Oft-overshadowed Arjen Robben could be Netherlands spark

'Perhaps Robben is at his peak,' writes Richard Jolly, pinning Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben as Holland's most dangerous weapon at the 2014 World Cup.

Arjen Robben shown during a Netherlands training session on Tuesday ahead of the 2014 World Cup. Ricardo Moraes / Reuters / June 10, 2014

It was deep into extra time and the DFB-Pokal (German Cup) final was tied. Once again, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund could not be separated. Once again, Arjen Robben made the difference.

His extra-time opener sent Bayern up for a domestic double just as, 12 months earlier, his 89th-minute winner against Dortmund ensured the Uefa Champions League trophy was taken back to Bavaria.

They are two games, two moments, that could give Robben a reputation as the scourge of Dortmund. More significantly, they illustrated his status as a big-game player.

It was not always thus: Robben’s career could have been defined by missed penalties, whether in the 2012 Champions League final against Chelsea or, while with Chelsea five years before, in the 2007 semi-final shoot-out against Liverpool.

The 2013 final equated to redemption after events 12 months earlier. The last few years amount to a revival of a talent for a player Real Madrid discarded in 2009. Yet, despite his considerable achievements, despite Bayern’s perfect season of 2012/13, despite helping Netherlands reach the World Cup final, despite seven league titles in four countries, there is the sense that Robben’s brilliance has not quite brought the recognition it should have.

Were it not for a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, he might be established as the most devastating winger in the world, yet he rarely takes top billing for club and country. Robben may be the most direct, the most viscerally exciting player in the Bayern ranks, but Franck Ribery was their prime candidate for the Ballon d’Or last year.

At the national team level, he has been tended to rank second. Netherlands reached the World Cup final four years ago and 2010 was Wesley Sneijder’s greatest year, when he won the treble with Inter and was the joint-highest scorer in South Africa. Since then, Robin van Persie has become the main figure in attack and the record scorer.

Yet, as they contemplate a rematch with Spain, their opponents in the Johannesburg showpiece of 2010, Netherlands have been reconfigured in a way that could have rendered Robben redundant, but threatens to make him more dangerous.

Manager Louis van Gaal jettisoned the typical Netherlands 4-3-3 formation and introduced the 5-3-2.

They could have been wingless wonders; instead, Robben has been relocated. He is the central winger, the man with the free role, the wild card.

Van Persie is the main striker, the man who leads the line. Sneijder is the playmaker, the attacking central midfielder who is protected by the defensive duo who do the hard work. Robben could be charged with going out and creating havoc.

He represents the antithesis of Friday’s opponents. Robben has long been accused of selfishness; Spain’s passing is rather selfless. He can squander possession, whereas they prize it. Yet he can be more direct, more dynamic and more destructive than his opponents.

It is tempting to go back 18 months, to when it became apparent that Pep Guardiola would replace Jupp Heynckes as the Bayern Munich manager. Plenty wondered if it spelled the end for Robben; instead he proved as integral for the Catalan as he had for the German.

Yet the Guardiola-esque side on display in Salvador will be Spain; their nominal wingers could be two of his former Barcelona charges, Andres Iniesta and Pedro. The Netherlands winger may not be on the wing at all, but floating with intent infield.

Throughout Robben’s career, one criticism has been a constant: that he exclusively looks to cut in and onto his left foot and shoot. If it suggests he is one-dimensional, it is an approach that brought more than 150 goals for his clubs and a further 23 for Netherlands, despite frequent injuries.

This has been his most productive season for both club and country. Perhaps Robben is at his peak. Perhaps too few acknowledge the heights he has scaled already.

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