When UEFA expanded the European Championships to 24 teams starting from next year's tournament in France, it appeared to be a gimme from the traditional big nations like Netherlands in qualifying.
But the Dutch are in nothing short of a mess. After defeats to Iceland and Turkey following an already poor start to their group, they are fourth and facing an uphill task to salvage even a third-placed playoff spot.
Just over a year since they reached the World Cup semi-final, what has gone so wrong?
"I think that you can say that getting to third place in the last World Cup didn't reflect the true strength of a nation football-wise. It was probably a decent quarter-final team," Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football author David Winner told Off The Ball.
But he also feels that the current crisis is also not reflective of the Netheralands' true strengths.
"You've also got a slightly false position the other way. They're not quite as bad as the results suggest."
Winner feels the Dutch under-estimated their group opponents and pointed towards and also pointed out that the Oranje are caught between two generations of players from the Robin van Persie-Arjen Robben era to the new guard.
"You've got one good generation fading away and you've got the younger guard not and we don't know if they will be good enough coming through. So they're caught between two generations," he said of a side that needs to win their last two group games to have any chance of getting into the playoffs.
Winner also touched on the tactical issues that are stopping Robben from shining for the Dutch currently and gave an insight into new manager Danny Blind who has stepped up to replace Guus Hiddink.
Listen to the full interview via the Football Show podcast.
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