Memories are still vivid of Netherlands' 1988 European Championship win over the Soviet Union when scores of euphoric flag-waving, beer-swilling fans draped in orange clambered onto lived-in houseboats which sank under their weight.
Amsterdam authorities have confirmed the national team will be honoured with a canal parade next week if they beat Spain in Sunday's final at Soccer City in Johannesburg and have chosen a route that passes as few houseboats as possible.
"We are a bit worried after seeing what happened in '88," said 43-year-old Danish housewife Rina Jensen, sunbathing on her family's black holiday houseboat on the Herengracht canal, fronted by white roses on the deck.
Having boat parades is a long tradition in Amsterdam, where the canals criss-crossing the historic city have led to it being dubbed "Venice of the North".
"But it's quite fun to watch," Jensen said, adding they planned to remain on the houseboat if the parade takes place and would be inviting a few friends over to get a front row view.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended the 1988 celebrations along Amsterdam's canals, when several houseboats capsized and filled with water.
"I'm just about the only person in Netherlands that always hopes the Oranje will lose," Irene Visser told the AD newspaper, recalling how she came back to Amsterdam after the 1988 parade to find her houseboat partially sunk in the Amstel river.
"It's not nice, you know, when your television, your couch and your kitchen are floating against the ceiling."
