While we're at it the Portuguese are the worst of them all, imagine having Pepe, Ronaldo and Penandez in one team and accusing someone else of cheating.