Netherlands ready to end Brazil hoodoo

GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst has warned Brazil that the Netherlands are ready to break their World Cup stranglehold over them.

The Dutch have twice in recent times suffered heartbreaking exits at the hands of the five-times winners, going out in the quarter-finals in 1994 and the semis in 1998 after a penalty shoot-out.

But there is a confidence this time around they can get past Dunga’s men and stake a claim on a trophy they have never won, despite several near misses.