Coach Louis van Gaal and his free-scoring team negotiated qualification for Brazil 2014 with a swagger and will hope it can finally be their year by following in the footsteps of Spain, maiden winners of football's biggest prize four years ago.
Key to Dutch hopes of glory is Manchester United striker Robin van Persie, whose 11 goals in nine Group D matches made him Europe's top scorer in the qualifying phase and his country's most prolific international of all time.
The emergence of Dynamo Kiev forward Jeremain Lens means the prospect of a mouth-watering attacking trio completed by Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben when they land in South America.
The attacking flair that brought 34 goals, qualification with two games to spare and an eventual nine-point advantage over runners-up Romania did something to recall Netherlands' mid-70s "Total Football" days following the more pragmatic approach of Van Gaal's predecessor Bert van Marwijk.
Wesley Sneijder, so often the creative fulcrum of the Dutch team in recent years, faces serious competition for the starting berth in his favoured 'number 10' position, with long-time rival Rafael van der Vaart arguably having jumped ahead of him in the pecking order thanks to five goals during qualification.
But perhaps the biggest quandary for Van Gaal ahead of the World Cup is who will stand as his last line of defence, having selected Michel Vorm, Maarten Stekelenburg, Tim Krul, Jasper Cillessen and Kenneth Vermeer in goal at various points during the campaign.
Krul started in the opener at home to Turkey, where the Netherlands were not wholly convincing despite Van Persie heading home Sneijder's 19th-minute corner and could only breathe easily when Luciano Narsingh produced a coolly chipped finish in stoppage time.
Lens bagged a brace as Hungary were dispatched 4-1 at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium and the same player opened the scoring when Romania were on the end of an identical scoreline in another impressive away display.
Either side of their triumph in Bucharest, routine 3-0 home wins over Andorra and Estonia were chalked up, with Van der Vaart on target in both matches before getting the ball rolling as Romania shipped four unanswered goals in Amsterdam.
Van Persie's second goal of that evening from the penalty spot took him to 34 international goals, surpassing the mark set by the country's greatest player Johan Cruyff.
A perfect record of six wins from as many matches left the Netherlands with a firm grip on Group D, but they suffered the only blemish on their campaign next time out courtesy of a 2-2 draw in Estonia – a result that would have been worse had Van Persie not kept his cool with another spot-kick in the fourth minute of injury time.
Two goals in four second-half minutes from the talismanic forward clinched qualification in Andorra in September and took him one goal behind Patrick Kluivert on the all-time list, whose mark Van Persie duly surpassed in the following game.
A hat-trick in the 8-1 mauling of Hungary puts him clear at the top of the scoring charts, while the game was also notable for Van der Vaart and Robben completing their opponents' misery with a pair of superb free-kicks.
The latter repeated the trick the Netherlands rounded off qualification with a 2-0 win that ended out Turkey's play-off hopes.
All eyes are now trained on how the Netherlands fare in Brazil.