Patrick Kluivert told Goals on Sunday about his glory days with Holland and Newcastle's prospects.
Dutch squad believe they can win Euro 2012, says Patrick
Bergkamp, Davids, Stam, Van der Sar - Holland had the names to win the 1998 World Cup but were thwarted by penalties.
That's the view of former Netherlands striker Patrick Kluivert who told
Goals on Sunday that failing to win the Jules Rimet Trophy 13 years ago continues to hurt.
"It is really frustrating that we didn't win a big prize," said the 35-year-old, who is now a coach at FC Twente.
"The most important was '98, when we lost on penalties [in the semi-final] to Brazil. We as a team had a feeling that we could have won that one but penalties weren't our strongest point!
"Sure there were egos in the team but not as big as people said," added Kluivert, who scored 40 goals in 79 internationals.
"I played for the U14, U15, U16 - all of the representative, national teams; I'm still the top scorer in the Dutch national team. I'm very happy about that so I had a very nice past.
"It's always an honour to play for your country, I think. The most important thing is to play for your club but if you can play for your country it is fantastic.
"The debate is normal. You have to look at the fixtures. The club is always depending on the fixtures of the national team; that's a pity for the clubs but we have to respect that."
Aggressively
Dutch legend Johan Cruyff was among those to criticise Holland for their aggressive tactics in the 2010 World Cup final, which Spain won thanks to a Andres Iniesta goal in extra time.
Referee Howard Webb handed out 14 yellow cards and sent off John Heitinga for two bookable offences but Kluivert defended Holland's approach.
"If you play the same game as Spain you will lose for sure," he reflected. "The game-plan of the Dutch national squad was to play aggressively - sometimes too aggressively - and keep them out of their position in the game.
"The positional game of Spain is the best in the whole world; they play quite the same as Barcelona. When you try to get the ball they just pass it away; Barcelona play the same way.
"The current squad really have the feeling that they will win Euro 2012 because the way they play and the players that they have in their squad, if everybody is 100 per cent. I don't say that they will win but they have a good chance."
Balance
Like fellow
Goals on Sunday guest Gary Speed, Kluivert also wore the No 11 shirt at Newcastle and he told Ben and Kammy that he has high hopes for the present Magpies side.
"They lost a lot of good players but a lot of very good players came in," he said.
"I played with Yohan [Cabaye] at Lille; Cheik Tiote is very good hanging in front of the defence and getting a lot of good ball for the team. I think the balance in the team is very good.
"Tiote is a very, very nice guy; he's a very good player as well. If you have a player like him in front of the defence who takes the ball and just gives it to Cabaye, he knows a good thing to do with it.
"He was playing on and off [at FC Twente]. Maybe they didn't see his skills or something."
Kluivert scored on his first appearance at Newcastle, although it was for Barcelona in their 2-0 Champions League victory in March 2003.
It's just one of his many happy St James' Park memories.
"As a foreign player if you come to Newcastle, if you make an effort, the supporters will embrace you a lot and it's very important for a foreign player to be welcomed like that," he said.
"Alan [Shearer] is a legend, especially for Newcastle. He is the man in charge and it was an honour to play alongside him. He's a great guy and a great striker."
