The 1970s saw the invention of Total Football (Dutch: Totaalvoetbal), pioneered by Feyenoord and Ajax and led by playmaker Johan Cruyff and national team coach Rinus Michels.

However, the team lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, despite having gone 1–0 up through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before any German had even touched the ball.

After losing the first group match against the Soviet Union (1–0), the Netherlands went on to qualify for the semi-final by defeating England 3–1 (with a hat-trick by the tournament's top scorer Marco van Basten), and Republic of Ireland (1–0).

[11] The Netherlands won the final with a convincing victory over the USSR, a rematch on the round robin game, through a header by Ruud Gullit and a volley by van Basten.

Van Basten failed to score, as he was frequently marked by opposing defenders, while Gullit was ineffective having not fully recovered from injury.

The team reached the semi-finals in the Euro '92, which was noted for the emergence of Dennis Bergkamp, but they were eliminated by eventual champions Denmark, with Van Basten's kick in the penalty shootout being saved by Peter Schmeichel.

This was to be van Basten's last major tournament as he suffered a serious ankle injury shortly after, eventually conceding defeat and retiring at the age of 30 in 1995.

In the 1994 World Cup, in the absence of the injured van Basten and the striking Gullit, Dennis Bergkamp led the team with three goals and the Netherlands advanced to the quarter-finals, where they lost 3–2 to eventual champions Brazil.

Near the end of regular time, after an unsuccessful dive to draw a penalty, Argentinian Ariel Ortega head-butted Edwin van der Sar.

Bergkamp's goal was famous because of its quality — he touched down a 60-yard (55 m) pass from Frank de Boer then reverse-flicked it inside Roberto Ayala and finally volleyed it past the Argentine goalkeeper.

Soon after the World Cup exit manager Guus Hiddink resigned after two tournaments in charge and was replaced by legendary ex-midfielder Frank Rijkaard.

In the semi-finals, their opponents, Italy, went down to ten men in the first half and the Netherlands were awarded two penalty kicks but failed to convert either chance.

Dennis Bergkamp, who failed to score during the tournament, retired from the national team after Euro 2000 (partly due to his fear of flying effectively ruling him out from the 2002 World Cup which was to be held in East Asia.)

Coach Frank Rijkaard was widely criticized by the press after the defeat to the Italians as the Dutch had squandered several chances to kill the game.

Surprisingly the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, with crucial losses to Portugal and the Republic of Ireland, the latter of which eliminated them from the Finals tournament.

Dick Advocaat returned to coach the Netherlands for a second time and led the team to the semifinals of Euro 2004 but lost to Portugal and, after receiving criticism for his tactics and player changes, stepped down.

Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Marc Overmars, Jaap Stam, and Patrick Kluivert had either retired or were not selected for the upcoming World Cup by new coach Marco van Basten.

The Netherlands qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and finished second in Group C after beating Serbia & Montenegro (1–0) and Ivory Coast (2–1) and drawing Argentina (0–0).

[13] Despite criticism surrounding his selection policy and the lack of attacking football from his team, Marco van Basten was offered a two-year extension to his contract by the Dutch FA, which would allow him to serve as national coach during Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.

On 12 September 2007, the Netherlands won a hard-fought victory against Albania, with van Nistelrooy scoring the winning goal in stoppage time.

The Oranje were beaten 1–0 in Romania on 13 October 2007, but four days later, the Netherlands' 2–0 victory over Slovenia, while rivals Bulgaria could only draw in Albania, left the Dutch needing one win from their last two games, at home to Luxembourg and away to Belarus, to qualify for Euro 2008.

The Dutch hoped to cap off an undefeated run through the World Cup, but lost to Spain 1–0 after midfielder Andrés Iniesta scored in extra time.

[15] In between the qualification matches, the team went on a trip to South America for rematches of the World Cup quarter and semi-finals against Brazil and Uruguay.

Although the matches ended in draws, coach Bert van Marwijk saw it as "a good test for his players, to prove they were fit to overcome hostile circumstances also."

Johan Cruyff criticized the team's star players of poor build up play and sloppy execution of the easy passes.