Holland, like no other team, can draw you into their fantasy. They did it when routing the Italians and they repeated it when inflicting the most stunning of beatings on France. And so we enter their world again, their twilight zone. Total Football is back and we're going along for the ride.

Where will it lead? God only knows. All the psychoanalysts in the world couldn't begin to figure out the mindset of Dutch footballers when they pull on the orange. Bring on the sharpest intellectuals and the keenest political scientists and there is still no agreement on what it is that drives them on or holds them back, why there is never more than the width of a cigarette paper between Dutch dash and Dutch devil.

We see the genius now and can't see beyond it. But some can.

From the pages of David Winner's book, 'Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius Of Dutch football' we hear theories. Paul Scheffer, a scientist, says: "We think we are the best. Yet there is always a vulnerability, a sense that it's natural for us to come second. We think winning is a little bit ugly: it's only for other people to compensate for some other lack." Anna Enquist, the novelist, goes deeper. "There is some kind of death wish connected to our Dutch Calvinist shame of being good. Our Calvinist culture makes us deeply ashamed of being the best." Leo Beenhakker, the former Dutch manager, says: "There must be some scientific explanation for it somehow… One moment it is 1-0, the next 2-0. And then they start in a typical Dutch way, with an arrogance, and everyone is floating and boom! Boom!"

What a beautiful obsession they are. You know how many penalty shoot-outs Holland have lost in major championships? Five out of six. You know how many tournaments they could/should have won by now? Well, the World Cups of 1974, 1978 (beaten in the final) and 1998 (beaten on penalties in the semi-final), Euro '76 (undone by their own pomposity and beaten in semi-final extra time by Czechoslovakia), Euro '92 (beaten on penalties by Denmark in the semi-final, Marco van Basten missing the critical kick), and Euro 2000 (beaten on penalties by 10-man Italy in the semi-final, missing three out of four attempts in the shoot-out and another in normal time.)

Their agony is part of what has us hooked. After imploding so often in the past (Euro '88 being the only time they held it together) can they finish what they started this time? Demons, though. Lurking all the time. You can argue that past failings have nothing to do with the current, thrusting generation of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Orlando Engelaar and Nigel de Jong but that was the case in previous tournaments and still the ghosts appeared and spirited their chances away.

In 1974, with the great Cruyff and Neeskens and Krol and Rensenbrink in the vanguard, their egos killed them. In 1976 it was worse. There was infighting to a cataclysmic degree, the coach rowing with the players, the players rowing among themselves, Cruyff nipping away in the background unsettling things, destroying morale.

Holland lost 3-1 to the Czechs in the semi-final. They were practically beaten before a ball was kicked.

Euro '88 was the one time there was harmony under manager Rinus Michels. But there was also luck and no end of revisionism. Says Beenhakker: "It was by accident, I tell you. We lost the first match against the Soviet Union and we were very lucky against England. And we won the third match against Ireland with a header by Wim Kieft that was never a header; the ball hit his ear and went in the goal eight minutes from time."

Two year later the wheels came off again. At Italia '90, Holland had one of their best ever squads. Ruud Gullit, Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard had just won their second successive European Cup and they were backed up by a fine supporting cast. Managed by Beenhakker, the camp divided poisonously. "Having the best players is no guarantee of having the best team," said Beenhakker. "And that's always the problem in Holland."

On and on the enigma goes. At Euro '92, Holland obliterated the Germans with a display of power and poise that was similar to what we have seen from them in the last week. That took them into a semi-final with Denmark. They thought nothing of Denmark. Discounted them completely. And they got done.

The genius, the conceit, the collapse. It's a well-worn path for the Dutch. All is peaceful now but these are early days, too early to make judgments on the greatness of this team, however tempting it may be. Making bold statements about their merits is a sure-fire way to embarrass yourself, as the great Cruyff has done only recently. He is no great fan of Van Basten, the two having fallen out over some domestic business at Ajax, and his personal animosity (and monstrous ego) took hold when he made some unwise conclusions at the state of his national team.

"The style they play in really isn't my cup of tea," said Cruyff, just before the beginning of the fireworks against the Italians. Cruyff was seen applauding wildly in Berne on Friday night. Perhaps a little sheepish, not a great deal has been heard from him since then. Just as long as nothing is heard from the Dutch camp in the meantime, then they have a chance. No squabbles, no arrogance, no self-destruction.

Van Basten has created something special but he more than anybody knows how quickly it can all disappear. You couldn't say they have only themselves to beat but if history is a judge then their own selves may prove a formidable adversary.