After 14 months of nail-biting qualifiers, it's crunch-time for Scotland.

A star-studded Netherlands side stand in the way of Berti Vogts' team boarding a flight to Portugal for the Euro 2004 finals next summer.

Scotland grabbed a stunning 1-0 victory at Hampden Park and now they will be desperate to hold on in Holland to secure a famous victory.

Where is the Netherlands?
It's located in western Europe wedged between Belgium and Germany.

The Netherlands has a 451km coastline which has the wild North Sea lapping at its shores.

Half the country lies below sea level and a large part of the country is underwater!

The future is orange!

There are some hills in the south-east near the border with Belgium but the highest point in the whole country at Vaalserberg is only 322m above sea level!

Compare that with the towering Ben Nevis mountain in the Highlands of Scotland which stands at 1344m!

What's the weather like?
If the temperature plummets then the Tartan Army might do well to pack their ice-skates!

The winter months in the Netherlands can get bitingly cold and sometimes the canals and flood plains freeze over.

When this happens Dutch people like to go skating.

So Amsterdam locals may witness the bizarre sight of a horde of hairy men in kilts doing their best Torvill & Dean impressions!

A more likely weather scenario will be the kind of drizzly November rain that should make the Scottish players and fans feel right at home!

Go on big man, get it off your chest!

If you can be in Amsterdam for just one day in spring then make it Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) on 30 April.

The whole of the city centre is turned into a huge street market/party where anyone can sell whatever they like - it's a great atmosphere and totally mental!

Perhaps a little bit like Hampden Park for the first leg of the play-off!

So, is footy the national sport?

Amazingly, the Dutch used to be rubbish at football.

In fact before the 1970s they were rated on a par with near neighbours Luxembourg!

But then came the revolution of 'total football' which propelled the Netherlands to two straight appearances in the World Cup finals of 1974 and 1978.

They lost both finals but such is the Dutch mentality that they didn't really care - as long as they played beautiful football!

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff

Former Netherlands manager Rinus Michels invented 'total football', a system whereby players could play in different positions around the pitch with total freedom.

Dutch club teams also performed rather well in the glorious Seventies.

Feyenoord won the European Cup in 1970 and Ajax, with the brilliant Johan Cruyff as the lynchpin, dominated the competition with three wins in a row between 1971 and 1973 .

Since then the Netherlands have enjoyed mixed fortunes at international and club level although they did win the European Championships in 1988.

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