At Soccer’s World Cup, an American and Dutch Treat

Waarom, you ask? The high-stakes matchup is the latest manifestation of what seems to be a broader U.S. push to imitate—and then surpass—the Netherlands. Call it the Dutchification of America.

It’s true for the match itself: The U.S. coach spent years in the Netherlands studying Dutch soccer, and his elftal, or team, is slated to play in what appears to be inspired by traditional Dutch style.

But look around and you see the U.S. out-Dutching the Dutch everywhere. Stroopwafels used to be a Dutch delicacy only. Today there are stroopwafels everywhere in the U.S., even at

Starbucks

and on airplanes, where they are handed out alongside tiny bags of pretzels.

Amsterdam has long been known for having coffee shops where weed was sold. Many U.S. states legalized pot and now the entire island of Manhattan has turned into a gigantic coffee shop.

The Dutch king is from the House of Orange. Some in the U.S. were said to push for an orange king of their own.

When

Jeff Bezos

blasted to the outer edges of the atmosphere in his rocket ship, he took along an 18-year-old Dutch kid—perhaps a triumphalist move, as the Dutch don’t have their own rocket, or perhaps to study how the Dutch behave in space.

Clearly Americans are determined to become better at being Dutch than the Dutch. Just how far could that go?

Taxes and regulations in some states appear to be taking a Dutch direction. Wind turbines are spreading fast in the U.S., vastly outnumbering their ancestral traditional windmills in the Netherlands.

If the U.S. continues as a Zelig-like nation vis-à-vis Holland, then what’s its endgame? Policy makers here may want to take heed of some pivot points in Dutch history such as when, in the mid-18th century, the Dutch navy was surpassed in strength by the British. With that, the tiny nation effectively ceded its international-power status.

Over time, the Netherlands simply became more vulnerable to the ups and downs of the world. A country that, at times of crisis, could pay a high price and wasn’t always completely in charge of its own destiny. A country relatively vociferous and active on the world stage, but one with fewer listeners than a big power.

Today, the Netherlands is a small but wealthy nation with a largely contented people.

Back to soccer. In women’s soccer, the U.S. has long outplayed the Netherlands and everyone else to reach the absolute world top. If the U.S. men’s team beats the Dutch on Saturday, they could eventually become like the Dutch on the soccer scene: a powerhouse that made the finals. The next step would be to best that record and actually win the championship, in a way marking the final chapter of U.S. Dutchification. What the U.S. will look like by that time not even the Dutch know.

As to Saturday’s game, my only hope is this: May the best Dutch win.

Mr. Latour is publisher of the Journal.