The signs of a nation in waiting are in evidence as all Holland, it seems, makes ready for Thursday's European championship semi-final tie against Italy at Amsterdam.

Captivated but not yet sated by that astonishing 6-1 win over Yugoslavia, the Dutch sense another spectacular in the making. And rather in the manner of Ireland's glory years, they are again preparing for carnival.

There are occasions in sport when professionalism is, indeed, a rare privilege and the baggage of years of misplaced expectation, suddenly becomes an irrelevance.

Sunday's classic game in Rotterdam's Feyenoord Stadium illustrated the point perfectly. No one apart from the Irish and Brazilians, celebrates sport with more enthusiasm than the Dutch. And to be in Rotterdam on this joyful, raucous evening, was an experience to disarm even the most cynical in a troubled era for football.

A two hour sing song, with an orange costumed cast of 40,000, was itself worth the admission charge. In the event, it would set the scene perfectly for the entertainment which followed.

The bigger influence, by far, has been manager Frank Rijkaard and the manner in which he has at last got some of his recalcitrant players pulling in the same direction.

"Playing in a big championship like this, in front of your own supporters is a very special feeling," admits Ronald de Boer. "It sets the pulse racing when you walk out and see all those people willing you to win. And it is a big advantage to us."

Crowd passion is just one of the ingredients which have gone into the mix in the transformation of a team in obvious disarray after going 11 games without a win in their approach to the finals.

The bigger influence, by far, has been manager Frank Rijkaard and the manner in which he has at last got some of his recalcitrant players pulling in the same direction. In this respect, the performances of Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert in this championship are particularly noteworthy.

Both had been widely criticised in recent months by Johann Cruyff, a personal friend of Rijkaard and, 25 years after scaling the summit of his playing career, still one of the most influential voices in Dutch football.

When Davids wheeled away and gestured to the crowd after setting up the second of Kluivert's goals on Sunday, one sensed that the person he had in mind was Cruyff. The emissary had done his job well.

Curiously, for a team which had competed abrasively in earlier games and picked up two fines from UEFA in the process, the Yugoslavs capitulated with indecent haste. Italy, in the manner of their heritage, will ask more pertinent questions of Frank Rijkaard's team. For the moment, however, the Dutch can indulge their sense of achievement in the certain knowledge that they have already made a huge contribution to this, most eventful of all recent championships.