It’s No Dutch Treat to Be on This Team : Soccer: As usual, the Netherlands’ World Cup entry has fallen prey to petty jealousies, rivalries and ego problems.

If any of the elite World Cup teams can be called a collective head case, it is the Netherlands.

With some of the world’s most highly skilled players and a tradition of outstanding coaching, the Dutch should rank with Brazil and Germany among the perennial favorites for soccer’s greatest title.

Yet no matter how intimidating their roster looks, the Dutch always seem to fall prey to petty jealousies, rivalries and ego problems that erode team discipline and cause them to self-destruct.

Four years ago, the Netherland’s World Cup players staged a mutiny against Coach Rinus Michels, who took them to court in a vain attempt to preserve his control over the team. The team played with lackluster spirit in the 1990 Cup, showing little dismay when they failed to win a game. The Dutch record was one loss and three ties, including one against a clearly outmatched Egyptian team.

This year, the players wanted the legendary Johan Cruyff to return from Barcelona--where he has turned the Catalonian team into a European powerhouse--to take over as coach from Dick Advocaat. Just when the deal seemed clinched, Cruyff backed out because of a dispute over a footwear and clothing contract.

As a result, Advocaat will be launching his quest for a World Cup title in the United States with a group of disgruntled players who have openly flouted his authority and expressed disdain for his tactics and strategy. It does not augur well.

Nonetheless, the Dutchmen’s hard-nosed approach and their devastating attack game always makes them a threat when they can set aside their internal bickering and concentrate on the match at hand.

The Netherlands managed to squeak through one of the toughest qualifying rounds, which included England, Norway, Poland and Turkey. And they did so in the absence of two of their greatest players, midfielder Ruud Gullit and striker Marco van Basten, the only man in history to be named European player of the year three times.

Van Basten, a magnificent forward who has been compared favorably to his mentor Cruyff, was one of the biggest disappointments in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, where he failed to score a goal in any of of the Netherlands’ four matches. This year, he will not be able to play because of persistent troubles with his ankles and a slower-than-expected recuperation from surgery.

With van Basten out of the picture, the scoring pressure will fall on Dennis Bergkamp. Less temperamental and more steady than van Basten, Bergkamp has been known as a diligent practitioner who has worked with Herculean dedication on his speed, footwork and ball-handling ability ever since he was discovered as a prodigy at the age of 12 by Cruyff.

Since signing his first professional contract with Cruyff’s former team, Ajax Amsterdam, Bergkamp, now 25, has developed into one of the best young forwards in international soccer.

While less volatile than some of the other Dutch stars, Bergkamp is also known to have his quirky side that could leave him vulnerable to hothouse, pressure-packed situations such as the World Cup. He refused foreign offers early in his career because he said he could not face the prospect of living alone in a foreign country.

Even though he has gone on to a successful career as a soccer mercenary with Internazionale in Milan, he is still judged by analysts to be rather shaky when playing on foreign turf, away from the consoling inspirations of a hometown crowd.

But the key to Dutch success in the World Cup this year will rest, as always, with its charismatic midfielder, Ruud Gullit. With his dreadlocks flailing and his precision passes riddling opposing defenses, Gullit can be a breathtaking “free role” player to watch.

He and Bergkamp can be expected to provide some of the most spectacular two-man plays in the Cup games -- provided their heads and their bodies are up to the challenge.

Gullit did not go through the qualifying round and is not scheduled to join the Dutch team until the middle of May. He contended that professional commitments in Italy kept him away from the national squad. But everyone in Holland seems aware that another principal reason for his absence lay in his personal quarrel with the coach.

Gullit was one of the first players to insist he would only play if Cruyff became head coach for the World Cup. Even though Gullit renounced his earlier vow and decided to play under Advocaat, it is still unclear whether they have truly patched up their dispute and to what extent their personal friction will undermine team unity.

Another question mark remains Gullit’s physical condition. He has recently incurred a serious back problem, compounding his history of knee injuries. Since 1989, he has had four operations on his left knee and one on his right one.

At the ripe old age of 32, it is difficult to know whether his legs can endure the grueling Cup schedule--in the summer heat of Florida and the rest of the East Coast--regardless of his renowned grit and determination.