Johan Neeskens

Johan Neeskens, El Toro, never dies…

It was impossible not to love and admire Johan Neeskens. Yes, he was an Ajax player and as a Feyenoord fan you’re not supposed to adore Ajax players, but Neeskens was Neeskens. And I know for a fact many non-Ajax fans loved to see “Nees” do his thing. He transcended club loyalty.

Feyenoord midfielder Willem van Hanegem played many a game against Neeskens (at Ajax and also when at Barcelona) and the two would have literal fights on the pitch: elbows, studs up, black eyes, bloody noses and at one point a broken jaw. Neeskens did get his revenge, though. When Van Hanegem was hospitalised for tonsils removal, Neeskens had a plan: “I would visit Willem in hospital to apologise, and I would bring him nuts and toffees just to screw with him, as he wasn’t able to swallow those,” Nees would explain. The two became the biggest mates.

Witch arch enemy and arch friend Van Hanegem

Ajax found the young Neeskens, or Johan II as he would become, in the shadow of the other Johan (at Ajax, Oranje and Barca) at Heemstede, a small village to the west of Amsterdam. Arie van Eijden, Ajax player and later board member and director, was leaving Ajax to slowly retire at a lower level. Van Eijden trained with Heemstede and immediately tipped Ajax: there is a 18 year old guy as right back here…. you need to sign him pronto.

He made his debut at 19 and everyone could see what Van Eijden had seen: speed, guts, balls, courage, skills and the iron will to win. Nees was a right back and Heemstede, and he played on that spot in the 1971 European final with Ajax, but Michels quickly turned him into a marauding midfielder.

A young Nees

He looked like an angel, when he was young, but played like a demon. The quintessential box to box midfielder: breaking up the opponents attacks in midfield with a flying block tackle and than racing like a madman into the opponent’s box to score with a diving header (his signature move).

If Total Football can be seen as one part creativity and another part high press, than Johan I was the epitome of creavity, while Johan II was the symbol of the harrassing, the pressing, the tackling.

Oh how Johan Cruyff (and Van Hanegem) loved to play with the youngster behind them, as he played for two players.

The holy trinity

But Nees was more than an enforcer. He could play football alright.

According to the stories of the time, Johan Neeskens wasn’t very educated. Came from a poor background (Arie van Eijden bought him his first boots) and when he first came to Ajax he was a bit out of sorts. Young lad in a big city, amongst the best players of Europe.

He would stay with right winger and Mr Ajax Sjaak Swart on the weekends and was basically adopted as a new family member. They would share typical Dutch meals together ( hutspot, zuurkool) and play board games. The life Neeskens loved and would dramatically miss in his future years.

The shy and soft spoken Neeskens became a monster once on the pitch and he would ease into the role of fan favorite, not just at Ajax, but for the whole nation.

Red and orange looked good on Nees

Imagine a midfield with Wim Jansen ( the Scholes-like tactician), Willem van Hanegem ( the Zidane like playmaker) and Neeskens ( a bit like Roy Keane maybe) and Johan Cruyff in front of them.

He shone so bright at the 1974 World Cup, and he is etched into the Dutch pop culture as a result of his white jersey turning red in the semi finals versus Brazil. His epic battles with the Brazilians can be viewed on youtube and despite the knocks, kicks and blows he was still able to score an amazing goal in that match, offered to him by his “older brother” JC.

Scoring the penalty in the first minute of the 1974 finals

Funny anecdote about Neeskens and penalties. He was a true specialist and he would always pick a corner. But he knew Sepp Maier studied the penalty takers and during the run up for this pen, Neeskens decided to switch corners. Maier went for the right corner, but as Johan decided to go for the other corner, Maier would fail to stop the ball. But…. the ball never made it into the other corner, it went straight to the middle. And ever since, whenever a penalty is taken hard through the middle, commentators will call it “A penalty a la Neeskens” or “a Neeskens penalty” (like the Panenka). But Nees would chuckle and say that this was in fact the only time he ever hit the ball straight through the middle.

Michels went to Barcelona and Johan I and Johan II followed not much later. Neeskens would become hugely popular in the Camp Nou as well and was nicknamed El Toro. Not sure why ;-).

He spent 6 seasons at Barca, winning one title and one European Cup ( the Cupwinners Cup) before signing for star studded New York Cosmos where he’s stay for 5 seasons. There he became the team of peers like Franz Beckenbauer, Pele, Francisco Marinho and compatriate Wim Rijsbergen.

Arsenal was keen to sign the midfielder too, but didn’t want to offer more than a 3 year deal. Cosmos offered a 5 year deal and a nice sponsoring package, as the US was the marketing wonderland of football at the time.

Tackling hard for the New York Cosmos

Sadly, Neeskens lost his way in New York (or did he find it). The high life of the jet set was a bit too much for El Toro, who got hooked on cocaine, alcohol and gambling.

Despite being shy and introverted, Neeskens didn’t suffer fools gladly and would have strong clashes with his coaches. Weisweiller was the Cosmos coach and after yet another clash, the German task master penalised El Torro and told him to come to the Cosmos stadium at 6 am in the morning to run circles around the Cosmos stadium. These types of insults contributed to Neeksens’ depressions and fall into addiction.

He was close to becoming a total wash up and when the Dutch football elite heard about his issues, a rescue mission was started by Dutch National Team manager Kees Rijvers, who’d fly to New York to check in Nees. Rijvers told him the national team needed him, as we were desperately trying to qualify for major tournaments again, but were lacking in midfield class players. Rijvers took Neeskens home and installed him at his family home where Neeskens became a member of the family and worked tirelessly to quit the addictions and become fit again. He would indeed make the key match for Oranje, against Belgium. Oranje played in De Kuip and won 3-0. I was there and saw Neeskens almost score from a sensational volley. The Belgium players had respect for Neeskens and allowed him to shine. But it was to no avail as Oranje did lose the key game away versus France, due to a Platini free kick and an on-pitch confrontation between Ruud Krol and Hans van Breukelen.

Working on his come back with legendary coach Kees Rijvers

Nees would play 7 games for FC Groningen before returning to the US to play indoor football. His private life brought him to Switzerland where he lived and played at lower levels until he really quit and went into coaching.

He was relatively successful with FC Zug, the team from his home town in Der Schweiz before Hiddink lured him to the KNVB to become assistant coach with the Dutch NT. After that stint, he became the head coach at NEC Nijmegen, where he would finish the highest in the league for the ambitious club (5th) and reach European football. After NEC he would assist Hiddink with the Australian national team. When Hiddink resigned, the Australian federation wanted Nees to take the head coach role, but the former Ajax midfielder preferred the assistant role and would go to support Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, replacing Henk ten Cate.

Enjoying life in Barcelona again

Neeskens will go down in history as one of the best Dutch players of all time. Greats like Cruyff, Swart and Van Hanegem would laude him as one of the best allround players of all time and all the lads who had him as a coach praised his down to Earth, warm and simple but effective coaching.

The best compliment a player can get, however, is when parents name their kid after famous players. Yohan Cabaye was named after Cruyff, of course. There are numerous Jari’s in Holland and there are definitely a lot of Zinedines, Zico’s, Diegos and Marcos out there. Not sure which Johan’s will be named after the Nees, but it’s definitely so that Neeskens Kebano (Al-Jazira) from Congo was named after one of Holland’s most loyal and impressive football sons.

Neeskens Kebano at Fulham

Here he is in full flight. Enjoy.

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Nations League

Nations League matches Oranje 11 and 14 October

For the Dutch national team, the new Nations League cycle started with a win over Bosnia-Herzegovina and a draw against Germany. Some say it’s a glorified practice tournament, but there’s definitely money to be made. This is what’s at stake for Oranje.

What can be won in the Nations League?

In short, the Nations League is a safety net in case the Netherlands does not qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada or for the play-offs. In December 2024, the European qualifying cycle will take place. The Netherlands then finds itself in a group of four or five countries. Only the 12 group winners qualified for the World Cup.

The group number two was eliminated in the playoffs. Should the Netherlands finish third, fourth or even fifth in the group qualification, the Nations League might offer a way out. The top four group winners in the Nations League (excluding all divisions) who failed to qualify for the World Cup qualifiers were still allowed to play in the playoffs.

A total of 16 European countries are represented at the World Cup. The twelve group winners of the qualification plus four teams from the playoffs. The play-offs thus consist of the twelve numbers two from qualifying, supplemented by four Nations League teams.

How high should the Netherlands finish in the Nations League?

The format of the Nations League is different this time than in previous years. In previous editions, only the number one in the pool qualified for the Final Four (the semi-final). This time, the Netherlands will have to finish in the first two in the group. The first and second teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will be over two matches. The draw was held in November 2024. The semi-finals and the (consolation) finals are one competition.

The number four in the pool are relegated directly to Division B. The number three enter the playoffs to try to avoid relegation. But if the Netherlands wants to have that safety net behind them, it must be first in the group, preferably with as many points as possible.

In addition, a place in the quarterfinals provides an extra advantage. The quarterfinalists of the Nations League end up in the World Cup draw in Pot 1, thus avoiding other top countries. This is why it is important for the Netherlands to finish in the first two in the Nations League pool.

The selection of Oranje for the nations league

Keepers: Mark Flekken, Nick Olij and Bart Verbruggen.

Defenders: Virgil van Dijk, Denzel Dumfries, Jeremie Frimpong, Lutsharel Geertruida, Jorrel Hato, Matthijs de Ligt, Ian Maatsen, Micky van de Ven and Stefan de Vrij.

Midfielders: Ryan Gravenberch, Tijjani Reijnders, Xavi Simons, Guus Til, Quinten Timber and Mats Wieffer.

Attackers: Brian Brobbey, Cody Gakpo, Justin Kluivert, Donyell Malen and Joshua Zirkzee.

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  3. I, too, was surprised that they made no changes until the 75th minute, too.

    Germany didn’t look great against Bosnia either. With so many games, there are bound to be bad, uninspired performances if the same guys are playing game after game. Both teams were likely looking forward to Monday. I imagine the NT will be better in Munich.

    Top two teams will qualify, so no reason not to rotate players as much as possible in these games. Its win/win. Maatsen, Frimpong, Kluivert, Hato, Malen, Wieffer, who don’t usually start would have provided more energy out there today, Koeman could have seen them all on the field, and the other guys would have been rested for Monday.

    OT. Johan, When I come on to the site, I can’t see if there are any comments unless I log in. Previously, you could see the comments just by coming on to the site, no need to log in.

  5. Halo there folks. I don’t think koeman is the right man to lead the team to World Cup. My take from the game. Won’t go on the players but koeman is not the man to lead this team to the WC.

    I will start with both coaches and I have said this several times when koeman meets up with a good coach who can counter his tatical game, he always finds himself gasping for air. Marco Rossi is not a household name coach but he has really made a name for himself being the coach of hungry team since 2018. When the game started it looked like it was going to be another of those one way traffic game where the NT look in control and with poessesion . But they got pegged when hungry scored on the side playing defensively and that was tatic that hungry deployed. I think their GK deserves a laud of applauses for his performances.

    I still don’t understand why koeman is persistent with this tatic of centering things around dumfries. The same old,one flanks is offensive and the other defensively and which only shines vs average teams. Yes he came up with the goal and was probably the man of the match but these are the typical games where you expect him to give those type of performance especially when hungry defended throughout the game and until the red card. My point here is this. First of all koeman tatic of having him play high and LB Ake/ Van der ven dropping to back three will crumble if dumfries is not avaliable or gets injured and then the back up players Frimpong and make shift likes of Geertruida which is often the case are neither on the same page or have the same grip in the team given minutes played and are often one step down. This is the very reason why every time there is injuries, the team is in a disorientation state. The balance offsets. I mean you look at Frimpong situation, if dumfries gets injured, what do you expect him to do. Then koeman comes up with pussy excuses depicting injuries to hide his blemishes.

    I mean if you think about it and did watch the games, the Hungarian were vulnerable on ariel balls but they played to koeman tatical back and lateral passing game and which they defensively and compactly closed of well. When gakpo took over the set piece duties then it came to light what was the best way to counter the Hungarian defensive tatic and again koeman came out second best in the tatical battle of the coaches.

    Secondly I think it’s well proven in games when dumfries is stuck at the back defending and especially when the poessession is not in their favour, that’s when you see him shouting and yelling because this is when that tatic of his simply crumbles. Then he resorts to the bench but only to complicate things more and if not hope for weghorst to pull something out of the hat . unfortunately he left him out this time.

    Koeman used the same tatic at euros. One flank offensive and the other defensive and it again flourished with average teams and dragged vs big opponents and he still is continuing trying to prove what? Why not look for RW. Kluivert and Lang are both technical enough to play on the right and this is one area he shud be build on but he he still focused and persistent with that one flank offensive and one flank defensive tatic. How he subbed on til is beyond my humanly imagination.

    I was reading an article on how the Dutch critics were against these nation leagues games citing it as useless and burden on players. To think about it the FIFA has regulated the 5 Subs rule so why not take advantage of this but the problem is koeman just sticks to the same recipe and same line up.

    Imagine if this game would have been in a tournament. It’s gonna happen again and again. His tatic is becoming obvious building around dumfries. Once vs teams dumfries gets defensively occupied more, this tatic of his will crumble down like house of cards. Like Spain vs cucurella and Williams, Italy, Dimarco.

    The other thing to note is how other teams are rotating their players and building good depth. I was watching Spain and portgual. Injuries aside they are using extensive squad with rotation. Especially with the top players they have all around. If you compare this to NT and koeman , look at Frimpong and Maatsen situation and how dumfries role dictates the tatic and lineup. Once again the day dumfries gets injured or with teams gets pegged at back. It’s gonna be the same old story.

    1. The problem is that our strikers don´t play or hardly play or play poorly, Gakpo hardly plays because he is second on his position, Brobbey is struggling at Ajax, Zirkzee is Manchester United, nobody has been playing great lately.
      Dumfries always brings a lot of energy, he made already 8 goals for the national team ! He is an extra weapon that any coach likes to use, at PSV it was like that, now in Italy as well.

      Koeman did change the team very late to get a result, the problem is there is not a good Dutch coach available to replace him. He is one of the top3 Dutch coaches that would fit the Dutch NT, Slot currently at Liverpool and Bosz at PSV. Ten Hag needs to get back on track in a different environment so no option for now.

      In the end we will go to 2026 with Koeman leading, 2 more years to get better players, but this has to be done at the clubs, not the national team…. We need a killer striker, the rest has lots of potencial, Brobbey needs to get his act together and start delivering ( to start with against Germany plz) ,

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Johan Neeskens died

Johan Neeskens died aged 73

Johan Neeskens died unexpectedly.

Neeskens was unwell on Sunday during an event in Algeria, where he was present on behalf of the Football Association. The former Ajax and Barcelona player turned 73.

This means that the Dutch football world once again loses an icon of the generation that reached the World Cup final in 1974. Neeskens was a starter at the Orange that conquered the hearts of the football world fifty years ago and scored five times at that tournament, including his penalty in the lost World Cup final against West Germany.

Neeskens, then only 22, had already become a starter at Ajax and moved to Barcelona that summer in the wake of Johan Cruijff, where he was soon nicknamed Johan Segundo. After his spell in Spain, the midfielder ended his career in the USA and Switzerland, in 1984 he returned to FC Groningen.

One of the biggest team ever

Neeskens was extremely successful as a player with three European Cup I wins at Ajax and two league titles, plus one World Cup and two KNVB Cups. In Barcelona, there was also a Spanish Cup and a national championship. On behalf of Oranje, the 49-time international also came out at the European Championships in 1976 and the World Championships in 1978, where the Netherlands also reached the final.

After his playing career, Neeskens spent many years in professional football as a manager. In the late 1990s he was assistant coach of Guus Hiddink and Frank Rijkaard, then he became manager of NEC. After his time in Nijmegen he assisted Hiddink again with Australia and was still the right hand of Rijkaard with Barcelona and Galatasaray.

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Champions-League

Champions League 1 and 2 October 2024

With the new setup of the Champions League started 2 weeks ago, the new format promises more excitement. The Uefa increased the number of teams from 32 to 36 teams, and every team will play at least 8 games in the league phase.

Champions League Games of 1 October – results

Yesterday´s Champions League phase had a great agenda with the Dutch champion of last year PSV Eindhoven. After a disappointing result 2 weeks ago against Juventus, PSV was facing another tough game against Sporting Club de Lisboa. Altough PSV played much better then 2 weeks ago, the game  ended last night in Eindhoven with a draw. PSV missed a lot of chances and Sporting CP grabbed a late equaliser.

Champions League results 1 October 2024
Champions League results 1 October 2024

PSV- Sporting clube de Lisboa

Champions League PSV-Sporting

After the disappointing game against Juventus two weeks ago, there was really nothing for PSV Tuesday night other than to achieve a result. Juventus proved to be too strong for the team of manager Peter Bosz at the time. His team played unrecognizable and especially Joey Veerman had to suffer it afterwards. It was at this point that the midfielder was missing from the Philips Stadium. The Orange international struggled with an injury and was replaced by Ismael Saibari, who was positively impressed in Italy.

Besides Saibari there was also a place for Walter Benítez. The goalkeeper was still missing in Turin and was replaced by Joël Drommel. This time, the Argentine was simply from the party, so Drommel moved to the bench. Incidentally, the assignment was heavy, because Sporting didn’t leave a point in their own country so far. They also won their first Champions League match against Lille OSC (2-0). And then there was the man in the spotlight: Viktor Gyökeres, who has already scored ten times in the competition and was also eligible in Europe.

Schouten makes it for PSV Eindhoven

After a period of scanning, PSV took the initiative at the Philips Stadion. The team of manager Peter Bosz put a lot of pressure on the Portuguese top club and that belief ensured success. And that was largely due to Schouten. The midfielder recovered the ball very cleverly, high on the pitch after a pressure moment from PSV. After skillfully unraveling the ball from his direct opponent, Schouten only had to put it away nicely. A flaming shot followed and the ball flew purely into the corner: 1-0.

It was the crowning glory of a strong opening phase, in which Malik Tillman had already viciously attacked the target. Typical of PSV’s iron will was the fact that after just over a quarter of an hour of play the team of Bosz had already made twelve violations. Because of PSV, which moved across the field a group of hungry lions, Sporting was eaten in the early stages. Typical was the way in which Ryan tirelessly settled Flamingo again and again in physical duels with Gyökeres, who was not a shadow of himself in the first half.

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PSV forgets to exploit force ratios

Many chances of playing football did not match PSV and Sporting during the first half, but it was clear which coach was most satisfied with his team. In the second half, PSV started again. Saibari immediately fired badly, while Guus Til skyrocketed wildly in a position of opportunity. The highlight had to follow a quarter of an hour after tea, because Luuk de Jong, who played his 300th official match for PSV, provided a Brazilian feat. Inimitable, with a spectacular assumption, he misled the rearguard, but in free position the captain fired next.

As in the second half, Sporting regained some grip on PSV after the swirling opening phase, without being able to start dangerously. Til founded it, but in a position of opportunity the attacking midfielder wasted a dot of a head chance. Bosz then decided to bring Noa Lang and Rick Karsdorp into the team. These changes almost killed him, as a sloppiness by Lang led to the first great moment of Sporting. Eduardo Quaresma slipped away, to the hilarity of the Eindhoven public and to the relief of Bosz.

Large downer in final stage

In pursuit of the liberating second goal PSV continued to collapse on goalkeeper Franco Israel. Lang and Til, they couldn’t do it. Johan Bakayoko even left three possibilities to put the victory in safe harbor. This made everyone in the Philips Stadion feel what would happen. And it happened: Daniel Braganca did strike on the other side. In a great way, the midfielder shot the ball past Benítez. This left PSV with one point and therefore it did itself a lot wrong.

Champions League Games of 2 October – results

Champions League games 2 October 2024

Girona – Feyenoord

Champions League Girona-Feyenoord

Feyenoord picked up the first points in the Champions League via a crazy match on Wednesday night when they visited Girona. In a duel with two missed penalties, two own goals and a special scoring run, the Rotterdammers eventually won.

In the first Champions League game with Bayer Leverkusen the crazy game was mainly for the benefit of the Germans, so against Girona it ended better for the Rotterdam. After several pins for both goals, the home side struck first. David López worked closely inside in the nineteenth minute when Hugo Bueno, new to Feyenoord’s starting lineup, could not handle a corner header properly.

Feyenoord recovered very quickly and was less than fifteen minutes later on a 1-2 lead. Yangel Herrera of Girona got the ball unhappily against him after a free kick by Igor Paixão, after which Antoni Milambo scored 1-1 on his own goal. Again, Paixão was the declarant, but the dirty work was done by standout Quinten Timber. He intercepted a pass for Feyenoord 1-2.

It could have become even more beautiful for Feyenoord, after again good work by Timber. The captain pressed again at the right time, was placed in the penalty area and received a penalty. However, this was missed by Ayase Ueda.

Particularly, Girona missed a penalty in this game. Keeper Timon Wellenreuther released the ball in the 66th minute after a move and then committed a foul on Bojan Miovski. Girona’s striker then gave Wellenreuther a chance to correct his mistake. The German appeared to be beaten before the penalty moment, but the VAR saved Feyenoord. Dávid Hancko processed a move by Donny van de Beek behind his own goalkeeper, but Van de Beek was offside.

A quarter of an hour later, the ex-Ajax player Feyenoord was still troubled. Arnaut Danjuma, already in the first half, strangled himself along several Feyenoorders and allowed Van de Beek to score. It was his first goal since 22 May 2022, when he scored on behalf of Everton against Arsenal.

Champions League Girona-Feyenoord
© Pro Shots

That did not bring this crazy match to an end, because in the end Feyenoord still drew the duel. Of course not in a normal way: a second own goal from Gerona was the decisive factor. After a move by Hancko, Ladislav Krejcí worked the ball behind Gazzaniga, making Feyenoord his first Champions League victory. The match did receive a fitting slot, as the match ended with a VAR check. Substitute Julián Carranza got the ball against his hand through his body, but a further penalty was not handed out.

This is how the people of Rotterdam show themselves after rocky weeks in the mental field. FC Twente is the next opponent in the Eredivisie, Feyenoord will go to Lisbon on 23 October for the next Champions League game, with Benfica.

Champions League Games of 2 October – results

Champions League results 2 October 2024

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Wim Jonk

Koeman adds Jonk to technical staff of Dutch national team

National coach Ronald Koeman has added Wim Jonk to the technical staff of the Dutch national team. The 57-year-old former international, who, like Koeman, is a supporter of Johan Cruijff’s philosophy, succeeds Sipke Hulshoff as assistant national coach.

Hulshoff signed with Liverpool in the wake of Arne Slot and was unable to combine that position with a role with Oranje. During the European Championship, Dwight Lodeweges temporarily returned to Koeman’s side. Now the vacancy has been permanently filled with the arrival of Jonk. The former trainer and technical director of FC Volendam had his hands free since he left the club from his hometown last year after the necessary unrest.

Jonk has signed with the KNVB until the 2026 World Cup, to Koeman’s delight. ‘With his experience, he is an excellent addition to our technical staff. I know him as a good trainer with a fresh, unique view on football’, the national coach said in a press release. ‘With the arrival of Wim, our technical staff is complete for the next two years, in which we want to perform well in the Nations League and then work towards the 2026 World Cup.’

Oranje

Just like Koeman, Jonk has a past as a player at Ajax and PSV. The two never played together at club level, but they did appear on the field together several times for the Dutch national team. At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Jonk and Koeman were both regular players, after having been part of the selection during the 1992 European Championship in Sweden. Jonk played 48 international matches for Oranje, in which the midfielder with the blazing long-range shot scored eleven times.

Jonk will be on the bench for the Dutch national team for the first time next month, when the Nations League matches against Hungary and Germany are on the programme. Last Friday, Koeman announced the preliminary selection for those matches. The national coach already had another assistant at his side in his brother Erwin. Patrick Lodewijks acts as goalkeeper coach for Oranje.

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