Tag: Neeskens

by Jan

Kluivert to Manchester City??

Hi all, I hope you are all doing well, despite the threat of that virus or the disadvantages of the lockdowns and not working etc? And of course, being without some serious football….

I have some posts in the making but I’m very busy as well, trying to keep my business alive. If you are doing well, this is the time to donate some beer money, hahaha… Thanks in advance!

I have more posts on our talents coming up, more videos for you guys to enjoy and the 1990 Johan Cruyff Debacle story… A cool interview with Donny van de Beek and a profile on Justin Kluivert.

Who is NOT signed by Man City. The headlines in the sports media were quite fun: Kluiverth signed by Man City. But Kluiverth being his first name. Aguilar his surname.

His dad was a fan of Barcelona and enjoyed Patrick a lot.

A fun fact: this is not the first player to be named after a Dutch player. This can definitely result in cool names for cool players: Yohan Cabay, named after our Johan. Or Dennis Bergkamp, named after Denis Law…

Rudigullithi da Silva Henrique

Kluiverth is not a bad first name to have….

The most beautiful name of a player, based on a Dutch player is…hold for it….not Cruyff, Vandervaart or Persie, no no… Wanderkhof! Yes. Dad was a fan of the PSV Twins Willy and Rene van de Kerkhof! And it gets better, because this is his second first name, so to speak. His actual first name is Petroswickonicovick. Yes. Imagine you’re the match commentator when he plays.

This kid was a prolific goal scorer for Corinthians.

Then there is a striker in Albania. He made it to the Albanian national team. The name: Marko van Basten Cema.

Or the Brazilian defender, 26 years old, with a short stint in Portugal. He was with Cruzeiro and Sao Paolo and is now playing in Brazil again, for Bento. The name is  Rudigullithi da Silva Henrique. He has competition, there is A Finnish player called Gullit Zolameso, named after Ruud Gullit (duh) and Gianfranco Zola who once played together at Chelsea. This kid plays regularly for Finnish youth rep teams.

In Malta, the 26 year old Cruyff Grixty plays at the second tier on the island, something JC would be ashamed of.

Neeskens Kebano vs Vertonghen of Spurs

The best career of them all is for Neeskens Kebano. France born’s dad was huge Johan Neeskens fan. He played for Fulham and for Paris St Germain. He is a national team player for Congo. In Honduras, we have Neeskens Almendares, who played for Lobos.

Wulf Koronia Kluivert Shevcengko Horota. Yes indeed! Named after Dutch Defender John de Wolf (what??), the Corona virus, Patrick Kluivert and Andrej Shevcencho. The Indonesian does play pro football for Persipura.

And it’s not just Dutch player names which are used for kids, who then become players themselves. There are the most amazing concoctions. I will mention a series here, but one name is false. One name I made up. You leave a comment with your best guess. Winner gets a prize :-).

There is Creedence Clearwater Couto, we had Metuzalem, Mozart, Adriano Michael Jackson, Ziyech Ziyech, John Lennon Silva Santos, Lineker da Silva Matos, Ben-Hur and Mahatma Gandhi. Stalin Motta played national team football, and Kluivert Aguilar? He has a brother: Rijkaard.

Life is wonderful

by Jan

Oranje matches for your Lockdown! Pt. 1

I think Andrew from California made the comment about classic matches?

I am happy he did. It was on my mind too (and to be honest: I already watched Spain – Holland 1-5 from 2014 again, last night)… What to do in a world without football? Revisit classic matches.

I will list some classic matches below.  I don’t have the links to these games, but I do believe YouTube will have them. Also this site here has some incredible info!

From my memory, the following matches are worth it.

1970s Club football

Feyenoord vs AC Milan and Feyenoord vs Celtic, when the Rotterdam club became the first to win the Europa Cup for The Netherlands!

Ajax won it three time in a row, after Feyenoord, with finals vs Panathinaikos, Inter Milan and Juve.

I don’t remember much of the games leading up to the finals for Ajax, but YouTube is your friend…

1970s Oranje at the World Cup

I am assuming we all know and have seen the Great Games Oranje played in 1974 and 1978. For students and scholars, it’s cool to watch all the matches of course and I know there are DVDs for sale and YouTube offers a lot too.

The three games to watch of the WC1974 are Oranje’s first match vs Uruguay. This is interesting, as this was the first time Oranje demonstrated their Total Football and even the Dutch fans and media were flabbergasted! We never saw Oranje play this well.

Don’t forget: The Netherlands shouldn’t have been there!! We played a qualifier to Belgium and we only qualified for the World Cup 1974 because of a real goal by Belgium was disqualified for off side.

The match vs Argentina is really good too, with Van Hanegem and Cruyff in superb form.

Lastly, the semi finals vs Brazil is an absolute cracker! Top goals, wonderful performances and gladiator style battles in midfield (Neeskens!!).

In 1977, Oranje played a famous match vs England at Wembley! The English loved to see Johan Cruyff, who was facing off with Kevin Keegan and Trevor Brooking. The Dutch had indeed Cruyff, Rep, Neeskens, Rensenbrink and Krol but it was young upstart from NEC Nijmegen Jan Peters (playing in the playmaker role deserted by an injured Van Hanegem) and Peters got the English all ecstatic with his perfect game and two goals (0-2). Peters would move to AZ Alkmaar and won the title there and reached the finals in the European Cup. He would later make a big move to Italy.

In 1978, without Cruyff and Van Hanegem, the Dutch started slowly but got to the finals anyway. With some outrageous long distance goals by Arie Haan and Ernie Brandts. Totally worth checking all these games, as it shows Oranje’s progress in the tournament.

Other Oranje Games from the 1980s

In the early 80s, we didn’t really play for the trophies! We had a dreadful 1980s Euros, we didn’t get to the Spain 1982 WC, or the 1986 WC in Mexico. We also missed the 1984 France Euros (both the 1982 and 1984 tournaments do stand out in my memory as top notch tournaments!).

In 1983, Holland played a famous qualification game vs Ireland (mentioned in the comments) in Dublin for the 1984 Euros. We didn’t end up going, but we had a massive break through in that match. We were 0-2 down. By then coach Rijvers was begged by fans to give the young guns of Ajax and Feyenoord a shot! There were the likes of Vanenburg, Rijkaard, Koeman and most particularly: Gullit and Van Basten. Rijkaard didn’t play this game, and Ruud Gullit played central defender! A role he played at PSV as well, later on, and he did so ever so well. Great strength, incredible long range passing and big runs over the axis of the field. This game was the rise of the youngsters! And finally Rijvers was confident enough to drop the like of Wijnstekers, Hovenkamp and Cees van Kooten for the young upstarts. The 2-0 half time score became a 2-3 win on a terrible pitch in Dublin.

In November of 1983, Holland played Spain at home and thanks to a Gullit winner, Holland had 1 leg into the 1984 Euros! Spain had one more home game vs Malta and needed to win 11-0 to qualify at the expense of Holland! That would never happen, right?

Holland won 5-0 vs Malta themselves and expected Spain to win with a similar score.

Only Cruyff and Van Hanegem, interviewed together, claimed that it wasn’t over yet and Spain would be able to score 11  goals vs Malta…

Infamously, the game was won (by Spain): 12-1!! And Malta had the first goal even! At half time, I think it was 1-1. Later on, it seemed Malta’s goalie was bribed and if you can stomach watching that game, you can tell why that story developed… Oranje was out!

This affected the qualification matches for the World Cup 1986 as well, with two early losses in qualification vs Hungary and Austria. Say what?

In November 1985, we played Belgium at home in Rotterdam. We would go to Mexico if we won 2-0 or more. I was there and remember the match also because my dad did his knee at walking to the stadium, which would be an injury right up to his death… We scored first, we scored the second… Houtman and Robbie de Wit. But only 5 mins left to go and right before us, Belgium defender George Grun slipped away from his marker and headed in the 2-1, meaning Belgium went to Mexico.

The next big memory re: Oranje would be the 1988 Euros. I’m sure you’ve seen the games?

All matches are worthwhile. The first match, Oranje lost vs the USSR but we played our best football of the whole tournament. But we lost. Coach Michels went from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and took Bosman and Van’t Schip off, for Van Basten and Erwin Koeman. The rest is history. Memorable games: the 2-3 vs England. The 2-1 versus West Germany and the finals of course. The 1-0 win over Ireland is also special due to Kieft’s freak goal and the tremendous fortune of not conceding a penalty for a blocked header by Ireland, with a hand. We rode our luck that tournament, as Van Basten scored an off side goal vs England and England was denied a 100% penalty.

 

 

 

 

by Jan

Farewell Snake Man Rensenbrink

He was one of my heroes. Robbie Rensenbrink. And he went on to join that tremendous Dutch team up in the heavens, alongside the likes of Cruyff, Keizer, Moulijn and Van Beveren. He was 72 years old. A terrible disease took his life.

He wasn’t a player that is named often in the same vein as Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Swart, Keizer, Neeskens… But a legend he was, for sure!

The reason he was a bit overlooked, was because he left DWS in Amsterdam at a young age, to play in Belgium! Feyenoord was about to sign the dribble king on the left wing, but Club Brugge was a tad more aggressive (and in those days, Belgium was fueled with laundered money and the Belgium clubs paid very well!). So Robbie left for Belgium and in those days, we hardly got to see any games on telly… Only when Club (or later Anderlecht) would play in Europe, would we get to see highlights.

So, when I was 12 years old and in front of the tv to watch Holland play the World Cup in 1974, I was puzzled as to why Piet Keizer didn’t play as left winger?? Keizer, Cruyff, Neeskens, Krol, those top Ajax lads all together, with the hot shots of Feyenoord (Van Hanegem, Jansen, Rijsbergen). Where was Keizer? And who the F was Rensenbrink?

Well, he demonstrated who he was quite immediately in the tournament. And when the commentator called him The Snake Man it was clear. This was a tremendous player. He looked like Cruyff (from a distance on telly) and he could dribble like Cruyff. I was gobsmacked!

The first match vs Uruguay was an easy win, with two Rep goals (the second on a Rensenbrink assist). Neeskens, Jansen and Van Hanegem ruled the midfield, while the fast Rep from the right took the striker role whenever Cruyff was wandering about on the pitch. Rensenbrink played as a real left winger, with chalk on his boots as we said.

I knew JC was the best in the world. Neeskens was the favorite of many, due to his relentless working, tackling, battling and harassing while Jansen was the unsung hero, reading the game, interjecting passes and presenting the ball straight to playmaker Van Hanegem or super star Cruyff.

Rob Rensenbrink, Ruud Krol, Jan Mulder

Cruyff was the eye catcher, the symbol of this Oranje. Rep the pretty boy with the goals while Van Hanegem was the brain of the team. When you rewatch the games they played, you’ll agree with me that Van Hanegem played a faultless masterful tournament, doing everything right. The highlight of his career and in the eyes of many an expert, the man of the tournament. But I knew all this. I knew Jansen and Van Hanegem personally (they lived around the corner from me in my hometown). I knew Cruyff and Rep like every kid knew them. But Rensenbrink was the unknown factor and he blew me away.

And I saw in that Uruguay match why Michels (and Cruyff) picked him over Keizer!

The snake man.

And I developed a keen interest in the man. It appeared he played in Belgium from 1969 onwards. First two seasons at Club Brugge, but he got signed by Anderlecht and that is where is rise to fame really began. He got his nickname Snake Man there, due to his tremendous dribbles. He won a plethora of silverware… Belgium titles, two European Cups, two Super Cups and in 1976 he was crowned best player of the year. He actually got voted the best player of the Belgium League Ever.

In 1974, he was instrumental in the Oranje team but not as prolific as Rep or Cruyff…

Training with Willem van Hanegem

When the 1978 World Cup commenced, Cruyff and Van Hanegem opted not to go. Long story, maybe for some other time. So we knew, as fans, that we had to rely on the old hands Rensenbrink, Neeskens and Krol to pull us through, and boy did they deliver!

Rensenbrink got injured in the 1974 finals and couldn’t finish the game.

In 1978 however, it was his last attempt on goal in the 90st minute, at 1-1, which would end up being the most talked about football event in Dutch football history!

Holland played Argentina, in a finals that should have been between Holland and Brazil. In hindsight, Argentina’s win over Peru might not have legit. But anyway, Argentina dominated the game. They played with pizzazz and felt the support of almost 100,000 crazy fans on the stands, and 3 fans on the pitch, wearing black referee outfits.

But Kempes’ 1-0 and Dick Nanninga’s 1-1 made for a spectacular finish.

With Ruud Krol playing a signature pass over 40+ yards in the path of Rensenbrink who hit the post with his final ditch attempt… It remained 1-1 and Argentina would clinch it in the extra time: 3-1.

The Famous Shot on the Post

Rensenbrink’s career was a series of high lights of course, but that one particular shot on the upright would almost define his career. Every day. Every single fukcing day, someone would ask him about it. Remind him of it. He would get really agitated with it.

After his playing career, he immediately retired from football. He didn’t become a coach, or a youth coach, or a scout or an agent or even a tv pundit. He spent his last 40 odd years focusing on his second passion: fishing!

When JC died in 2016, the Guardian placed an action photo of Rob Rensenbrink on the sports pages, by accident. Sitting in his garden, with a cigaret in his hand, Robbie said: “I’m still here guys. But hey, Moulijn died, Keizer is gone, Cruyff…I’ll be next probably.”

In 2012, he was diagnosed with PSMA, a muscle disease. “I never had issues with my muscles during my career, but now I can’t even hold a fork in my hand… I heard that this disease has struck a lot of Italian football players… Maybe it has something to do with stuff we were given by the doctors…”. In one of his last interview, that final shot on the post has to be mentioned. The long pass by Krol, Bertoni defends weakly and Fillol misses the ball. But the post didn’t miss. “The moment of my life, I suppoe. But I keep saying, it wasn’t even a real chance. The pass almost bounced passed me, I stuck my foot out. Closed my eyes, so to speak and the ball hit the post. I couldn’t do more than that. It ‘s not like I missed for open goal or I missed a penalty. Just like Robben in 2010, he did everything right, but was unlucky. It happens.”

From another angle…

He went back one, after that 25th of June match. “With Johnny Rep, for some tv program. We were standing there, next to that post. But I had a better memory of 1978 than I had of 1974. In ’74, it was all about Cruyff, Michels and Total Football. When Cruyff decided to drift to the left, I had to make way. I played better in 1978. I took the penalties and scored 5 goals. It was all good. I don’t see any of the old players anymore, except for Rep, Jongbloed and Rinus Israel. Rinus went to Feyenoord from DWS and they wanted me too. DWS wanted 450,000 guilders. Feyenoord balked and Club Brugge came with a cheque. I signed for Anderlecht for 7 seasons. Boy did I regret that! Real Madrid and Inter Milan wanted me. Faas Wilkes came to negotiate on Inter’s behalf… But Anderlecht refused to let me go. I did go to the KNVB coaching course, but I couldn’t stand it. Some no-name educator who never played football was going to instruct me how to take a corner… I don’t go to the matches in the stadiums, I don’t even stay home for most matches.”

“They made a book for me in Holland, for my 70th birthday. But I already had a biography in Belgium. That tells the story.”

by Jan

The Germans are coming!

Any match vs Germany (or West Germany) will bring the heart rate of any Oranje fan up. The pantomime villains! But if we get a double bill for games, vs Germany (our neighbours on the East) AND the Belgians (our neighbours to the South), well… any Oranje fan would start salivating.

We do have a firm rivalry with both nations and now we’ll meet them both in the course of 4 days. There is a God! The rivalry with Belgium is more brotherly. We actually like the Belgium people. We love their country, their food, their beaches and we also are impressed with their national team, at the moment. We had massive competitive games against them, but also some amazing friendlies, with heaps of goals and lots of good memories.

Less so with the Germans. Yes, those clashes in the 40-45 World Cup…eh.. War didn’t help. The first post-war match at top level was the finals in 1974 of course.

How many articles / posts have I not written about this in the past 14 years! On the Worldcupsoccerblog and on this blog… All these wonderful stories, anecdotes… But whatever we say about it, we lost. That doesn’t change. I remember vividly watching the game. I was 12 years old (yes!) and watching the games at my holiday address, with heaps of other people. A colour tv, but a small screen. I sat on the floor, right with my nose on the screen.

In those days, the expectations around the national team were low. Really low, as somehow it never really register with the pros. They were paid for by the clubs, they weren’t properly insured when playing for the NT and somehow, we weren’t too interested. When Holland went to West Germany for the World Cup, no one expected them to shine. And with reason, as we actually scored our winning qualification goal in off side position and actually didn’t deserve to go. And ironically, Belgium didn’t qualify as a result of that goal. A good reason for them to dislike us!

So there I was. Johan Cruyff was an untouchable. He was an Ajax player, so as a Feyenoord fan I wasn’t openly a JC fan, but like anyone, in my heart I adored him as a player. Willem van Hanegem was my fave. Partly because he played for Feyenoord and partly because he lived just one block away from me. As did midfielder Wim Jansen. We had some rock stars in the team too, the 5th and 6th Beatle: Ruud Krol and Johnny Rep. And there were some unknown players part of the team too. Players a 12 year old didn’t see play often: Robbie Rensenbrink, who was at Anderlecht. The snake man. What a player! I didn’t get why Keizer didn’t play on the left wing, but after seeing one match (vd Uruguay) it was clear why Rensenbrink was the man. Jan Jongbloed, our sweeper keeper was another unknown, a massive masterstroke by Michels Cruyff to put him in.

But the Germans got the better of us. Was it our arrogance? Was it the night of lost sleep, as JC had to spend hours on the phone with his wife pre-match, to explain the naked girls in the swimming pool? Was it the sheer quality of Sepp Maier, who simply stopped every ball aimed at the German goal?

Who knows. Willem van Hanegem says it was arrogance. Johan Cruyff said he was played out of the game by Berti Vogts. Others will point to the ref and the first real schwalbe/dive by Holzenbein, getting the Germans their penalty.

But the world took notice. And Oranje made its mark. Winning or losing, it didn’t matter.

We need a revenge though. In 1976, we bitterly disappointed, with red cards for our star players. In 1978, we took on the West Germans again and drew 2-2. We ended up in the finals again, and West Germany didn’t. Still, it didn’t feel like revenge.

In 1980, the Germans were boss. Holland disappointed massively and in 1982, 1984 and 1986, we didn’t compete. Long long stories. And all these stories have been told, here and at other blogs in the past. Simply ask me if you want me to rehash them.

Then came 1988. The 12 year old fan was now a 26 year old supporter, with some ties to Feyenoord and the national newspaper Algemeen Dagblad. And as a result, found himself in Hamburg on the stands. My partner worked for the newspaper and called me up at 11 am-ish. “I have tickets for the game, you gotta come now!” I drove from Amsterdam (my place of work) to Rotterdam (where the newspaper resides) to pick her up and our tickets. Changed clothes at home and off we went to Hamburg. We arrived 30 mins before the game and saw Oranje win vs West Germany (1-2) in an unforgettable match. The one where West Germany and Holland both got a gift penalty. The one where Van Basten scored the winner in the last minute. The one where Ronald Koeman wiped his ass with Olaf Thon’s shirt and Van Breukelen yelled at “I hope you focking sterbst” to Frank Mill…

And while we walked out of the stadium, in a state of joy, my partner saw a sports editor of her newspaper, and we tagged along to the players’ hotel to celebrate the win till the early morning. I vividly remember a somewhat boozy conversation with a young bloke at the party whom I later recognised as a very young Richard Witschge. Around 2 am I realised we still had 5,5 hours to drive home as work was waiting the next morning and we decided to leave.

The story of our trip to Munich the Sunday next, where Holland took on the USSR in the finals is even more epic, but will have to wait for another time. Now its about The Germans!

In 1990, the same squad albeit with Richard Witschge among others, was keen to win the World Cup, in Italy. We played Germany again and that is where the comparison with 1988 stops. It was shocking. Holland actually didn’t play that bad vs Germany, but our key players simply didn’t come to the party. Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten in particular were sub-standard. Our best players were John van ‘t Schip and Jan Wouters, with Rijkaard getting the spotlights spitting a big one in Voller’s wig. We lost. And had to go home. The players lamented after the World Cup that the power struggle between Cruyff and Michels had demoralised the team and Beenhakker’s army boot camp in Yugoslavia prior to the tournament didn’t help either. If you wanted a performance from the likes of Gullit and Rijkaard, it was key to have a player’s hotel close to the action (clubs, girls, pizza) and not in a remote and desolate castle with nothing to do but to moan and whinge and whine.

I watched this game at home again, in despair. The group stage of Oranje was already abyssmal so expectations were not too high. Most supporters were distraught that the KNVB ignored the wishes of the players and signed Leo Beenhakker for the coaching job.

In 1992, at the Euros. Oranje got the chance to take revenge on the Germans and we did. In a master class, in which Van Basten conducted Bergkamp’s goals (pointing at Winter where to place the ball) and an uncharacteristic distance striker from Rob Witschge, Holland won 3-1 in probably the best performance a Dutch national team demonstrated vs the Teutons. I remember watching this game with my best friend Nico and my life partner of course in my home, where we ended up dancing through the apartment block, convinced we’d win the title, against the beach team of the Danes.

In 1994, the Allied forces the US organisers of the World Cup keep Holland and Germany separated.

In 1996, we sadly don’t meet them either. We end up being dressed down by England and Germany ends up winning the Euros with the worst team ever.

At so the list goes on. We have been able to keep them at bay in 1998, 200o, 2002 (by not qualifying) and meet them again in Portugal 2004. First group game, and Germany tastes first blood. Van Nistelrooy scores the equaliser late in the game and everyone is happy with the draw. In 2006 we miss out on playing them, same in 2008 and 2010. It’s 2012 when we do end up playing them again in the group stage and after a good start (15 minutes or so) we forget to defend and allow them to score first. A situation we simply can’t overcome and despite having the silver medal at home of that previous World Cup, we end up going home. In 2014, again, the Germans are able to get to the finals without having to play us and that must have helped them a lot.

By now, all stories about how Germany took a couple of pages from the Dutch football Academy book in 2000 are fairly well known. They re-invigorated their youth development and started to play more Dutch than German. Their horrific tournament in Russia this year is a clear testament how the Germans have really started to copy all we do….

What will happen tomorrow?

Well, I think we’ll win 2-1. I think Germany will be a tad nervous, a bit forced maybe, and on their toes for the young Dutch talents.

I think Koeman will play the following 11:

Cillesen

De Ligt – De Vrij  – Van Dijk  – Van Aanholt

Wijnaldum – Frenkie De Jong – Daley Blind – Strootman

Bergwijn – Memphis

I think Memphis and Wijnaldum will score.

by Jan

1974: Cruyff unique, but no cigar…

Although West Germany got the title in 1974, that World Cup was Johan Cruyff’s and Oranje’s tournament. And based on the historic numbers below, we can see why. In this tournament, Cruyff has had the most successful dribbles, he creates the most chances and he is playing all over the pitch. Something that was totally unique in those days and simply copied later by Barcelona and Messi (and others since).

Lots of players have their signature moves. But the first one to claim that at the world stage was Cruyff. He led Oranje to the finals and eventually lost against West Germany, but he dazzled the world with the so-called Cruyff Turn. Another iconic Cruyff move was the dribble in the finals. In the first minute, without any of the Germans touching the ball, JC found his way into the box, until he got fouled and Neeskens was able to score from the spot. The 1974 World Cup star was and always will be, Johan Cruyff.

So lets start with the second match Oranje played. After beating Uruguay with 2-0, Oranje faces Sweden. And Cruyff will have 12 successful dribbles in that match. Only eight (8) player managed to do this in one match, in the last 50 years.

Date Match Team Player No. success dribbels
12/07/1966 Portugal – Hungary Portugal Eusébio 12
07/06/1970 West-Germany – Bulgaria West-Germany Reinhard Libuda 12
17/06/1970 Brazil – Uruguay Brazil Jairzinho 13
19/06/1974 Netherlands – Sweden Netherlands Johan Cruijff 12
23/06/1974 Poland – Italy Italy Sandro Mazzola 12
22/06/1986 Argentina – England Argentina Diego Maradona 12
01/07/1990 England – Cameroon England Paul Gascoigne 13
05/07/1994 Nigeria – Italy Nigeria Jay Jay Okocha 15

It’s not just the number of dribbles that determined the domination of the Dutch #14. He is at the heart of everything. As the striker of the team, he’s also the dreh-und-angel-punkt. Or the pivot. He drops deep into midfield to start the move, or he moves to the left flank to start his dribble. Other players take the oppportunity to move into the striker position and to “arrive” in the hot spot as opposed to “being there” already. As a result, Johan only scored 3 goals at the World Cup, with Rensenbrink and Rep scoring more (wingers, both) but the former Ajax man was involved in eight of the 14 Oranje goals!

His assists against Argentina (the 3-0) and against Brazil (the 1-0) are typical for his tournament. Against Argentina, he moves into the left flank role and offers a great cross with his left for John Rep to finish. As JC left the central striker position, Rep moved into that role and is on hand at the far post to head the ball home. Against Brazil, Cruyff is on the right flank and he crosses the ball with his right this time, for Johan Neeskens to burst into the box and score.

In terms of dribbles and creativity, Cruyff is boss at the World Cup 1974, with one hand tied behind his back even. Cruyff has 54 touches in the opponent’s box for instance, a number only bettered by West Germany striker Gerd Muller. Cruyff was for Oranje what Messi is now for Barca: playmaker and finisher at the same time.

Player Successful dribbles
Johan Cruijff 34
Uli Hoeness 23
Sandro Mazzola 22
Jairzinho 19
Robert Gadocha 19
Francisco Marinho 19
Player chances created
Johan Cruijff 36
Kazimierz Deyna 29
Jairzinho 19
Robert Gadocha 19
Wolfgang Overath 18
Gerd Müller 18

La Naranja Mécanica (Clockwork Orange) as Rinus Michels’ team would be called, combines towards the finals, against host nation West Germany. The 2-1 defeat causes a national football trauma. Cruyff plays his weakest match, and according to myth, the so-called Bild Swimming Pool incident is at fault. The Bild magazine organised for some naked girls to dive into the pool where the Oranje players were relaxing in their hotel. Bild took the photos and published them a day before the finals. The phone calls from the players’ wives would be the cause for the lack of concentration in the finals. But what do the stats tell us?

West Germany sacrifices Berti Vogts and has him man mark Cruyff across the pitch. The touch map above shows that JC starts to wander around to get rid of Vogts. He is less dominant than usual and West Germany is able to destabilize his threat. Cruyff has zero attempts on goal and only has two would be assists on a team mate.

Johan Cruijff tijdens het WK 1974

Opponent Goals Assists Penalties Ball touches Goal attempts Key passes
Uruguay 0 0 0 107 4 5
Zweden 0 0 0 96 4 6
Bulgarije 0 1 1 91 3 11
Argentinië 2 1 0 86 4
Oost-Duitsland 0 0 0 63 1 6
Brazilië 1 1 0 73 2 2
West-Duitsland 0 0 1 66 0 2

In fact, without a dominant role for the #14, Oranje is still quite threatening. Holland has more attempts on goal than West Germany (14 v 11) and the same number of shots on target (5 v 5 ). Of those 14 attempts, 11 are from within the box, which shows that JC’s wandering about allowed other team mates to find threatening positions.

Stats Nederland
Goals Shots on target Possession
2 25 8 60,0%
0 30 7 62,6%
4 25 12 48,4%
4 17 9 57,2%
2 14 5 62,1%
2 12 6 51,9%
1 14 5 57,8%

 

Stats opponent
Goals Shots On target
Uruguay 0 1 0
Sweden 0 8 3
Bulgaria 1 11 3
Argentina 0 2 1
East-Germany 0 9 1
Brazil 0 14 1
West-Duitsland 2 11 5

The main difference with previous matches at the tournament, based on the stats – is the defence. West Germany is the only team to reach 10 goal attempts against Holland. West Germany has six attempts from within the box, of which four on target. This is an aspect that hasn’t been discussed too often: the key difference between this game and earlier matches was not so much Cruyff’s performance, but the performance of Oranje defensively.

 

Opponent Attempts from outside the box Attempts from within the box
Uruguay 1 0
Sweden 5 2
Bulgaria 4 4
Argentina 0 0
East-Germany 2 0
Brazil 3 0
West-Germany 6 4

Johan Cruyff in his autobiography “My side of the Story” about the 2-1 defeat. “I think we were actually too arrogant. I think we felt we could and would beat them. We were 1-o up in the first minute and wanted to play with them. And once you are at that point, it’s hard to turn it around. We had so many opportunities, but it felt like, whatever we tried, the ball didn’t wanna go in. We simply weren’t 100%. Both offensively and defensively. Look at the goals we conceded. We never conceded goals like that second by Gerd Muller. We were constantly a step too late. It was a mental thing.”

Cruyff did see the benefits of losing the finals. “Somehow, the story became better. The best team to never win it, and all that. And our style of play became famous. No one talks about the 1974 West Germany team, do they? And with our philosophy, we showed players who aren’t strong and tall can be stars. Rep, Rensenbrink, Jansen, myself… All over the world, football changed because of us.”

Today, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Manchester City, they all seem to play fluid, without a fixed central striker, with lots of movement… the seed of this was sown by Cruyff, Van Hanegem and Neeskens and co in 1974….