Biggest fear of Dutch football fans: losing to the Germans

The Netherlands will head to the World Cup next month with a simple mantra hammered into them by their expectant fans: "Don't lose to Germany."
Half a century after the end of World War II and the German occupation, lingering Dutch resentment of their giant neighbour to the east often bubbles to the surface when the two countries meet on a football field.
And Dutch fans are already contemplating the possibility of a potentially explosive quarter-final meeting against the hosts in Berlin on June 30.
Whether its bitterness over World War II or the enduring heartache of Holland's defeat in the 1974 World Cup final, playing Germany makes the normally mild-mannered Dutch behave quite strangely.
Dutch former international Ronald Koeman admitted using a German player's shirt as toilet paper in 1988, two years later soft-spoken Frank Rijkaard, now the coach of Barcelona, spat at German striker Rudi Voeller.
For this World Cup, Dutch fans can don bright orange replicas of the German World War II Stahlhelm army helmet and wipe their feet on the German flag and eagle courtesy of a special doormat.
There is also a myriad of t-shirts and ads referring to the 1974 finals, the biggest trauma's in Dutch football history.
The Dutch dream team of Johan Cruyjff, widely praised for its attractive 'total football', lost 2-1 to the more traditionally defensive West-German team. In Dutch eyes this is the most undeserved loss in football history surpassing even the 1978 World Cup final defeat to Argentina.
It as also a heavily charged game as the Dutch saw it as a sort of revenge for WWII: the good Dutch against the evil Germans, he added.
The fact that the Netherlands lost cemented anti-German sentiments for years to come.
In general the Dutch anti-German reflex has nearly disappeared - not counting the odd German tourist who has to answer demands of 'give us back our bicycles', referring to the occupation when German troops seized bicycles - but the rivalry remains in football.
According to him the rivalry also comes from conflicting styles with the Dutch fans rooting for the more offensive playfulness of their team against the businesslike Germans who rely on good defences and 'kaempfgeist' or fighting spirit.
Joris Rotmans, who wasn't even born when the Netherlands suffered their traumatic 1974 loss, agreed.
Still going into the World Cup the Dutch have already scored one psychological victory over their football rivals, as most of the games will be played on Dutch grass.