Tag: De Kuip

Epic win Oranje

This is not a long post, people. I am still reeling behind my computer, not capable of creating a well balanced review, as the adrenaline is racing through my body. We needed a win, in this Group of Death we’re in.

Beaten 4-0 versus France was tough earlier on and having to play heavyweights Gibraltar after only 4 days of rest and recuperation is tough.

When you do win the Gibraltar game, with the vintage 3-0 scoreline, it’s cause for celebrations!

3-0 is that heroic end result we all know and remember from our game versus Peru in 1972 or Poland in 1975. People still talk about that 3-0 versus Iran in 1978 or the 0-3 versus Greece in 1987. Oh, and who doesn’t remember the 3-0 versus Canada in 1994.

The Football Gods must have interfered.

The stress in the Dutch camp was high, of course, having to face up against defending behemoths Gibraltar. Luckily, Holland had the home advantage.

We saw the team fight, battle, dazzle and being unlucky too. With Weghorst pushing the ball past the wrong side of the post, as we see him do so often for Man United. We saw Wijnaldum playing the ball back mostly and Berghuis zipping balls blindly into the box, to no one in particular.

Veteran Mats Wieffer was the best man on the pitch, as per usual and a big header by Memphis got us on the score sheet in the first half, finally beating Man of the Match [name of Gibraltar goal keeper].

But it took until Daley Blind finally came on to the pitch to make a difference that Holland put it’s stamp on the match with some brilliant individual performances. Blind and Klaassen led the Dutch to an epic history, which will no doubt result in mad parties in the street and fire works till dawn.

If you can keep France at 4-0 AND beat Gibraltar at home 3-0, it’s clear that a new generation of football geniuses is prepping to win maybe another friendly game later this year as well.

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Slot’s new Feyenoord

The price of success. When you do well, as a Dutch top club with money needs (AZ, Feyenoord, PSV), bigger clubs will come and rob you of your top players.

Feyenoord is slowly climbing out of a deep abyss. Financially that is. In the past season, Feyenoord was able to perform well thanks to two loan players (Dessers and Til), among other things. Sure, Slot is a top notch coach, we know this, and Aursnes and Trauner were great signings while Sinistera, Malacia and Kokcu played the season of their lives.

But Dessers and Til left. Sinistera and Malacia made big money moves and now Marco Senesi has joined Bournemouth (…). I think Wim Jansen will turn around in his grave knowing that the Argentine CB thinks a move to newly promoted Bournemouth is a step up. No international tournaments for him and potentially a relegation. And before we know it, Aursnes is off to Benfica.

Sad to see this top class player go. Bought for 450k, leaving for 15M

Nice for the Feyenoord CFO, to see the millions come in, partly to cover the debt and partly will the money be spent on new signings.

Arne Slot can be seen as the man who created all this value. Kokcu was a question mark for long. Malacia was considered to wild and not good enough on the ball. Sinistera was struggling with fitness. But Slot brought confidence, joy and a positive playing style to Rotterdam and the players embraced it.

Can he do it again. Because with more than half the Feyenoord team from last season towards the exit (Linssen is now at Japan, while Raymond Hendriks is seriously injured… Jorit Hendrix never convinced Slot), the Rotterdam behemoth is on the look out for new blood.

New blood

Santiago Gimenez is only 21 years old but the Mexican has already 4 years as a pro under his belt in Mexico. The sports reporters in Mexico compare the tall striker with Graziano Pelle, the Italian striker who mesmerized the Feyenoord legion. He is a left footer, tall and strong. A good target man, but he also has depth in his game and he’s quite skilled too. The madness in Mexico around him is such that ESPN will broadcast every Feyenoord game live in Mexico.

23 year old Danilo Pereira already made an impression. The 11th player in history to go from Ajax straight to Feyenoord. Feyenoord lost 39 goals from last season and needs players who know what scoring is. Danilo is that player. He is effective, threatening and direct. He scored 17 goals in one season for FC Twente and the Brazilian was also on a free, so hardly any risk involved with him. Danilo scored twice in the first game versus Vitesse, last weekend.

Oussama Idrissi is back at the club where he started his career. The Moroccan international worked with Slot at AZ where he had a tremendous time. He’s a right footed Robben, once could say. Threatening to go on the outside, cutting inside with his light-footedness and then curling the ball in to the far corner. He is on loan from Sevilla (which paid 12 million for him but he never played the full 90 for the Spanish club).

Maybe the biggest signing for Feyenoord, Quinten Timber. Also a player who is returning to his old home. He played 6 seasons in the youth academy but moved to Ajax where his twin brother was (and still is). He impressed at Utrecht last season and was on many a scouting list. The youngster finds 21 years too young to make the move abroad. He will definitely make that jump one day – like his brother – but will hopefully spend two good seasons in De Kuip. He would be the natural successor to Fredrik Aurnses. Timber is really multfunctional and reminds me of Edgar Davids. He has grit, he can tackle but he’s also very skillful and has the ability to ghost past opponents Frenkie-style.

Mats Wieffer caught my eye when I saw him play with Excelsior against ADO Den Haag for the promotion game from the lower division to the Eredivisie. A game Excelsior – and Wieffer – won. The 22 year old playmaker was developed at Twente but never broke there. Via Excelsior he’s now a Feyenoord midfielder. As a creative player, he did have the most ball winning actions in the second division. Another multi functional midfielder. He can play the 6 and the 8 role and his former coach used him as a central defender at times as well.

24 year old Javairo Dilrosun has a promising CV: Ajax, Man City, Hertha BSC, Girondins Bordeaux… But he never really settled anywhere. In three seasons in Germany, he only played 29 matches. He will probably do well in Rotterdam, where his speed, his guile and his skills will be too much for most of his opponents. He is a one time capped international and will have the ambition to show himself to the NT manager as well. He scored a tremendous goal versus Vitesse for Feyenoord.

Sebastian Szymanski would normally never play for Feyenoord. The 23 year old is one of the biggest Polish talents and he seemed in the right place at Dynamo Moscow, with 6 goals and 8 assists in 27 games. But the Ukraine situation helped Feyenoord, as Seb is able to play elsewhere on loan as a result of the war. Szymanski is a real left footed #10 but can also play on the 8 position or even as a false right winger, Steven Berghuis style.

The last signing and least exciting one, is 25 year old Jacob Rasmussen, who came in on loan from Fiorentina. The Dane went to the Italian club for 7 million euros and never played a single game there. He played for Empoli, Vitesse and Erzgebrige. His key assets: passionate defending and taking-no-prisoner defending. Rasmussen impressed at Vitesse alongside Bazoer but might lack the speed needed to play in Slot’s system.

Tactical differences

How will Slot’s preferred eleven play? No one knows. Not even Arne Slot. After the last pre-season game versus Osasuna, he muttered he needed to study mathematics, to sort it out. Too many moving parts still, with players still leaving (Senesi, Aursnes) and players still coming in.

Arne did sign a new deal this summer yet again and has commitment towards the club and the process. In the last season with Til as #10, he played with two controlling midfielders behind the current PSV player. With Slot, it’s the players who determine the shape. With Toornstra and Kokcu, Slot plays them side by side. With Aursnes in the team, Kokcu is pushed further up, as the Norwegian midfielder has the legs to control the space in front of the defenders. Til’s exit has a big impact on the Feyenoord structure as the former AZ player was the first player to press. The wingers usually benefitted from Til’s press. There were no other Eredivisie players last season with the many touches Sinistera and Nelson had in the final third. Now, it seems Slot wants his wingers to be the first to press, allowing the midfielders to take control of the ball. It’s basically the same principle Slot used previously. Control the axis of the field and create a man-more situation on the wings. The execution is different, though.

This is already outdates, with Aursnes going to Benfica and Senesi off to Bournemouth. There is also interest in Kokcu and Pedersen…

This season, Slot expects to have more variation in his game. He wants to be able to make subtle changes per match, if the opponent “asks” for it. For this, Slot will need more width in his squad. For the coming weeks, it’s all still wishful thinking. Slot does not have that much to choose from, due to late signings, visas not yet done and injuries.

Still, their first Eredivisie game versus Vitesse tells you they will yet again be a force this season. That is also the expectation the legion has, as they hold Arne Slot in high esteem in Rotterdam.

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Frugal Oranje does the bizznizz: WC ticket secured!

A combination of factors contributed to the abysmal performance and result away versus Montenegro.

And as a result, we saw the worst and the best of this Oranje, in the course of 4 days ( inspired by Louis van Gaal).

The nation was holding its breath, the pressure was on. And as a result of the drunk man’s policies of the Dutch politicians, in an empty Kuip.

So there were lots of questions. Will Louis change the team wholesale? Which goalie would he pick? What tactics will we see? Daley Blind, Wijnaldum, Klaassen underperformed versus Montenegro… Would Louis use Malacia? Or Ake?

With Bijlow injured, was it now Flekken’s turn? Or fall back on Cillesen, the more experienced one? And will Holland go for the win, and try to overwhelm Norway? Or did Louis expect Norway to come blazing on all cylinders?

Well, the answers were actually quite logical (from the Book of Van Gaal): Always rely on experience in big games. He would never throw Malacia before the wolves. Neither would he Flekken. Cillesen has been in pressure cookers before and knows the drill. He also is a tremendous kicker of the ball, so Cillesen in goal was not a surprise.

Van Gaal leaning on the experienced players was also not a biggie for me. He played the same formation as versus Montenegro, but with Bergwijn instead of Malen.

“Malen didn’t perform well. I told my wingers: stay wide and high as much as possible. Danjuma did well. Malen kept on moving out of position which resulted in a very underwhelming right side of the team. Bergwijn did better. So I played him,” was Van Gaal’s explanation.

And no, Louis didn’t force his players to hunt for goals. Keeping a clean sheet was key.

So in other words: dominant, with a provocative press. A Van Gaalism. Which means: invite the other party to attack. Sit a bit deeper and wait for the moment to press. This is 1) when a sloppy ball is played by the opponent, or 2) when a midfielder has his back to our goal when played in or 3) when the ball is played wide to a full back.

In the first half, we hardly got into trouble. And yes, we didn’t create a lot but we still had 3 or 4 chances. Bergwijn impressed on the right. Danjuma was threatening from the left. Blind played his usual decent game, as did Wijnaldum. The midfield was instructed not to run blindly into the opponent’s box and that reluctance made the chances we did create less effective, but hey… we didn’t concede!

And all that mattered was securing that ticket!

Norway didn’t take the game to us. They waited until the second half. Oranje got a bit more space in the second half, when Norway started to push a bit more, but they only managed two shots, of which none on target.

By then, we had seen some headers by Memphis, a Montenegro type flick by Depay as well, a volley from 25 meters from the Barca forward and some good crosses by Danjuma and Bergwijn. Lots of “almost” chances.

In the second half we got more opportunities when Norway went to play with three at the back. Bergwijn and Danjuma were always going to be the danger men, playing from the wide angles.

Oranje was clearly focused on not conceding, more so than scoring. The lack of confidence as a result of the latest draw was palpable. The lack of Oranje support from the stands could well have been a blessing in disguise, as in previous games the home crowd at times yells the team forward in scenarios where that is actually not preferred by the coaches…

Frenkie worked his arse off and probably ran more than 11 kms in this match. Wijnaldum was way more involved in midfield and Memphis was his usual self. Probing, drifting, threatening, while Blind and Dumfries offered good support for the wide men.

Man of the Match Steven Bergwijn made a strong statement with his creative explosive runs and it was befitting for him to be the guy breaking the deadlock. A wonderful little dribble from left back Blind, with a 1-2 combination with his former Man U mate Memphis and Danjuma was able to provide the assist to Bergwijn who found the top corner emphatically.

Norway had some minutes left to get back into it and added more attackers to the mix, prompting Van Gaal to sub Danjuma who was becoming a wing back for us. Nathan Ake was asked to shore up matters. From a Norway corner, a smart little header by Memphis released Bergwijn who ran half the pitch towards the Norwegian goal, with Oranje’s record breaker and future all time topscorer Memphis Depay in his wake. A simple wide pass to the Barca man and he added another goal to his tally, surpassing the likes of Bergkamp and Huntelaar.

And with that, Louis van Gaal – watching the game as an evil conniving Stavros Blofeld from his vip box -saw it was good.

His team qualified as group leaders and demonstrated some grit and effectiveness after a series of interesting matches. We’ve seen them struggle, we have seen them play Turkey off the pitch, we have seen them put to sleep by Montenegro and now we’ve seen them all business-like and efficient.

Congrats to all! We’re back at World Cup Level. Lets discuss what we learned moving forward in future posts.

In terms of player ratings…

Cillesen – 7

He didn’t have to do a lot of shot stopping but his distribution is excellent and it was good to see him confident and relaxed in the Oranje goal again.

Dumfries – 6

Lots of energy and hard work. At times a bit clumsy but always positive and always “on”.

De Ligt – 6.5

Didn’t do much wrong, but also didn’t do much to make us all sit up. Decent.

Van Dijk – 7

Played like a captain. Was the boss in aerial battles and commanded the troops with his booming bariton.

Blind – 7

Some good touches and passing. Not everything worked, but that is ok. His little forward dribble and 1-2 with Memphis broke open the Norway defence.

Klaassen – 5

A bit invisible. Probably working hard, but a tad off the pace at times. Got subbed due to a nasty stamp on his thigh.

Wijnaldum – 6.5

Played in service of the team. Had some good moments and battled like in his best Liverpool days.

Frenkie – 7.5

Frenkie led by example. Covering a lot of space. Always available and snapping like a pitbull at ankles and balls.

Danjuma – 7

Kept the pitch wide. Was threatening always and direct in his actions. A tad unlucky with his crosses and his goal attempts. Had the assist on the 1-0.

Memphis – 7

Scoring, hassling, leading, threatening. Not his best game but in a mediocre performance he will still find the net, he will work his butt off and that volley deserved better.

Bergwijn – 8

Man of the Match. Constantly threatening on the wing, tracking back when needed. Good crosses, and that superb goal. His last minute run to gift Memphis a tap in was excellent too.

De Roon and Ake didn’t have too much time to excel.

Van Gaal – 8

The winning coach. Bringing us back to World Cup finals level. Usually, I’d give him a 7 but his Blofeld impersonation gets him an extra point. If he would have brought a white cat for on his lap, I’d give him a 9.

For now: come back with your comments and insights below.

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Why Oranje should always play in De Kuip

Looking at some classic games as played in De Kuip, as requested, and giving you five reasons why Oranje needs De Kuip as their home base.

1. History

The Dutch NT hasn’t played more matches in any other venue… They played 118 games in De Kuip in total. The first one, against Belgium (of course) in 1937, which Holland won: 1-0. That game was the second ever played in the Stadium Feyenoord (as it is officially called). The last international played in De Kuip was in 2016 vs Belarus, a 4-1 win. There was a two year gap between that WC qualifier and the friendly vs Ghana in 2014. De Kuip was frequented most often in big finals games as well, such as during the Euro2000 tournament. Three group games, a quarter finals and the finals itself. The Trezeguet golden goal won France the title in 2000, in Rotterdam.

2. Atmosphere

During Oranje’s recent failed EC qualification campaign, there were strong rumours that the players were not happy and at home in the Amsterdam Arena. The players asked the KNVB for more games in De Kuip. Why? The atmosphere in Rotterdam is much better. The stadium oozes nostalgia and a typically “English” football vibe, as opposed to the more business-class character of the Arena. The acoustics in De Kuip are amazing, which means that 55,000 fans sound like 110,000 fans. When host Feyenoord plays at home, the vibe is amazing but also during the cup finals without Feyenoord, De Kuip is the swinging centre of the Dutch football universe. This will affect the players and will result in better performances and results.

3. The Pitch

One of the biggest advantages of De Kuip is the pitch. It’s pitch perfect. Erwin Beltman is the unsung hero in Rotterdam, groundsmaster of Feyenoord. Year after year he wins the prize for best football pitch in The Netherlands, voted by the captains of the Eredivisie clubs. In Amsterdam, you’ll find yellow spots, brown spots, even black spots on the pitch. Never in Rotterdam.

Former Feyenoord star Van Hooijdonk in 2015: “Never ever again in De Arena!”. He said: “It’s about time that the KNVB gives football the priority over commerce, if we’re talking about Oranje home games! You need to create the best circumstances for the players, the coaches. They are the artists. They should be leading in all decision making. And key is: a good ref, a good ball and a good pitch! The pitch in Rotterdam is 100 times better than in Amsterdam. And yes, I get the business reasons…the sponsors, the VIP dinners… If you’d rate the pitch in Amsterdam a 7 and the pitch in Rotterdam an 8, yes… I get the decision, but it’s not like that. De Arena pitch is a 4 and the pitch in De Kuip is a 9. This decision making is a disgrace.”

4. Results

Oranje performs worse in De Arena, compared to De Kuip. Significantly. Since 1990, the Dutch team played 40 times in Rotterdam and only lost two games. They lost against Germany in 1990 in a friendly (0-1) and in 2000 against Portugal at home for the WC qualifications (0-2). The national team lost more in recent years in Amsterdam than in 25 years De Kuip. Is it the vibe, the pitch, the actual location? Who knows. But if we want to achieve something with Oranje, we need start using De Kuip as the home base. In 2000, Yugoslavia was played off the pitch, under Rijkaard’s management. 6-1 at the Euros 2000. Where? In Rotterdam.

5. New beginning

And the final reason, not the least important…we need to make a change, a new beginning. The switch back to Rotterdam as home base would be the first and simplest change we can make. A new home will inspire. The Dutch national team needs to play good football, fresh and attractive football and deserves to this in a good, fresh and attractive venue.

Since the 1980s, De Kuip is the traditional home of the Dutch cup final and apart from the Euro 2000 finals, there were 10 Uefa Cup finals in Rotterdam, with the likes of Spurs, AC Milan, Ajax, Feyenoord, Man United and Barcelona winning their silverware in Rotterdam.

So classic games played in De Kuip… Now that’s tough one. Apart from seeing acts like U2, David Bowie, Springsteen, Bob Dylan, The Stones, Michael Jackson in De Kuip, I’ve seen many a Feyenoord and Oranje match.

One can’t escape the Feyenoord-Ajax classics of course. I vividly remember most of them but was only 2 years old when Feyenoord trashed Ajax 9-4 in 1964. This was Johan Cruyff’s first ever classic.

In 1972, Ajax took revenge. Cruyff was a mature football star and with buddy Piet Keizer, Ajax was too strong for Feyenoord. Both clubs reigned supreme in Europe, with Feyenoord winning the Europa Cup in 1970 and Ajax doing it the season after. This particular game confirmed that Ajax was by far the best team in the world, winning 1-5 in Rotterdam.

The 1988 classic was memorable for two reasons: the local police force was campaigning for better conditions and did so by having a gorgeous female police officer doing a striptease on the pitch before the match. In front of 55,000 football fans, the young lady undressed, probably inspiring a 19 year old Dennis Bergkamp, who’d play a sensational game leading Ajax to victory 1-2.

The 2005 classic again resulted in a dramatic loss for Feyenoord, losing 2-3 in the dying seconds, but it was a gem of a match. And a game which saw a number of future European football stars on the pitch, such as Dirk Kuyt, Salomon Kalou, Maxwell, Wesley Sneijder and Steven Pienaar. Maduro made the winning goal at the death (with Danny Blind winning as coach, over Feyenoord colleague Ruud Gullit).

In 2012, Feyenoord won spectacularly vs Ajax (4-2) with a hattrick for Man City loanie John Guidetti who’d go on to become a Feyenoord legend, in just one season. This lucky shot was followed up by another one: Graziano Pelle was brought back to Rotterdam and he went on to reach the top in England and the Italian national team.

The 1974 Tottenham Hotspur game was my first home game in the stadium. As a 12 year old, I was invited to come by our neighbours and although I vividly remember the match, I think I had my eye on the tremendous violent acts of the Spurs hooligans on the stands above me. Scary stuff, but in the memory forever.

Even further down memory lane, a game I only remember from the TV… But a classic indeed. Feyenoord vs Real Madrid. The great Real Madrid, but also the great Feyenoord… With Willem van Hanegem, Rinus Israel and Coen Moulijn. The most memorable moment of that game, was the team spirit Feyenoord demonstrated when their iconic left winger was attacked by a Madrid butcher. All Feyenoord players decided “enough is enough!” and went after the culprit. Watch it here:

And the Moulijn sequence is here:

We can safely say that ugly scenes on the pitch are not new… The Dutch commentator says: “Oh lads lads… don’t do this, now… please…this is not nice. Not nice at all!”

We mentioned the classic Oranje game at home at the Euros already. The 6-1 win. There were many great home games for Oranje, but sadly I was witness in De Kuip when Oranje failed to beat Belgium and wasn’t able to go to the 1986 Mexico World Cup. Oranje lost 1-0 in Belgium and needed a 2-0 victory. Houtman scored the first one and when Robbie de Wit scored the 2-0, everyone – including me – felt the job was done. I was right on the spot in the stadium in line with the Belgium attack, five minutes before the end, when a cross reached Georges Grun. The defender wasn’t marked and headed home the goal that took Belgium to their impressive World Cup performance.

I remember two things vividly, apart from the tragic away goal Belgium scored: it was terribly cold and we parked so far away, that my dad ruined his knee in the walk up to the stadium, something that would bother him till his death…

The biggest win Oranje had, at home in Rotterdam, was a 9-0 beating of Norway in 1972. A qualification game for the World Cup 1974. I have no video for that game though. Holland started scoring late in the game. It took 31 minutes for Neeskens to find the net and the score at half time was only 1-0. In the last 25 minutes it rained goals, with Cruyff, Keizer and Brokamp joining Neeskens on the score sheet.

The biggest loss we suffered at home in a formal match was versus the former Magical Magyars in 1961, for the 1962 World Cup qualification: losing 0-3.

One of the craziest games we played in Rotterdam was the 5-5 draw in the friendly with Belgium. Kluivert and Davids on fire, and Frank Rijkaard as NT manager.

Another memorable game – or two games – was the double vs England for the 1994 World Cup. The 2-0 win at home with Koeman and Bergkamp scoring for Holland. The away game at Wembley was memorable for the Jan Wouters elbow on Gascoigne and the Peter van Vossen run, foul and penalty kick.

Feyenoord played some amazing home games in the 2002 season when they won the UEFA Cup at home. The finals vs Borussia Dortmund were exhilarating of course. The Freiburg away match is legendary due to Van Hooydonk’s incredible free kick. I was present when Feyenoord beat Glasgow Rangers in a very tight game (two red cards) at home: 3-2. The next match up was the quarter finals against PSV Eindhoven. That would be an epic tie. 1-1 in Eindhoven and Feyenoord on their way out, 1-2 down when in the final seconds of the game PSV didn’t clear a ball out but gave away the ball to Feyenoord. The cross was converted by Van Hooydonk (who else) and Feyenoord won the penalty shoot out. The semis were vs Inter Milan. Feyenoord won away 0-1 and drew 2-2 in Rotterdam to reach and win the finals.

My earliest memory of a Feyenoord game in De Kuip… I was 7 years old and Feyenoord was on its way to win the Europa Cup. Not that we knew that at the time, of course. TV coverage was limited and lots of people enjoyed listening to games on the radio. AC Milan was the opponent and one of the ruling elite in Football Europe. We’re talking the 1/8 final and Feyenoord lost in Milan, 1-0. We needed a 2-0 win and I don’t think I saw the game live. It might not have been televised even, who knows. But I heard it on the radio, and that radio commentary was published as a record (a 45″ single) and became a huge hit! Feyenoord won at home 2-0. A misplaced cross from Wim Jansen sailed into the net and Willem van Hanegem headed home the 2-0. Famously, in the post-match interview (part of the recording I owned and listened to 1000 times…), Willem responded to the question “And Willem, you scored the 2-0!!” in typical De Kromme style: “Ah yes, well, I was going that way anyway, so….”.

I was able to to perform the 3 minute commentary to the game word for word, copying the commentator’s style and entertained my friends and family regularly in that role… Ah, the good ol’ days….

Here is the grainy footage:

The best game in De Kuip EVER!!

This might shock you, but the best game I ever saw live in De Kuip was actually a testimonial, or a tribute game. A game without any real significance in terms of result. It was Willem van Hanegem’s farewell game. The WC1974 Oranje vs Feyenoord. It was unforgettable, and not just because De Kuip farewelled it’s best player ever, but also because during that game – at the end of the 1982-83 season – Johan Cruyff was introduced to the Feyenoord Legion as the successor as playmaker for next season. Cruyff had walked out of the negotiations with Ajax and his Oranje team mate Van Hanegem was working behind the screens to get the legendary #14 to Rotterdam.

In the game, Van Hanegem scored, a header from a JC corner and he was jokingly red-carded when the time was up for him to accept the standing ovation – and Cruyff did as well! A header. Like he did famously in 1971, winning the Europa Cup in Rotterdam for Ajax. It was a real football celebration, a full Kuip and mixed reception for JC.

Not long after the game, the confirmation came that Johan would join Feyenoord for one season. I went to check him out at the first training session with the team. I’m sure I told you about this before, but I’ll do it again. They started with a rondo (piggy in the middle), with the full team. Approx 5 in the middle and the rest in a circle. The first ball that was passed to Johan was too short. Deliberate? It invited a sliding tackle from defender Stafleu, studs forward, directed at Cruyff’s ankles. The Feyenoord fans cheered for the tackle.  The 37 year old simply jumped up, controlled the ball and played it on. The fans cheered even more. Not much later, JC retaliated with a sharp sliding tackle back on Stafleu, who couldn’t avoid the clash and had to limp off to the dressing room. The fans were convinced! Welcome to Feyenoord, Johan Cruyff.

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