Total Football, 1969-74

There had been warnings before, of course, such as in the 1966-67 European Cup, as it was then known, when a side from Amsterdam called AFC Ajax, hitherto largely unknown outside Holland, thrashed the formidable English champions Liverpool 5-1, and, against all Bill Shankly's loud predictions, held on for a 2-2 draw in the second leg.

But our story really begins in 1969, when Ajax reached the Final of the European Cup, defeating Nürnberg, Fenerbahce, Benfica and Spartak Trnava along the way. A team which included Piet Keizer, Wim Suurbier and Johan Cruyff (with apologies to our Dutch friends, I've use the anglicised spelling of his name throughout) played AC Milan in Madrid, and, although the 4-1 scoreline might imply they were comprehensively seen off, gave rather a better account of themselves than might have been expected, but their appearance on this stage was still seen as something of an intrusion, a one-off.

The Ajax team was: Gert Bals in goals; Suurbier, Velibor Vasovic, Barry Hulshoff and Theo van Duivenbode in defence; Henk Groot and Ton Pronk in midfield; and Sjaak Swart, Inge Danielson, Cruyff and Keizer in attack, with Ben Muller and Klaas Nuninga as subs. Rinus Michels was the coach of that side.

The following year, it was Ajax's greatest rivals, Sport Club Feyenoord of Rotterdam, who made the great breakthrough by beating Reykavik, AC Milan, Vorwärts Berlin and Legia Warsaw to reach the Final in Milan. Against all expectations, they overcame a very talented Celtic side 2-1 in extra time to give Dutch football its first European trophy. They were quite unlike any other team I'd seen before, not exactly Total Football yet, but rather they relied on possession football taken almost to the extreme, the ball moving rapidly from one player to another, in any direction, at all costs avoiding being caught with it, while the opposition became disheartened chasing the ball around, and a tight, almost stifling use of the offside trap.


Feyenoord 1970.

Unusual tactics for the time, perceived as very defensive in outlook, and Celtic certainly weren't happy about them, but hugely effective. This method of play also demanded great fitness, an often overlooked virtue of Dutch football in the 1970s. Rinus Israël, Wim van Hanegem and Wim Jansen all played in this game, Israël even getting his picture on a stamp as a consequence.

The full Feyenoord team was: Eddy Pieters Graafland in goals; Piet Romeijn, Israël, Theo Laseroms and former Ajax man Van Duivenbode in defence; Franz Hasil, Jansen and Van Hanegem in midfield; Henk Wery, Ove Kindvall and Coen Moulijn in attack; plus Guus Haak as sub. The scorers were Israël and the Swedish international striker Kindvall. Ernst Happel was the Feyenoord coach.


Feyenoord legend Rinus Israël.

The Dutch international team of the time, coached by Georg Kessler, was nowhere near as successful as the club sides. With Suurbier, Israël, Jansen, Van Hanegem, Cruyff and Rob Rensenbrink (then of DWS Amsterdam) regulars in the side, they failed to qualify for the 1970 World Cup, losing out to a Bulgaria team who would hardly set Mexico alight.

Having reached the Semi-Finals of the Fairs Cup (later the UEFA Cup) in 1970, with a team that now featured Ruud Krol and Gerry Mühren, Ajax went one better in the European Cup the following year. While Feyenoord were reclaiming the Dutch league, Ajax beat Nendori Tirana, Basle, Celtic and Athletico Madrid, and found themselves playing Greek side Panathinaikos (coached by Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas) in the European Cup Final at Wembley.


Keizer crosses to Van Dijk...


...who heads in the opening goal of the 1971 European Cup Final.

The 2-0 victory was almost a stroll, Ajax's superiority in all the arts of the game quite manifest from the first whistle to the last, and people were beginning to sit up and notice something was going on. Their movement was bewildering, their skill on the ball astonishing, their tackling frightening. We were used to seeing Italian and Spanish teams dominating Europe, but the Dutch, having seemed to get there almost by stealth, were now at last being given the credit they deserved. British commentators were even learing to pronounce their name correctly (Ay-ax rather than Ey-jax) though liberties were still to be taken with Cruyff's name for many years to come.


The Ajax European Cup winning team of 1971.
Back: Hulshoff, Stuy, Suurbier, Van Dijk, Mühren.
Front: Keizer, Swart, Rijnders, Vasovic, Cruyff, Neeskens.

The Ajax team in the Final was: Heinz Stuy in goals; Johan Neeskens, Vasovic, Hulshoff and Suurbier in defence; Nico Rijnders and Gerry Mühren in midfield; and Swart, Cruyff, Dick van Dijk and Keizer up front; with Horst Blankenburg and Arie Haan as substitutes. Van Dijk, from Keizer's cross, and Haan, with a deflected shot, were the goalscorers. Ruud Krol had featured in earlier rounds, but was injured for the Final, hence Neeskens at right-back and Suurbier at left-back. The Yugoslavian international Velibor Vasovic was the captain.

Michels was a remarkable coach by any standards, a stern disciplinarian by all accounts, and almost obsessed with physical fitness. Yet these qualities, when allied to the raw talent of the players at the club, were turning Ajax into not only the best team in Europe (to judge by results) but also the most thrilling to watch.


Rinus Michels.

Although Michels is very often given sole credit for the Total Football revolution at Ajax, the Ajax youth system played its part, and many in Holland pay tribute to the efforts of Vic Buckingham, who coached the side in the early 1960s.

And it should not go unmentioned that, when Michels left to go to Barcelona in 1971, the side actually improved quite dramatically; the best got better. In later years, the players would declare that the Romanian Stefán Kovács gave them more freedom than his predecessor, and the new outlook combined with the sense of discipline and high work-rate instilled by Michels to produce even greater things on the pitch.

With Kovács at the helm, Ajax cruised past Dynamo Dresden, Olympic Marseille, Arsenal and Benfica (Feyenoord's conquerers) on their way to the 1972 European Cup Final, a match held in Rotterdam as further evidence of the prominence now afforded the Dutch game, and overwhelmed Italian champions Inter with two goals from Cruyff, the first the result of uncharacteristic defensive errors, the second a more memorable header.


European Cup Final 1972 - Cruijff's first goal.


European Cup Final 1972 - Cruijff's second goal.

The 2-0 margin of victory scarcely represented Ajax's superiority, and, by now, the team's uniqueness was plain for all to see. The continued changes of position, the way they were all so comfortable in possession, the sheer look in their eyes. This was a team the like of which we had not seen before. Their triumph over the old, dull, tired-looking catenaccio of Inter seemed to offer confirmation that this new way of playing the game was about to sweep away the negativity of the 1960s once and for all.

The line-up was: Stuy; Suurbier, Blankenburg, Hulshoff and Krol; Haan, Neeskens and Gerry Mühren; Swart, Cruyff and Keizer. Van Dijk, Heinz Schilcher, Ruud Suurendonk and young striker Johnny Rep had played a part in earlier rounds. Piet Keizer was captain now, following the retirement of Vasovic.

Still it went unremarked that success at international level continued to elude the Dutch. Even with the likes of Krol, Hulshoff, Neeskens, Gerry Mühren and Keizer now added to the national squad, Yugoslavia had beaten them to the last eight of the 1972 European Championship. There would be changes for the qualification tournament for the next World Cup, not the least being the elevation of Cruyff to captain - he would also take over as captain of Ajax around this time.

Ajax's 1973 European Cup triumph was almost an anticlimax. CSKA Sofia, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid were all brushed aside en route to the inevitable Final. A single, early goal from Johnny Rep, heading in Blankenburg's cross, was all that was required to defeat Juventus in Belgrade, Ajax demonstrating the Dutch trait of doing just enough to win, while knowing they had plenty in reserve if it was needed. Once they were a goal in front, Ajax contented themselves with taking long-range shots at the Juve goal, and inventing new formations to play in. Hulshoff, fiercely bearded these days, regularly galloped up the field like a man possessed, the full-backs changed sides, overlapped, then changed sides and overlapped, while Neeskens was everywhere, tackling, passing, heading, shooting, as Ajax's domination of the midfield was close to total.


European Cup Final 1973 - Rep's goal.

The only one who disappointed slightly was Cruyff, marked tightly and effectively, he dropped off ever deeper in a vain attempt to break free of marker Morini, and flitted in and out of the game, almost as if he felt the team could win without him.


1973 - Cruijff (in Juventus shirt) presented with European Cup.

Winning the World Club Championship (against Independiente of Buenos Aires) and the inaugural European Super Cup (against Rangers) around this time for good measure, this was, perhaps, the all-time "classic" Ajax line-up: Stuy in goals; Suurbier, Blankenburg, Hulshoff and Krol in defence; Haan, Neeksens and Mühren in midfield; and Rep, Cruyff and Keizer up front. Stuy and the German Blankenburg were the only non-internationals in the team.


Neeskens scores against Independiente in World Club Championship, September 1972.

Well, that's how their line-up was usually written, but once the game started it was far more complex than that. They also wore "squad" numbers, twenty years before the Premier League in England had the idea. Thus Suurbier wore 3, Blankenburg 12, Hulshoff 13 (4 in earlier years), Krol 5, Haan 15, Neeskens 7, Gerry Mühren 9, Rep 16, Keizer 11, Cruyff of course 14 (the 14 apparently stems from either his first winning a cup competition at that age or from coming on as sub one day wearing 14, depending on which story you believe), and other squad members Swart 8, Schilcher 2, and Gerry Mühren's brother Arnie 6.


Haan and Stuy attempt to lift the Super Cup.

However, all things in football are transitory, and the 1973-74 season saw something of a change in the balance of power. Cruyff became dissatisfied with his lot at Ajax, falling out with the club doctor over being forced to play when injured, being stripped of the captaincy in favour of Keizer in a bizarre election which may or may not have been a club tradition (stories vary even now), and probably a few other things as well. He duly left to join his old boss Michels at Barcelona, for a world record transfer fee. With a certain inevitability, he transformed the Catalan giants from a mid-table place to become Spanish champions, but, at Ajax, things had changed for the worse. With a new coach, George Knobel, and with just about the same side as the previous season except for Jan Mulder replacing Cruyff, they were eliminated from the European Cup by CSKA Sofia, and also surrendered the Dutch title to Feyenoord. CSKA in turn were beaten by German champions Bayern Munich, who went on the win the trophy, the first of three such successes. Ajax won the European Super Cup, wiping out AC Milan 6-0 in the second leg, but it was to be their last European trophy for many years.

In addition to the Dutch league, Feyenoord won the UEFA Cup in 1974, defeating Tottenham in the Final. The Feyenoord side for the first leg, in London, was: Eddy Treytel in goal; Wim Rijsbergen, Joop van Daele, Rinus Israël, and Harry Vos in defence; Wim Jansen, Theo de Jong and Wim van Hanegem in midfield; and Peter Ressel, Lex Schoenmaker and the Dane Jorgen Kristensen in attack. This game was drawn 2-2, Van Hanegem and De Jong scoring for the Dutch champions. For the second leg, in Rotterdam, Rijsbergen (still uncapped, although the World Cup was less than three weeks away) moved into midfield to replace Van Hanegem, the Yugoslavian Mladen Ramljak coming into the side at right-back. In a game marred by crowd violence more or less unprecedented on the continent, goals from Rijsbergen and Ressel gave Feyenoord a comfortable 2-0 win.


Feyenoord team 1974.

All the Feyenoord midfield were to be key members of the 1974 World Cup squad, Jansen, De Jong and Van Hanegem. The right-back Rijsbergen and centre-back Israël were also to play in Germany, while goalkeeper Treytel and left-back Vos also made the squad as reserves. Vos had the unenviable task of waiting for Ruud Krol to have a bad game - unsurprisingly, he never actually played for Holland!

Feyenoord players of the early 1970s.


Wim Van Hanegem


Rinus Israël


Theo de Jong


Eddy Treytel


Wim Jansen


Wim Rijsbergen


Harry Vos

It was thus at something of a crossroads for the Dutch game that Michels was taken on to be the coach of the Holland side, taking over for the World Cup Finals from the man who'd got them there, Frantisek Fadrhonc, who, such was the spirit of the times, stayed on as his assistant. Out of deference to the job Fadrhonc had done, he retained the title of head coach ("Bondscoach" in Dutch), with Michels's nominal role being "Supervisor", but everyone knew who was in charge.

World Cup Team 1974



This extraordinary collection of talented footballers set the world on fire for a few brief weeks in the summer of 1974. They captured the imagination of a generation of fans in a way that no team, before or after, have matched. They played football in a way we hadn't seen before, with skill, strength, intelligence and attitude merged together into a mixture that was uniquely theirs. They didn't actually win the World Cup, heaven knows why, but they created a set of memories that have lasted a generation now, and will continue undimmed for a long while to come.

But the Dutchmen of Feyenoord and Ajax in the early 1970s, and the national side of 1974, looked like the people who lived next door. They had long hair, they slouched for the team photos, they made no attempt to pretend they were singing the national anthem. They were scruffy and untidy, in a deliberate sort of way. They argued among themselves, not violently but forcefully and passionately. They conducted press conferences in several languages, lucidly and without resorting to clichés about "taking every game as it comes".


The legendary Johan Cruijff

They had the greatest player in the world (Cruyff of course), several more talented strikers and midfield players, a load of defenders who did far more than defend, and a goalkeeper who just didn't look like a goalkeeper. They had their wives and girlfriends to stay at the team hotel. They wore ridiculous squad numbers. Their goal celebrations were so passionate they made you want to join in even if you were watching on television. They looked as if they wanted it


Ruud Krol

And then, there was that kit, the orange Adidas shirts with the three bands down the sleeve, white (sometimes black) shorts and orange socks. Distinctive, bright, very 1970s, it spoke about the team that wore it like no other kit could, and it would still look cool today.

Group A, Wednesday 3rd July 1974 (19.30):

Holland 2 Brazil 0

Neeskens ('50) [Holland]
Cruijff ('65) [Holland]

Teams:

================8 Jongbloed===================
20 Suurbier==17 Rijsbergen==2 Haan====12 Krol=======
======6 Jansen==13 Neeskens==3 Van Hanegem======
======16 Rep====14 Cruyff====15 Rensenbrink=======

======11 Paulo César Lima===7 Jairzinho==============
10 Rivelino===21 Dirceu===17 Paulo César Carpegiani==13 Valdomiro
6 Marinho Chagas==3 Marinho Peres===2 Pereira====4 Zé Maria
==================1 Leão======================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes -
19 Mirandinha for 11 Paulo César Lima 62 mins
5 Israël for 13 Neeskens 84 mins
7 De Jong for 15 Rensenbrink 87 mins
Unused Dutch Substitutes -
1 Geels 10 René van de Kerkhof 18 Schrijvers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cautioned - Pereira Zé Maria Rep
Sent Off - Pereira


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Referee - Kurt Tschenscher (W.Germany).
Linesmen - Davidson (Scotland), Suppiah (Senegal).
Venue - Westphalia Stadium, Dortmund.
Attendance 53,700.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Westphalia Stadium, Dortmund.

QUOTE

This was an epochal game, for at least one young man watching at home in England. I'd been brought up to think of the Brazilians as something special, as a football team head and shoulders above all others. The generation before mine had put them on a pedestal, due to the World Cup wins of 1958 and 1962, and had regarded their being kicked out of the 1966 tournament as nothing less than a crime. In 1970, with the British press going bonkers about England's chances of winning in Mexico, it had come as no surprise to find that Brazil had been better, but the margin of their superiority over not only England but everyone else in the world had shocked the entire planet.

And yet, by 1974, the mantle had slipped more than somewhat. Aware of - perhaps obsessed by - what had happened to them in England in 1966, the Brazil team of this era (which still included Jairzinho and Rivelino from the class of 1970) is most often remembered in Britain for the brutality of their Group 2 game against Scotland. Maybe this might have been a one-off, we all thought, but, by the end of the second phase, it was clear that this Brazil side, in addition to not being anywhere near the equals of their predecessors in footballing terms, were also a rather unpleasant team to play against, or even to watch. Most disconcertingly, they even took the field for this game in rather ugly-looking dark blue shirts, giving further vent to the feeling that, in 1974, this somehow wasn't quite the real Brazil, not the Brazil of Pelé, Tostão and Gerson, of The Beautiful Game. I'd never seen them play in anything but the famous yellow shirts - maybe I'd imagined there was some rule that said Brazil always wore yellow no matter against whom they were playing.

Line-up against Brazil.
Cruyff, Jongbloed, Haan, Rensenbrink, Rijsbergen, Rep,
Suurbier, Jansen, Van Hanegem, Krol, Neeskens.

In keeping with FIFA's obsession with tampering with kits, Holland also changed their shirts, into white (though they kept their orange socks), and managed to look even cooler in white than they did in orange. Inevitably.

With Holland needing only a draw to reach the Final (on goal difference), the game was fierce and competitive, the first half a catalogue of savage fouls, largely unpunished by the thoroughly uninvolved referee, and other than that notable only for a series of missed chances.


Cruijff looking rather cooler than a Brazilian defender.

Both sides had their moments in the tense opening period: Zé Maria failed to deal with an early cross, and the ball dropped invitingly to Cruyff, whose snapshot was saved well by Leão; Neeskens took the ball off a defender, but shot wide. Brazil's attacks were perhaps rather more incisive: Valdomiro rounded Haan, Jongbloed flapped at the ball, and was relieved to see it ricochet to safety after being half-blocked by Krol; but Jongbloed dealt more convincingly at the near post with his next challenge, a long-range shot from Valdomiro.

Holland relied on their offside trap even more than in previous games, but the World Champions had been well briefed, and opened the defence up rather too often. Dirceu put Paulo César Lima through, to shoot wide with Jongbloed beaten.


Rijsbergen goes to ground.

The game was rough and tough right from the start. Van Hanegem found Suurbier in a good position on the left. The shot was saved at the near post, before Suurbier's admittedly late challenge on Pereira provoked a savage kick from the Brazilian defender. On the next Dutch attack, Rep, having been balked off the ball, decided to run into Pereira for no good reason other than to further ruffle the Brazilian feathers. As the action moved upfield, Krol fouled Valdomiro, and nearly incited an international incident. The referee had lost control of the game early, and never looked like regaining it.


Can't actually tell which Dutch player is the victim of this eye-watering tackle, but I bet it still hurts today.

Suurbier crossed from the right, and Rensenbrink volleyed on target, Leão equal to his task again, but there was little football getting played now, as the conflict settled into a war of attrition. Jansen created a goalscoring chance for Cruyff, who was comically rugby tackled by Zé Maria, the Brazilian right-back being cautioned. At a Dutch free-kick, Neeskens challenged (Mario) Marinho Peres with his feet undoubtedly high, but what followed was out of all proportion to the Dutchman's misdemeanour. As the players trundled down the other end, the Brazilian captain elbowed him full in the face, knocking him to the ground, where he remained unmoving for a long time. That the referee didn't see this despicable foul may have been understandable, but for the linesman to miss it (or to neglect to inform the referee about it) was disgraceful. Players milled about everywhere in time-honoured football fashion, Brazilians (other than Peres) affecting concern for the stricken Neeskens, Dutchmen wandering up, demonstrating to the referee what had happened, and perhaps suggesting what might happen if no action was forthcoming, while Cruyff, ever the diplomat, did a far better job of restoring order than the overwhelmed match officials. After a lengthy hiatus, Neeskens got back to his feet, looking shocked and shaken. As soon as the game restarted, of course, he was throwing himself into tackles with a vengeance, as ever, which seemed to upset Brazil even more. Shortly after this, Jansen was cynically and brutally taken out by Peres's shoulder as he closed in on the Brazilian goal, with the referee still frozen into inaction. On the half-time whistle, Peres picked up the ball and ran down the tunnel as if he feared for his life!

As the second period wore on, though, it became increasingly evident that Holland were far stronger, far more determined, and, if calling them more disciplined wouldn't be quite accurate, at least they were far less indisciplined than their opponents. One of the myths about this Dutch team was that they weren't quite up to the physical side of the game, but tonight, once Brazil had started the rough stuff, it was returned with interest. There is one illuminating close-up video clip in existence of Rivelino raising his knee to Rep as the players pass. The choirboy-faced Rep waits his chance, when the Brazilian's (and the referee's) back is turned, and calmly elbows him in the face. All this happens while the ball is bouncing from one end to the other, without coming near to either player. There had been other examples before in this tournament of the Dutch players offering proof that cynical, off-the-ball fouls and brilliant football skills are not incompatible. Neeskens's assailant Marinho Peres, for example, unaccountably ended the game with a gashed ankle, the accident which caused this wound going unnoticed by any camera. The Dutch met fire with fire: if they hadn't they'd have been burned.


The first Dutch goal, early in the second half, was a gem. Rijsbergen, tackling harder than most even in this game, took Jarizinho's ankle, greatly to the Brazilian's displeasure. A minute later, Jairzinho went in on Rijsbergen with only one thought on his mind, and duly conceded a free-kick. Van Hanegem took the kick quickly, deep inside his own half, to Neeskens, who played the ball out to Cruyff on the right. Cruyff measured to perfection the chip into the box, onto the exact blade of grass where the onrushing Neeskens wanted it, but Neeskens still did brilliantly to meet the ball at exactly the right weight and exactly the right angle to float it over the advancing Brazilian goalkeeper, most of whose team-mates were stood around at the other end, arguing about the free-kick. An extraordinary, inspired and memorable goal, and it led to a exuberant celebration.


Neeskens and Cruijff celebrating.

Neeskens, having now recovered fully from his first half tribulations, sent in a long shot after a corner: it reared up off the turf at Leão, but the alert goalkeeper saw it all the way. At the other end, Jairzinho slipped past the Dutch defence at a free-kick, to fall into what was now a rather more effective offside trap. He also whacked Rijsbergen again right in front of the referee, who incredibly still could not summon the courage to even caution such a persistent offender. Brazil brought on Mirandinha for Paulo César Lima, as they fought to retain their hold on the World Cup, but still made little impression on the stern and well-drilled Dutch defence. Although (Francisco) Marinho Chagas's deep cross from the left was fisted away by Jongbloed, the opportunities for Brazil were now few and far between.

Pereira ran through the Dutch defence, but was flagged offside, whereupon he picked up the ball and ranted at the referee. From the briskly-taken free-kick, while the Brazilians still argued fatuously, Van Hanegem put Cruyff clear of the Brazilian defence. The linesman's flag quickly went up for this too, but Cruyff, ever the cool one, chipped the ball into the Brazilian net from 40 yards, just to remind his opponents what they were up against. For me, this exchange summed the game up perfectly.

The second Dutch goal left a certain impression on the memory too. Krol found Rensenbrink in space down the left. He turned, as the Brazilians appealed again for offside, and laid the ball into the path of Krol, who sprinted down the wing. Cruyff met the cross perfectly to beat the goalkeeper from close range, somehow hitting it hard and true with his right foot when it appeared he'd have to use his left. Rensenbrink, however, pulled up injured after this move, to be replaced by Theo de Jong as Holland decided to close the game down a bit.


The second Dutch goal.

... continued.

The reigning world champions were beaten, as far as the football went, but still had time to surrender what was left of their dignity. Their willingness to dish out fouls was not matched by their ability to take punishment in return: every time a Dutchman committed an offence, a Brazilian crashed to earth and rolled about until play moved on, when he quickly recovered.


The second Dutch goal was so good, it was worth seeing twice.

For those who had witnessed the joyful, carefree Brazil team of 1970, this game ended up a truly dispiriting spectacle. Valdomiro stamped at Krol, then Rivelino (not exactly a pale shadow of the player he'd been in 1970, more a dark shadow) clattered Cruyff, and was in turn fouled by Rep, who was cautioned. Valdomiro had another nibble at Krol's ankles. A clever pass by De Jong, quickly adjusting to the pace and temperature of the game, found Rep running at goals, to be taken out again by Marinho Peres. Suurbier fouled Marinho Chagas from behind, and was studded in the face by the Brazilian full-back for his pains: during the ensuing melée, Neeskens (inevitably!) was kicked to the ground by Valdomiro, with the referee of course unsighted. Cruyff set off on another through run, Peres couldn't even get near enough to foul him, but Paulo César Carpegiani brought him down instead, with the ball 30 yards away. Rivelino had now pretty much lost any vestige of self-control he ever had, and launched himself through the air at Cruyff, who prudently jumped out of the way, but Neeskens, following in, challenged the Brazilian along the ground, and was promptly flattened. A spate of foul and counter-foul outside the Dutch penalty area ended with Rivelino bouncing off Haan, and throwing himself to the ground. Of course, he won a free-kick, but blazed it just wide of the goal, though Jongbloed would probably tell you he had it covered.

Luís Pereira finally managed to get himself sent off, for an alehouse challenge on Neeskens, waist-high, studs first, and so late it might have been early for next time.


Four years on from those memorable goals in the 1970 Final, this was how Brazil's rain as a World Champion came to an unlamented end.

Pereira stood around for a long time before he could be persuaded to quit the field, pausing even then for a slanging match with the Dutch supporters and the bench. Once he saw Israël was getting stripped for action though, he decided to get down the tunnel quickly! Neeskens would take no further part in the game, and Michels brought on another defender to see out the last few minutes. Sadly, this would be Israël's last international appearance.

The contest wasn't quite over. Marinho Chagas flicked the ball over the defence, and Jongbloed, hitherto confidence itself, fumbled nervously as he tried to collect the ball. Chagas writhed in agony for a while after the "challenge", but the referee was not impressed. Israël, always keen to make a new friend, found Mirandinha keener on talking to him than he was on playing football: a contemptuous shrug of the Dutchman's broad shoulders was all he got for his efforts at provoking a confrontation. With the game increasingly confused, Brazil had Wilson Piazza warming up for the last few minutes, but it doesn't appear he got on the field, Holland's possession football ensuring the ball didn't go out of play for long intervals. In the dying minutes, Jairzinho even managed to foul the utterly inoffensive Jongbloed, hacking the goalkeeper's ankles as he ambled out to clear another speculative through ball. The crowd, strongly pro-Holland of course, were so incensed after this one they refused to return the ball, even when Cruyff intervened, and another had to be found. At this point, the referee decided to blow the whistle. There were few handshakes as the players trooped off.

This had been an intense, passionate, pivotal game, with, it seemed, the old world order swept away by the new, the favourite team of the previous generation turned sour and being blown away by the exciting champions of my own experience. Or so it seemed at the time.


Dutch players and substitutes celabrate after the final wistle.

Brazil would of course recover in time, to be a brilliant, spectacular and, above all, loved team again, but I could never think of them in quite the same way after this game.

The Final of the '74 World Cup



Final, Sunday 7th July 1974 (16.00):

Holland 1 West Germany 2

Neeskens ('2) [Holland] - Penalty
Breitner ('25) [Germany] - Penalty
Müller ('43) [Germany]

Teams:

================8 Jongbloed===================
20 Suurbier==17 Rijsbergen==2 Haan====12 Krol=======
======6 Jansen==13 Neeskens==3 Van Hanegem======
======16 Rep====14 Cruyff====15 Rensenbrink=======

======17 Hölzenbein==13 Müller===9 Grabowski======
======12 Overath===14 Hoeness===16 Bonhof=======
3 Breitner====5 Beckenbauer===4 Schwarzenbeck===2 Vogts
===================1 Maier=================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes -
10 René van de Kerkhof for 15 Rensenbrink 46 mins
7 De Jong for 17 Rijsbergen 69 mins
Unused Dutch Substitutes -
1 Geels 5 Israël 18 Schrijvers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cautioned - Vogts Van Hanegem Neeskens Cruyff

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Referee - Jack Taylor (England).
Linesmen - Baretto (Uruguay), Gonzalez (Mexico).
Venue - Olympic Stadium, Munich.
Attendance 80,000.


Olympic Stadium, Munich.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Cruijff and Beckenbauer exchange penants.

Germany were the European Champions, their 1972 team being hailed as both successful and innovative in their day, their demolition of England in the Quarter-Finals still recalled in this country as an astonishing exposition of how far Europe had progressed since 1966. Their commitment to the new "total" football was less cavalier than that of the Dutch, the "mobile sweeper", Franz Beckenbauer, playing behind the defence rather than in front, as was generally the case with Haan. Berti Vogts, Georg Schwarzenbeck, Paul Breitner and Beckenbauer made up the defence, with the one and only Sepp Maier in goal. It had taken a couple of false starts in this tournament for their midfield to get settled, but there's no rule against that, and in Wolfgang Overath, Uli Hoeness and Rainer Bonhof, they now surely boasted three of the strongest midfielders in the world. They had the extraordinarily prolific Gerd Müller up front, with Jürgen Grabowski and Bernd Hölzenbein flanking him, although neither could truly be described as out and out strikers. They included in their team no less than six players (Maier, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Breitner, Hoeness and Müller) from the Bayern Munich team which had just won the European Cup, and they were of course playing at home. How could anybody, even Holland, expect to beat them?


The Dutch were a bit surprised when Germany took the field as a Bavarian oompah band.

The Dutch side was the same as it had been for the last four games, in spite of the battering they had taken from Brazil. There had been much doubt as to whether Rensenbrink would play. It was said De Jong would start, giving the side a more defensive look, then it was announced Keizer would get the nod. In fact, Rensenbrink started, though he lasted only the first half, and his replacement (to Keizer's eternal chagrin) was René van de Kerkhof, only the fifteenth player Holland had used in the competition.

The game started late due to the lack of corner flags in the Olympic Stadium, perhaps a most a typical example of poor organisation by the competition organisers, or possibly a crafty piece of gamesmanship from the hosts - either way, it makes a good quiz question thirty years on.


Cruijff goes down for the Dutch penalty.

It has never been forgotten that Holland were a goal up before Germany touched the ball. Cruyff, who, with typical disrespect for convention, was the deepest Dutch player on the field when he received the ball, strolled upfield, accelerated suddenly and dashed into the penalty area.

Although Vogts was pursuing him, trailing in his wake, it was Hoeness who made the desperate challenge - and he needed to, as Cruyff was by now virtually certain to score one of the goals of the competition.

Cruyff duly went flying, and referee Jack Taylor pointed to the spot. Beckenbauer is said to have turned to the referee and said, "You are an Englishman", an undeniably accurate statement but also a cunning piece of spontaneous footballing psychology designed no doubt to increase the pressure on the honest official should, say, Germany have a penalty claim in the near future.

Neeskens was, as ever, deadly from 12 yards, his well-struck penalty more or less central, with Maier diving forlornly to his right.


Neeskens scores from the penalty spot.

Straight after the opening goal, Vogts was spoken to by the referee for a couple of bites at Cruyff in quick succession, and, when he lashed out a third time, Mr Taylor brandished the yellow card. In general, though, critics are in agreement that the Germans, rather than panicking at this turn of events, deserve great credit for the way they stuck to their task, future national coach Vogts in particular putting his early indiscretions behind him and eventually playing Cruyff out of the game.


(left to right) Van Hanegem, Rijsbergen, Müller, Bonhof and Neeskens.

Cruyff, however, has said he (and/or Michels) decided he'd play in a "self-sacrificing" role in this game, presumably meaning he dropped deeper than usual to bring the midfield players into the game. The Dutch have also pointed out that several of their key players, notably sweeper Haan, were less than a hundred percent fit.


Cruijff takes the ball past Vogts.

Without wanting to be too judgmental about the game (it was only a football match, after all!), it seems fair to say that Holland slackened off a bit after going a goal up, surrendering the initiative to the Germans. With Cruyff deep, and the half-fit Rensenbrink a bit off his game, there was no lack of effort, but the incisive runs off the ball were conspicuous by their absence; in previous games, the Dutch players were running onto through passes even before the idea of playing the pass had occurred to the man in possession, but now, everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to make that killer run: at least, that's how I remember it.

Possibly the memories of the 1973 European Cup Final, when Ajax had scored very early and subsequently coasted to an easy 1-0 victory, were a a bit too fresh in certain players' minds. Maybe they just paid the German defenders too much respect.

Holland began to rely on their own defence, in which Rijsbergen, allotted the task of marking Müller, was magnificent, frustrating his distinguished opponent with a series of meaty but well-timed tackles.

As the game got going, Neeskens fouled Bonhof a couple of times, to ensure the temperature started to rise. A solo run from the dangerous Breitner culminated in a shot that sailed well over the bar. Rep created a chance, tapping the ball along the ground to Neeskens, but the massed German defence bundled him off the ball. Haan played a one-two with Van Hanegem, but play was called back for a foul on Schwarzenbeck. Rijsbergen and Müller locked horns on the edge of the penalty area, both turned and twisted and fell over. Who had fouled whom was anybody's guess, but the Dutch defender had clearly got the worst of it. Müller ranted at the referee, who awarded him the free-kick, whereupon Van Hanegem unwisely shoved the German striker in the back, Müller, after a couple of seconds delay, fell to the ground as if he'd been shot, then got up and chased after the linesman, demanding he tell the referee what had transpired. Van Hanegem was duly cautioned, but it was an episode that did Müller little credit, and it all contributed the increasing friction between the sides. But what happened next has been the subject of controversy for a quarter of a century.

History tells us that Hölzenbein cut into the Dutch penalty area, Jansen made contact with him, and the referee gave a penalty to the home side. The Dutch accused Hölzenbein of "looking for" the penalty, of "drawing" the foul from Jansen. Well, Jansen clearly lunged at the ball, clearly missed it, and clearly made contact with the German attacker, a player who, to be polite, was not exactly famous for riding tackles. (Chris Freddi, in The Complete Book of the World Cup, describes Hölzenbein as "a notorious diver in the Bundesliga", but concedes that Jack Taylor could not have been expected to know about this reputation.)


The highlight of Holzenbein's career.

... continued.

But did Jansen intend to commit a foul or was he caught by the wiliness of a shrewd player who seemed to change direction just as the challenge came in? Taylor himself said he thought Jansen wasn't going for the ball, which does stretch credulity a bit, and the initial reaction of other Dutch players, their ire seemingly directed towards their colleague rather than German or referee, is possibly a touch more significant. All I can offer to the debate is that Jansen caught his opponent around the ankle, but the fall was consistent with being taken out at about waist height. With an anti-tank missile. Whichever, this hugely controversial incident took about 2 seconds, and is still shown on television from time to time, so you can make up your own mind!


Holzenbein looks up to see the verdict of the jury ... sorry, referee.

Breitner's penalty was the first goal the opposition had scored against Holland in the competition. Jongbloed's somewhat half-hearted attempts at saving the penalty can perhaps be explained by the fact that Cruyff pointed him to go to his left, and Breitner rather unsportingly sent it the other way.


Breitner's penalty.


A view from behind the other goal.

The Dutch were rattled. Maybe if they could have got to half-time, and Michels could have reorganised a bit, they could have gone on to win, but the Germans seemed to sense that victory could be theirs by the interval, and applied ever more pressure. Vogts, not resting on his defensive laurels, broke through on the left wing, ghosted past Neeskens, and his shot required a one-handed save from Jongbloed. Grabowski crossed from the right to Hölzenbein, and it took an urgent defensive header from Rep to save the day. Overath's deep cross from the left was fumbled by Jongbloed, and had to be hacked clear. Hoeness rounded Haan, and cut into the box, Rijsbergen intercepting. When Grabowski was fouled by Van Hanegem, Beckenbauer's chipped free-kick was punched clear by Jongbloed. At this point, Germany were, in all frankness, well on top. Instead of pressing their early advantage, Holland had allowed the Germans to regroup, and maybe now they were paying for it.


The Dutch wall for Beckenbauer's free kick.

But, against the run of play, Holland found themselves presented with a chance. Rijsbergen broke up yet another German attack, and left the ball to Van Hanegem, whose long pass caught the defence uncharacteristically undermanned. Cruyff and Rep broke through with only Beckenbauer and Maier to beat, Cruyff famously committed Beckenbauer and squared the ball to his striking partner when he might have scored himself, and Rep, infamously, blasted it straight at Maier. The German goalkeeper, though fortunate on that occasion, was virtually unbeatable on this day. In later years, Rep somewhat ungallantly suggested Cruyff only released the ball to him because he shirked a one-to-one confrontation with the Kaiser; and presumably found himself removed from the Cruyff family's Christmas card list.


Rep's legendary miss.

The German domination of the game continued. After a corner, the ball broke back to Hoeness, the corner taker, and, though the linesman flagged, he was overruled by the referee, who was much further from the incident. Mercifully, Jongbloed saved the resultant shot. With tension overflowing, Neeskens fouled Hölzenbein from behind, and was cautioned: the authoritative Mr Taylor was determined to maintain order, and had done well enough up to this point, but by now was struggling to keep the game under control.

The second, decisive goal came just before the break, as Bonhof went away down the right with sweeper Haan, not Krol, in pursuit, and cut the ball back into the box, taking Rijsbergen out of the play. Müller swivelled effortlessly away from the isolated last defender Krol, and poked the ball past Jongbloed, who stood rooted to the spot, even though the ball missed him by about a foot, as if he didn't realise the other team were allowed to shoot at him.


Müller's winning goal.

Should Haan have stopped Bonhof, by fair means or foul, outside the box? Would Krol have done better staying on his feet? Might Jongbloed have saved the shot, had he but dived? Would Schrijvers have saved it? Would Hulshoff have better stood his ground against Müller?

Müller's goal again.

No-one can ever answer these questions, nor, it seems, can anyone explain what Cruyff was grumbling about when he was cautioned for dissent at the half-time whistle. Van Hanegem had kicked the ball towards the referee with just a little more force on it than Mr Taylor had been expecting, and Cruyff felt it necessary to intervene on behalf of a colleague who had already been booked, but seemed to prolong the dialogue unnecessarily. The Dutch had, for a brief few minutes, lost the plot, and it was to cost them the World Cup.


Taylor asking Cruijff his name: 'And how do you spell that, son?'

The second half was as gripping a game as I've ever seen. Germany made chances against an increasingly frantic Dutch defence, but couldn't wrap the game up with a third goal. Holland settled gamely to their task of carving out another gap through the German defence, which had seemed so easy in the first minute, and still looked every minute as if a further breach were imminent, but the scoreline stayed unchanged.


German goalkeeper Maier in action, at the feet of Cruijff.

Maier again, beating Haan in the air.

Substitute René van de Kerkhof generally operated down the left, only occasionally persuading Rep to switch sides, while Cruyff began to add his presence to the attack more regularly. Suurbier hauled Overath down: it looked a bad foul, but the Dutch full-back looked suitably contrite, and escaped a booking. Bonhof found himself criminally unmarked at a corner, the header drifting narrowly wide of the post with Jongbloed rooted to the spot. Cruyff, chasing half a chance, dived in on Maier, and, though he had clearly gone for a loose ball, he was surrounded by protesting German defenders. Hölzenbein found himself through one-on-one with Suurbier, Jongbloed seizing the opportunity to make one of his celebrated charges out of goal to clear the danger. Maier fumbled a Dutch corner, Breitner being forced to head off the line. Van Hanegem got in a dangerous downward header from a Cruyff free-kick, which the grounded Maier was rather fortunate to save as the ball bounced up at him. Grabowski beat Krol down the German right, and zipped the ball to Müller, who found the net only to have play brought back for offside: though the Germans did not protest at the time, slow-motion replays after the game proved beyond any doubt that the linesman was wrong, and this goal should have stood.


The goal that never was.

Van de Kerkhof crossed from the right wing, Cruyff headed back across the goal, and Rep was challenged at the last moment. The Dutch had clearly had a problem with Rijsbergen for some time, and he now finally limped off. His replacement was not Israël, as might have been predicted, but De Jong, with Jansen dropping into the defence. Neeskens intercepted a rare stray pass from Overath, and his low cross forced Beckenbauer into a hurried header, which narrowly missed his own goal. Van de Kerkhof crossed from the left, Rep knocked the ball across the goal, to find Neeskens virtually under the crossbar, but the chance was scrambled clear. Another left wing move from Van de Kerkhof found Neeskens unmarked beyond the far post, but the volley was into the side netting. Van Hanegem won the ball and made a chance for De Jong, who could only shoot disappointingly straight at the grateful Maier. Suurbier crossed from the right, Cruyff knocked the ball down to give Van de Kerkhof a clear sight of goal, which the substitute wasted, screwing his shot horribly wide. A Dutch free-kick was headed out of defence into the path of Haan, who drove over the bar.


De Jong and Neeskens foiled by Maier - but just what is that thing in the crowd behind Overath?


The final whistle blow.

So, at the end of the game, it was Germany who were presented with the new World Cup trophy, and Holland who were left to lick their wounds and contemplate what might have been. But, however it was portrayed at the time, the Germans' win can't be written off as simply a triumph for the old dull, defensive school of football over the new, exciting, attacking style - it was, after all, only two years since their European Championship win that had itself been hailed as a success for the "new" football - nor was it merely what you could call "lucky" - Holland might have won, certainly, but they might have lost other games along the way to the Final, had the dice rolled differently, and, their territorial dominance notwithstanding, they could even have lost this game by more than one goal.

Beckenbauer with World Cup.

There's no rule in football that says the best team has to win, nor that the team who has the greater share of the play, or makes the more chances, or wears the brighter shirts, is bound to score more goals. That's part of the attraction of the game, but sometimes it works for your team, sometimes against it. On this day, my team, the Dutch team, fell foul of this rule, but this fate was far from unprecedented, even in the World Cup: there are many who say the Hungarians suffered a similar fate in 1954, and, to be fair to the Germans, few outside these shores would seriously argue that England had been the best team in the world in 1966.

Helmut Schon and Franz Beckenbauer argue over who gets to put the World Cup on their mantelpiece.

And as for the comparisons between Cruyff and Beckenbauer, you might just as well compare Van Gogh with Beethoven. Cruyff reasserted his deserved reputation as the best team player in the world, while Beckenbauer enhanced his status as a leader. No player ever wins a football match, only a team.

Beckenbauer and Cruijff.



The Dutch line up for their runners-up medals.


In the end, you can't ask more than that.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Final Appearances: Cruyff, Haan, Van Hanegem, Jansen, Jongbloed, Krol, Neeskens, Rep, Rijsbergen, Suurbier - 6 each; Rensenbrink - 5; Keizer - 1.
As Sub: De Jong - 4 ; Israël - 3; René van de Kerkhof - 1.
Goals: Neeskens - 5; Rep - 4; Cruyff - 3; De Jong, Krol, Rensenbrink - 1 each.

World Cup Team 1978


The not-entirely-forgotten Dutch line-up for the final of the 1978 World Cup.
Back: Rep, Jongbloed, Haan, Brandts, Neeskens, Krol;
Front: Jansen, Poortvliet, W. van de Kerkhof, R. van de Kerkhof, Rensenbrink.

Although the 1978 Dutch team started slowly, their challenge picked up momentum as the competition went on, and they ultimately qualified for the Final as memorably, if perhaps not quite as stylishly, as their 1974 predecessors. That the manner of their defeat was equally dramatic, equally tragic and even more controversial meant that the 1978 team earned its place alongside the 1974 vintage in football folklore.

The Dutch of 1978 had no Cruyff, no Van Hanegem, and of course no Rinus Michels, but all the other stars of 1974 were present in some capacity. They had in Ernst Happel a very different coach to Michels, the man who had put Ajax - and Holland - on the football map in the early 1970s. The new coach was a more pragmatic, rather dour figure, who sometimes gave the impression of being swept along with the tide of events rather than in control of them as Michels had been. But the team still had most of the Dutch heroes of 1974, and the early 1970s, reunited under one banner again, for one final tournament together. Somewhat tentatively at first, they set out on the long road to another World Cup Final, and gradually, reinforced along the way by a handful of hungry youngsters, they realised they were still one of the best sides in the world, maybe the best.

Needless to say, they still argued about money, about team selection, and of course about how many stripes there were on the orange shirts. But they entertained the world again for a few weeks one summer long ago, and most of the world wanted them to win the World Cup.

Holland had followed up the 1974 World Cup with an appearance in the Semi-Finals of the European Championship in 1976, although their elimination by Czechoslovakia was not a game which is recalled with affection, two players being sent off by the almost compulsively controversial British referee Clive Thomas.


The 'forgotten' Dutch team of 1976, lining up against Czechoslovakia. Johan Cruyff, Adri van Kraay, Wim Rijsbergen, Wim Suurbier, Willy van de Kerkhof, Rob Rensenbrink, Johnny Rep, Wim Jansen, Piet Schrijvers, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens. Yes, this team lost to Czechoslovakia.


Line-up for the third-place play-off against Yugoslavia, which Holland won 3-2. Krol, Van Kraay, Suurbier, Ruud Geels, Peter Arntz, Willy van de Kerkhof, Jan Peters, Jansen, Rensenbrink, René van de Kerkhof, Schrijvers.

Nevertheless, most of the class of 1974 were still young enough to figure as contenders for international recognition, and they had qualified relatively comfortably for the 1978 World Cup, with a side which, though very changeable, contained a healthy sprinkling of veterans from that illustrious few weeks in Germany.

On the club front, the balance of power within Holland had shifted considerably, with the Feyenoord side of the early 1970s now mostly in retirement and the great Ajax team of 1971-73 scattered to the four winds. Of that side, only Ruud Krol was still at the club, though in Piet Schrijvers and Ruud Geels they had brought in two members of the Dutch 1974 squad. Even the return of Rinus Michels as coach in the 1975-76 season had been unable to arrest the decline. PSV Eindhoven had won the championship for three out of the last four seasons, also the UEFA Cup in 1978 - beating Johnny Rep's Bastia in the Final - and were now the dominant contributors to the international squad, numbering six of the 22 players chosen. Other than an appearance in the UEFA Cup Final by Twente in 1975, PSV's recent triumph had been the only mark made on European club football by the Dutch in recent seasons. And the Barcelona side of Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens had failed to win the Spanish League for four years now, and had made but little impact at the European level since the heady days of 1975.

Further afield, changes were afoot too. Bayern's three-year reign as European champions had been ended in 1977, and Liverpool's two European Cup wins had ushered in an era of domination by the English clubs, although England had again been unable to qualify for the 1978 World Cup. By the late 1970's, just about every club and international team played in a rigid 4-4-2 formation, with few variations on this theme. If the defensive straightjacket which had looked like strangling the game in the late 1960s and early 1970s had been replaced, it had been supplanted not by the "total football" of the German and Dutch teams of the 1972-74 period but by an emphasis on work-rate, on denying the other team space in which to play, and on scrapping for possession in midfield. Not that hard running off the ball hadn't been part of the total football ethos, it was just that the flexibility and unpredictability of this approach had fallen by the wayside in favour of a sterile uniformity which meant that, increasingly, every team played the game the same way and in the same formation. We needed a good World Cup.


Ernst Happel.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the 1978 Holland squad was the man chosen to lead it. Ernst Happel, Austrian born and a World Cup Semi-Finalist for his country in 1954, had been coach of the Feyenoord team which won the European Cup in 1970, the first real breakthrough of Dutch football. Only a few weeks before the 1978 World Cup he had taken Belgian champions Club Brugge to the European Cup Final, in which they had lost 1-0 to Liverpool at Wembley. Though respected the world over, his name did not evoke visions of attacking football in the same way as, say, that of Michels. It was expected that his Holland team would be adapt very different philosophy to the 1974 side, with the emphasis much more on diligent defence than on flamboyant attack.

He took over the Holland side from Jan Zwartkruis, who had led the team during qualification. As in 1974, the new coach was given the job description "Supervisor", and the incumbent allowed to retain the title of "Head Coach". Zwartkruis had famously described Happel as treating his players "like footballers, not like people", and the relationship between the two men was much less symbiotic than, say, between Michels and his predecessor and assistant Fadrhonc in 1974. Happel announced to the world that the Dutch team would play with a five-man midfield, probably inventing "wing-backs" about a decade before the position had a name (though why he felt it necessary to give his tactics away on the eve of the World Cup is a mystery), and had talked expansively about the team needing to rid itself of its "Cruyff complex" (though, again, what he expected to achieve by this pronouncement is anyone's guess).

Quite the least appealing feature of the upcoming World Cup of 1978 was its location. Argentina was, without doubt, a country steeped in football history and passion, and, even if it was to be in winter, it could have been a fine venue for an international competition under most circumstances. But the military dictatorship which had recently seized power in that country were a reprehensible regime. Their excesses are catalogued elsewhere, and have no place on a site dedicated to the game of football: suffice it to say the whole world, including presumably even the upper echelons of FIFA, must have been aware of them. Attempts were made to move the tournament elsewhere (Holland itself was suggested by some), but these did not come to fruition, and Argentina got the World Cup it had long craved at the most inappropriate period in its history.

It was surely obvious that, in the wrong hands, the World Cup or any major international sporting event could quickly be turned into a vehicle for nationalist propaganda (it has been done before, of course), and the dangers inherent in such a staging such an exercise in front of supporters as, shall we say, enthusiastic as the Argentinians scarcely needed pointing out. Yet the football authorities buried their collective heads in the sand, and the scene was set for a World Cup which, although it would be remembered for much good football, would also be one which, in several respects, left a nasty taste in the mouth.

World Cup 1978 Match Reports

Group 4, Saturday 3rd June 1978 (16.45):

Holland 3 Iran 0

Rensenbrink ('40) [Holland] - Penalty
Rensenbrink ('62) [Holland]
Rensenbrink ('78) [Holland]

Teams:

================ 8 Jongbloed ==================
====== 20 Suurbier= 17 Rijsbergen== 5 Krol=============
== 6 Jansen== 13 Neeskens=== 9 Haan== 11 Willy van de Kerkhof
= 10 René van de Kerkhof= 16 Rep== 12 Rensenbrink========

============= 18 Faraki ==== 17 Jahani =============
==6 Nayebagha====9 Sadeghi== 8 Ghassempour===7 Parvin===
==15 Eskandarian==21 Kazerani=20 Abdollahi==== 4 Nazari=====
=================== 1 Hejazi====================

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes -
10 Rowshan for 18 Faraki 51 mins
18 Nanninga for 10 René van de Kerkhof 69 mins
Unused Dutch Substitutes -
1 Schrijvers 2 Poortvliet 4 Van Kraay 14 Boskamp

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cautioned - Eskandarian

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Referee - Alfonso Gonzalez Archunidia (Mexico).
Linesmen - Wurtz (France), Comesa (Argentina).
Venue - Estadio Mendoza, Mendoza.
(Later renamed the Estadio Mundialista Malvinas Argentinas)
Attendance 42,000.


Estadio Mendoza, Mendoza.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 1978 World Cup opened in a blaze of glory in Buenos Aires for Argentina, but in picturesque, provincial Mendoza, far to the west of the capital, within view of the Andes, there must have been an air of anti-climax as Holland found themselves starting their campaign against Iran.

The stadium, built especially for the 1978 World Cup, was impressive enough, but the pitch was far too soft, and the climate in this wine-growing region did not suit the Dutch team at all, the southern hemisphere winter bringing about bright sunlight, sharp shadows and a distinctive drop in temperature when the sun went down.


Dutch line-up against Iran, not the best picture in the world,
sorry, but the shadows don't help.
Krol, Jongbloed, Willy van de Kerkhof, Rijsbergen,
Rep, Suurbier, Jansen, René van de Kerkhof,
Haan, Rensenbrink, Neeskens, plus local mascot.

The Dutch wore a rather unappealing all orange strip for this game, and the subsequent match against Peru, presumably deciding that the traditional black shorts were no longer fashionable, or something.

As it turned out, the unfancied Iranian side battled hard to exploit their few moments of fame on the world stage, and more than once discomfited the ponderous looking Dutch defence, most notably an early break by Hossein Faraki which could easily have given them a shock lead. More often, though, they simply retreated into their half of the field, stuck rigidly to their 4-4-2 defensive formation, and invited Holland to come at them. Although often embarrassed by the Dutch aerial supremacy, they looked quite comfortable defending on the ground.


Rijsbergen spots Johan Cruijff in the crowd.

Shortly before half-time, the Iranians' inexperience showed through when René van de Kerkhof intercepted a loose pass in the centre circle, and cut into the penalty area before being clumsily and unnecessarily tripped by Nasrullah Abdollahi. The injury which Van de Kerkhof sustained in this incident required him to wear a protective lightweight cast on his wrist for the remainder of the competition, with controversial consequences in the Final. Rob Rensenbrink opened the scoring from the penalty spot.


Rensenbrink's first penalty.

The second half saw the Dutch gradually asserting their superiority, in terms of fitness and organisation, as the Iranians settled for damage limitation rather than chase a draw and risk humiliation.

Rensenbrink's second goal, when it duly arrived, was rather a simple affair, meeting René van de Kerkhof's excellent cross from the right with a firm header. The third Dutch goal was another penalty. Rep's run into the Iranian defence from way out was the highlight of the game by some way, and it inevitably ended in his being brought down by a posse of four defenders. Andranik Eskandarian was cautioned for knocking the ball out of the referee's hands, but it did seem one of the easier decisions he had given in what was in most aspects a particularly sporting opening game. Rensenbrink completed his hat-trick from the spot, and the result was beyond dispute.

Iran's route to the Finals had been long and arduous, 14 matches unbeaten in the vast Asia/Oceania section from which only one team qualified in those days of European and South American domination of the world game. They had given a creditable account of themselves on this day, and were to do even better against Scotland next time out, but Holland had never really been in danger of dropping the points.

Group 4, Wednesday 7th June 1978 (16.45):

Holland 0 Peru 0

Teams:

=================== 8 Jongbloed =================
==== 20 Suurbier== 17 Rijsbergen== 5 Krol=== 2 Poortvliet=====
======6 Jansen======= 13 Neeskens== 11 Willy van de Kerkhof=
==== 10 René van de Kerkhof==9 Haan=== 12 Rensenbrink =====

============= 11 Oblitas====19 La Rosa ===============
=======10 Cubillas==8 Cueto===6 Velásquez====7 Muñante====
======5 Diaz===== 4 Cumpitáz== 3 Manzo==== 2 Duarte======
=================== 21 Quiroga====================

-------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes -
16 Rep for 10 René van de Kerkhof 46 mins
20 Sotil for 19 La Rosa 63 mins
18 Nanninga for 13 Neeskens 68 mins
Unused Dutch Substitutes -
1 Schrijvers 4 Van Kraay 14 Boskamp

--------------------------------------------------------
Cautioned - René van de Kerkhof Muñante

--------------------------------------------------------

Referee - Adolf Prokop (East Germany).
Linesmen - Coerezza (Argentina), Ivanov (USSR).
Venue - Estadio Mendoza, Mendoza.
Attendance 30,000.


Estadio Mendoza, Medoza

---------------------------------------------------------

Holland made a key change for the Peru game, basically bringing in the full-back Jan Poortvliet instead of striker Johnny Rep. Poortvliet's inclusion gave the defence a more traditional look, the orthodox "back four" of yesteryear, while Arie Haan, a very successful stopgap defender himself in 1974, moved up from midfield to replace Rep in the attack, which meant the whole team had a shape more akin to the 1974 side, on paper at least. They didn't change their kit, though, all orange it was again.


Line-up against Peru - again, my apologies for the photo.
Krol, Jongbloed, Rijsbergen, Suurbier, Jansen, Poortvliet,
René van de Kerkhof, Willy van de Kerkhof, Haan,
Rensenbrink, Neeskens, and that mascot again.

Peru featured the World Cup's least likely star in goalkeeper Ramón Quiroga, later to go down in history for being cautioned while in the other team's half. Their ageing but talented team had already astonished the world once with their humiliation of Scotland in the opening game, and it must have occurred to both sides that this was a match between the two likely qualifiers from the group.


Quiroga challeged by René van de Kerkhof.

The only shot of note in the first half was a long-range free-kick from Rensenbrink, which was fumbled out for a corner by Quiroga. René van de Kerkhof, on one of his lengthy runs down the right, was crisply decked by left-back Toribio Diaz. Though he did manage another long distance effort, which was saved by Quiroga, Van de Kerkhof was not to reappear for the second period.

Rensenbrink headed another clear-cut chance over the bar in the second half, then had another shot saved by Quiroga after substitute Rep had crossed from the right and Neeskens had headed down to set up the chance. Regretfully, this was to be Neeskens's last contribution to the game, and he was replaced by the increasingly famous Dick Nanninga.


Quiroga and Duarte do the "good samaritan bit", helping Neeskens off the field.

Rensenbrink exchanged passes with Haan, and again was thwarted by Quiroga, then Nanninga challenged for a towering left wing cross, and seemed to get to the ball first, but the Peruvian keeper collapsed in a heap on the ground, and it took a long time for the referee to restart the game. All in all, it seemed like much ado about nothing.


Rob Rensenbrink.


A contest between, say, the Peruvian team of 1970 and Holland of 1974 would have been one to remember, but all reports confirm that this match was indeed a dull stalemate, both sides happy to play out a timid draw, and rely on getting a result in their final respective group games. With Peru facing Iran in their last game, their conservative approach was justifiable if not exactly laudable, but, in Holland's case, with Scotland the third course on their menu, it was to turn out to be rather a short-sighted policy.

Group 4, Sunday 11th June 1978 (16.45):

Holland 2 Scotland 3
Rensenbrink ('34) [Holland] - Penalty
Dalglish ('44) [Scotland]
Gemmill ('47) [Scotland] - Penalty
Gemmill ('68) [Scotland]
Rep ('72) [Holland]

Teams:


=================== 8 Jongbloed =================
==== 20 Suurbier== 17 Rijsbergen== 5 Krol=== 2 Poortvliet=====
======6 Jansen======= 13 Neeskens== 11 Willy van de Kerkhof=
==== 10 René van de Kerkhof==9 Haan=== 12 Rensenbrink =====

=============== 9 Jordan == 8 Dalglish ==============
=10 Hartford ==== 15 Gemmill === 18 Souness ==== 6 Rioch ==
==3 Donachie ==== 14 Forsyth === 4 Buchan ==== 13 Kennedy =
==================== 1 Rough =================

----------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes -
14 Boskamp for 13 Neeskens 10 mins
7 Wildschut for 17 Rijsbergen 44 mins
Unused Substitutes -
1 Schrijvers 18 Nanninga 22 Brandts
-----------------------------------------------------------

Cautioned - Gemmill

-----------------------------------------------------------

Referee - Erich Linemayr (Austria).
Linesmen - Palotai (Hungary), Seoudi (Tunisia).
Venue - Estadio Mendoza, Mendoza.
Attendance 40,000.


Estadio Mendoza, Medoza

-------------------------------------------------------------

In order to qualify for the last eight, Holland faced Scotland needing only to draw, or in fact to avoid losing by three goals unless something bizarre happened when Peru met Iran. Happel, dissatisfied with the performance against Peru, axed Arie Haan, which at least meant a recall for Johnny Rep in an otherwise unchanged line-up. Quite why Holland needed to wear white shirts is another of those questions you'll just have to ask of FIFA - whereas surely one or other team could have helpfully changed their socks?


Line-up against Scotland.
Krol, Jongbloed, Rijsbergen, Suurbier, Jansen,
Rep, Poortvliet, René van de Kerkhof,
Willy van de Kerkhof, Rensenbrink, Neeskens.

Scotland had arrived at the World Cup burdened by the weight of expectation that had gone from naïve confidence, through misplaced optimism, to outright boasting of their chances of winning the tournament itself. The flame of this irrational self-belief had been ignited by the British media and ill-advisedly fuelled by the verbal outpourings of the bombastic manager Ally MacLeod.

Their first two results had been an ignominious defeat at the hands of a decent but hardly brilliant Peru team and a draw against World Cup minnows Iran, and they were thus left with one chance to achieve a measure of respectability before they went home, but precious little prospect of making any actual progress. They had two very effective strikers, Joe Jordan and Kenny Dalglish, and a truly great midfield player, Graeme Souness - Dalglish and Souness had indeed been in the Liverpool team which defeated Happel's Brugge in the European Cup Final a few weeks before. Unfortunately, they also had as coach one of the biggest egos in world football, and MacLeod had irrationally omitted Souness from his starting line-up in the opening games, a mistake he belatedly rectified against Holland.



The situation in Group 4 was that Holland could actually afford to lose this one; they only needed to avoid defeat by three or more goals in order to make progress. Even if Iran had beaten Peru by a sizeable score, they would have qualified at the South Americans' expense rather than Holland's; as long as the Dutch kept their goal difference better than Scotland's a place in the last eight was theirs. But I bet they'd rather have won.

It was always an open, entertaining match - probably the best of the competition thus far - but it started badly for Holland, with Johan Neeskens sustaining a rib injury challenging Gemmill for the ball, and needing to be replaced. The substitute, Johan Boskamp (to whom had fallen the questionable honour of wearing "Cruyff's" number 14 shirt), was a fine passer of the ball, but by no means as busy a midfielder as Neeskens, and he would not look back on this game as the highlight of his career.


John Boskamp, Hollands other No. 14 of the 1970's.

Against a side who clearly were bent on doing some damage before they went home, the Dutch lost much of their rhythm from here on. Scotland, organised by Graeme Souness in the midfield, made the most of their good fortune, and soon realised they had caught the Dutch on a less than inspired day, Kenny Dalglish having a goal disallowed as the alarm-bells started ringing in the Holland defence.


Rep is on hand as Forsyth disputes a header with Rensenbrink.

After a challenge by Joe Jordan left Rijsbergen hobbling badly, it might have seemed the tide was running Scotland's way, but the alert Willy van de Kerkhof took the ball off the dithering Stuart Kennedy and fed Rep who set off at pace into the penalty area, to be inevitably brought down by Kennedy and goalkeeper Alan Rough. Scotland players claimed the tackle was a fair one, Gemmill earning the yellow card for prolonging his protests, but the referee was adamant, and Rensenbrink hit the one thousandth goal in World Cup history from the penalty spot.

The Dutch, however, clearly had a problem with Rijsbergen, and their defence was creaking visibly. Happel, having already used one substitute (only two were allowed in those days, of course), and with several other players carrying injuries, wanted to hold out to half-time and take stock.

But the Scots equalised just before the break, Souness's deep cross from the left was headed back across goal by Jordan - for once not offside, presumably due to the Dutch defence not trusting Rijsbergen to get out fast enough - and Dalglish just got to the ball in front of Jongbloed. Straightaway, Piet Wildschut came on for the injured defender, but the damage had been done.


Dalgish beats Jongbloed.

Wildschut took up a berth on the left of the midfield, with Holland now playing three at the back again, but they were clearly going to struggle to get any sort of result.

Scotland struck again when Dalglish headed down a cross towards Souness, and the midfielder crashed to earth amid a forest of outstretched Dutch legs, with Krol looking suspiciously culpable. Archie Gemmill put the Scots in front from the penalty spot, and 20 minutes later the same player, as every schoolboy knows, was responsible for putting his team in dreamland with one of the World Cup's most famous goals of all time.


Willy van de Kerkhof and Asa Hartford.

... continued.

Intercepting the ball when Dalglish had been tackled, the irrepressible Gemmill took the ball past Jansen, then Krol (still on the deck having made the original tackle on Dalglish), and finally a despairing lunge by Poortvliet, before coolly lofting the ball over the advancing Jongbloed. The goal is replayed on British television just about every time Scotland play a match, and of course whenever the film "Trainspotting" is shown. Which is quite a lot.


Gemmill goes past Krol ...


... round Poortvliet ...


... then beats, er, Dalglish ...


... cuts into the box and shoots ...


... Jongbloed pretends he's dead ...


... and the rest is history

But, great goal though it was, it was surely too little too late for Scotland.

All of two minutes elapsed before the Dutch struck back, as Rep exchanged passes with Krol in his own half and ran at the retreating Scots defence before unleashing a drive from immense range which found goalkeeper Rough strangely out of position.


Celebrations after Rep's goal.

The first of a series of classic long-range Holland goals in this World Cup, Rep's effort effectively sealed qualification for the Dutch, and brave Scotland were forced to settle for their one day of glory.


Dalgish attacks Jansen and Poortvliet while Rep gives some advice about where the ball should end up.

There was still time for a late challenge on Suurbier to reduce the Dutch full-back to passenger status for the rest of the game, and just about end his World Cup. Scotland were most unlikely to get the five goals they now needed, but went out tackling strongly, leaving more than one Dutchman battered and bruised for the second phase of the tournament. A bit of this aggression against Peru and Iran might have seen Scotland through to the next round, but now it just seemed like petulance.

The Scots went home, to find they had earned a place in football folklore for what could never be called the right reasons, while Holland, with their pride perhaps wounded more than somewhat, found themselves in the last eight, though Peru's win against Iran gave them first place in the group.

Group A, Wednesday 14th June 1978 (13.45):

Holland 5 Austria 1

Brandt ('6) [Holland]
Rensenbrink ('35) [Holland] - Penalty
Rep ('36) [Holland]
Rep ('53) [Holland]
Obermayer ('70) [Austria]
Willy van de Kerkhof ('82) [Holland]

Teams:

================ 1 Schrijvers =================
======== 22 Brandts === 5 Krol== 2 Poortvliet==========
===== 6 Jansen ===== 9 Haan== 7 Wildschut== 11 Willy van de Kerkhof
== 10 René van de Kerkhof ==16 Rep=== 12 Rensenbrink ======

=============== 10 Kreuz === 9 Krankl ===============
======11 Jara ==== 8 Prohaska == 12 Krieger == 7 Hickersberger==
====4 Breitenberger == 3 Obermayer == 5 Pezzey == 2 Sara =====
===================== 1 Koncilia===================

-------------------------------------------------------

Substitutes -
3 Schoenaker for 10 René van de Kerkhof 61 mins
4 Van Kraay for 22 Brandts 65 mins
Unused Substitutes -
14 Boskamp 18 Nanninga 19 Doesburg
13 Happich 15 Weber 18 Schachner 20 Baumeister 21 Fuchsbichler

-------------------------------------------------------

Referee - John Gordon (Scotland).
Linesmen - Bouzo (Syria), Itharrulde (Argentina).
Venue - Estadio Cordoba, Cordoba.
Attendance 15,000.



Estadio Cordoba, Cordoba.

---------------------------------------------------------

The second phase of the World Cup found Holland in a very tricky group with West Germany and Italy - the penalty for finishing second in their first round group of course. As in 1974, only the winners of the group would progress. It was thus of paramount importance that Holland not only beat Austria, surely destined to be the group's makeweights, but beat them handsomely, with goal difference again likely to be the deciding factor. The change of venue, to damp, cool Cordoba, suited the Dutch perfectly, as did the much firmer playing surface. Unusually for the times, Austria's Willi Kreuz and Holland's Wim Jansen were Feyenoord team-mates.

Happel's team selection, against the land of his birth, was to a large extent dictated by injuries suffered during the first phase. Neeskens and Suurbier were out for at least this match, and Rijsbergen was unlikely to play again in the competition, so Haan was restored to the team, and PSV central defender Ernie Brandts was called up, along with Piet Wildschut from Twente Enschede in midfield.


Line-up against Austria, a decent picture at last!
Krol, Brandts, Poortvliet, René van de Kerkhof, Jansen,
Willy van de Kerkhof, Wildschut, Haan, Rep,
Rensenbrink, Schrijvers.

It was thus with a few decidedly inexperienced players that Holland faced the second phase of the competition: this was only Brandts's second cap, and Poortvliet had been making his second appearance against Peru, as had substitutes Wildschut and Boskamp against Scotland. Yet it was perhaps this infusion of youth that made all the difference to Holland's performances, as the experienced and proven but possibly a touch predictable band of survivors from 1974 were now reinforced by a trio of harder running players who had much to prove at this level.


Wildschut, probably not taken during this game.

The controversial Dutch coach did make one unforced change, a move little short of sacrilege in the eyes of fans of the 1974 team: the goalkeeper Jongbloed was axed in favour of Schrijvers. The oldest player in the 1978 World Cup, it's hard to see how Jongbloed could specifically be blamed for any of the goals the side had conceded, but the team was now playing a very different style to the 1974 side, and, it would appear, a more orthodox goalkeeper was deemed necessary. Legend has it Happel was none too diplomatic in his communicating this decision to Jongbloed, and stories abound that Jongbloed's wife had to be restrained from going to see the coach to explain to him the error of his ways. It's also been alleged that Zwartkruis, not Happel, was the instigator of this change, accusing his superior of relying too heavily on players with reputations. Whichever, the fact that Pim Doesburg was named as substitute goalkeeper in front of the man in the No 8 jersey could be taken as clear evidence of a rift in the camp.

A free-kick just outside the Austrian penalty area led to the first goal, as superb movement off the ball by the Dutch forwards led to Brandts heading home unopposed from close range.

Some might call this good luck, others good management, but Brandts's influence on the team at both ends of the field was to be an increasingly decisive factor in this game and on the Dutch challenge for the World Cup overall - this in spite of the fact that he had played for PSV for just one season.


Poortvliet and Brandts in defensive action against Austria's Kreuz.

Holland doubled their lead from the penalty spot when Jansen, presented by a hesitant defence with two chances to cross the ball, was unceremoniously upended by the midfield playmaker Herbert Prohaska, and Rensenbrink scored his fourth spot-kick of the tournament. Almost immediately from the restart, Rensenbrink picked up Schrijvers's throw-out and went marauding down the left. His cross found a criminally unmarked Rep, who had time to mis-control the ball once before lobbing it over the onrushing goalkeeper Fritz Koncilia.

Holland's ill-fortune with injuries continued to haunt them. René van de Kerkhof had to be substituted, in favour of another debutant, the Ajax midfielder Dick Schoenaker, while Brandts was forced to give way to Adri van Kraay, the last remaining defender in the squad.

Nevertheless, the rout continued. Rensenbrink carved the Austrian defence open through the middle, was belatedly forced out wide, but had plenty of time to steer the ball into the path of Rep, who scored unopposed.


Wildschut again.

The gallant Austrians tried to keep the game alive as a contest, and a cross from the right into the Dutch box was played on by the defender Erich Obermayer. Schrijvers's awkward attempts at an interception only led to him flattening the Austrian: the referee would certainly have awarded a penalty had the ball not bounced into the net. This was a far worse error than any made by Jongbloed in the Scotland match, but Schrijvers had made a few decent saves today, and anyway Holland now seemed to require a "shot-stopper" more than a counter-attacking goalkeeper in the Jongbloed mould. Schrijvers, though somewhat unathletic of build, had been a great keeper in his own right for many years, and was now firmly installed as the coach's choice, even if he did commit the odd indiscretion.

Holland, with the importance of goal difference clearly understood, wouldn't allow Austria off the hook at 4-1. Rensenbrink, completely beyond the control of the Austrian defence, set off down the left wing, leaving a trail of defenders in his wake.


Willy van de Kerkhof's goal...

When he squared the ball along the ground into the danger area, both the Van de Kerkhofs were unattended in goalscoring positions. Willy was the nearer, so to him fell the honour of completing the scoring.


... And the celabration.

This win finally made people set up and take notice of the Dutch challenge for the 1978 World Cup. Their performance in the opening round having been undistinguished, they were now compelled to play at a higher level in order to have a chance of further progress. That they had raised their game to the standard required at exactly the right moment was a great credit to the team and their coach; that they appeared to have done so almost by accident was by no means the least appealing feature of this remarkable team.

Group A, Sunday 18th June 1978 (16.45):

Holland 2 West Germany 2

Abramczik ('3) [West Germany]
Haan ('27) [Holland]
Dieter Müller ('70) [West Germany]
René van de Kerkhof ('84) [Holland]

Teams:

================= 1 Schrijvers ===================
======== 22 Brandts === 5 Krol== 2 Poortvliet===========
===== 6 Jansen ===== 9 Haan== 7 Wildschut== 11 Willy van de Kerkhof
== 10 René van de Kerkhof ==16 Rep=== 12 Rensenbrink ======

=================== 14 Dieter Müller ===================
= 11 Rummenigge = 15 Beer == 17 Hölzenbein == 6 Bonhof 7 = Abramczik=
====== 5 Kaltz ==== 3 Dietz === 4 Rüssman === 2 Vogts =======
======================= 1 Maier ===================

-------------------------------------------------------
Substitutes -
18 Nanninga for 7 Wildschut 80 mins
Unused Substitutes -
3 Schoenaker 4 Van Kraay 8 Jongbloed 21 Lubse
(TV caption listed Lubse, KNVB site says Boskamp)
12 Schwarzenbeck 16 Cullmann 19 Worn 20 Hans Müller 21 Kargus

-------------------------------------------------------
Cautioned - Willy van de Kerkhof Nanninga
Sent Off - Nanninga
-------------------------------------------------------
Referee - Ramon Baretto (Uruguay).
Linesmen - Coelho (Brazil), Comesa (Argentina).
Venue - Estadio Cordoba, Cordoba.
Attendance 46,000.


Estadio Cordoba, Cordoba.
-------------------------------------------------------

The Germans of 1978 were a dour lot, very defensive and cynical in their outlook, a far cry from the 1972 European Championship team, or even the pragmatic but cultured 1974 World Cup winners. They had no Beckenbauer and no Müller (well, not Gerd anyway). In 1978, with veteran coach Helmut Schön about to retire, the team had an aura of negativity to it, playing with five in midfield and essentially only one forward against the Dutch, a formation considered outlandish in 1978. Germany fielded four survivors from that day in 1974 (Sepp Maier, Berti Vogts, Rainer Bonhof and Bernd Hölzenbein), Holland six (and three more were out injured, plus Jongbloed on the bench) - even the referee had been a linesman in Munich - so inevitably there was a whiff of nostalgia in the air.


Line-up against West Germany.
Schrijvers, Rensenbrink, Haan, Wildschut, Rep, Willy van de Kerkhof,
René van de Kerkhof, Jansen, Poortvliet, Brandts, Krol.

And history did repeat itself, with an early goal, but this time for the Germans. Hölzenbein won a free-kick just outside the penalty area, Bonhof blasted it round the wall at Schrijvers, but the goalkeeper could only parry the shot, Rüdi Abramczik following up to head home easily. A couple of minutes later, Willy van de Kerkhof was cautioned for a foul on Abramczik which could hardly be described as coincidental, and the game was well on the way to the usual mixture of brutality and amateur dramatics. The Dutch had started indifferently, but gradually began to assert themselves in the crowded midfield, and equalised in glorious fashion with an unforgettable goal from Arie Haan.

Sepp Maier in the German goal, unbeaten for a World Cup record span of over seven and a half hours (four games in this tournament plus 88 minutes in the 1974 Final, as he kept reminding everybody), hardly moved as Haan's 35-yard shot screamed past him.


Haan recieves the congratulations
after that goal.

The second half was, if anything, more spiteful that the Final itself had been in 1974, the territorial supremacy mainly with Holland, but they perhaps realised a draw would suit them more than the Germans, and didn't press home the advantage. They were truly stunned when, with 20 minutes left, Germany took a hugely undeserved lead.


Jansen in action against the Germans.

Again, a free-kick was the source of the problem, awarded for a theatrical crash to earth by Abramczik and taken quickly while the unimpressed Dutch defenders were debating the point with the referee. Erich Beer, free on the left, crossed accurately for the unmarked Dieter Müller to make his only contribution to the game, heading the ball wide of Schrijvers.


Dieter Müller takes on Krol and Brandts.

The game ebbed and flowed, the contest fascinating if not technically brilliant. Rep took on the German defence on his own, and rattled the crossbar, then Schrijvers saved instinctively one-handed from Beer. Holland brought on Dick Nanninga, making four forwards for the last ten minutes, and instantly the German defence began to panic. Although the new threat was meant to be in the air, the equaliser arrived with astute interpassing along the ground. Poortvliet threaded the ball through to René van de Kerkhof, who effortlessly swept past the isolated Bernard Dietz and steered the ball round the bewildered Maier, and the rather more athletic dive of sweeper (and pretend goalkeeper) Rolf Rüssman.

The game ended in farce and confusion, as Nanninga was dismissed five minutes after coming on as substitute. He and Hölzenbein had crossed paths as the Dutch took a free-kick, the German ending up prostrate on the floor. Slow-motion replays have proved little about the incident, but it would not exactly have been the first time a German had gone down as if his life were threatened when there had been no contact, nor would it have been entirely unprecedented for a Dutch player to take a swipe at one of the opposition when he thought the referee's back was turned. The linesman, however, drew the referee's attention to the matter, and Nanninga was shown the yellow card. It then appears one of the Dutch players said something to the Spanish-speaking referee in English, the international language of dissent on the football field. The official identified Nanninga as the culprit (wrongly, it's alleged), and pulled out the red card. Confusion reigned as, suddenly, inexplicably, nobody seemed able to understand a word anyone else on the field was saying any more. It took fully five minutes for the incident to be resolved, and the bewildered Nanninga despatched to the touchline. It was a fitting to end an acrimonious and, at times, anarchic contest.

With Italy defeating Austria by just the one goal, this result meant Holland only needed to draw with Italy in the last game of the Group to ensure reaching the Final, unless the Germans beat Austria by a large score: a win would see Holland through come what may. Maybe this result was not complete revenge for the travesty of 1974 (they'd have to wait another ten years for that), but there could be no doubt that the draw was far more welcome for Holland than for Germany. As it turned, out Germany went down feebly to Austria in their last game anyway, a dismal, anti-climactic end to the career of their ever competitive but never ungentlemanly coach Helmut Schön.

Group A, Wednesday 21st June 1978 (13.45):

Holland 2 Italy 1

Brandts ('19 o.g.) [Holland]
Brandts ('49) [Holland]
Haan ('74) [Holland]

Teams:

====================== 1 Schrijvers =======================
=========== 22 Brandts === 5 Krol== 2 Poortvliet===========
===== 6 Jansen ===== 9 Haan== 13 Neeskens == 11 Willy van de Kerkhof == 10 René van de Kerkhof ==16 Rep=== 12 Rensenbrink ======

================== 18 Bettega == 21 Rossi =================
=== 15 Zaccarelli = 10 Benetti = 14 Tardelli == 16 Causio =
======= 3 Cabrini == 8 Scirea == 4 Cuccureddu = 5 Gentile =
========================== 1 Zoff =========================

-------------------------------------------------------
Substitutes -
8 Jongbloed for 1 Schrijvers 21 mins
17 Claudio Sala for 16 Causio 46 mins
4 Van Kraay for 16 Rep 65 mins
19 Graziani for 18 Bettega 79 mins
Unused Substitutes -
7 Wildschut 14 Boskamp 21 Lubse
6 Maldera 9 Antognioni 12 Conti

-------------------------------------------------------
Cautioned - Rep, Benetti, Haan, Tardelli, Cabrini
-------------------------------------------------------
Referee - Angel Martinez (Spain).
Linesmen - Orazco (Peru), Pestarino (Argentina).
Venue - Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires.
Attendance 68,000.


Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires.
-------------------------------------------------------



Between Holland and a second successive World Cup Final now stood an Italy team generally regarded as among the strongest sides in the competition. They had already beaten Argentina in a first round game, and, if not the greatest Italian team ever to grace a World Cup competition, were certainly a long way from the worst. Strong in defence, as ever, well-organised in midfield, and blessed with a couple of incisive strikers, they would have made worthy enough champions themselves. The inclusion of Antonello Cuccureddu as deputy for the injured defender Mauro Bellugi meant that they included no less than nine players from the Juventus team which had beaten Ajax on penalties in the European Cup Quarter-Final just over three months ago, Renato Zaccarelli and Paulo Rossi being the interlopers. Krol and Schrijvers had been on the losing side in that encounter, and Happel's FC Brugge had beaten Juve in the subsequent Semi-Final. Of the Italy team on duty today, no less than six (Dino Zoff, Claudio Gentile, Gaetano Scirea, Antonio Cabrini, Marco Tardelli and of course Rossi) would take part in the 1982 Final win in Spain against West Germany, and Zoff, whose path had first crossed with some of these Dutchmen in the 1973 European Cup Final, was of course to be the coach of the Italian team which ended Holland's hopes at Euro 2000.


Line-up against Italy.
Back: Rep, Schrijvers, Brandts, René van de Kerkhof, Neeskens, Krol.
Front: Jansen, Willy van de Kerkhof, Poortvliet, Rensenbrink, Haan.

For Holland, Neeskens took up his post in midfield, though playing much deeper than he usually did, with the excellent Wildschut somewhat unluckily the one to make way, dropping down to substitute. Holland's first choice team? Maybe the absent defenders Suurbier and Rijsbergen were still missed, although many would say the youngsters, Brandts and Poortvliet, were performing well enough to stay in the team anyway. For the former, in particular, this was to be a day to remember. The action now shifted to the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires, which would also be the venue for the Final. Holland wore white again, and, again, it's hard to explain why.

-------------------------------------------------------
Group A Table (after 2 games).

CODE

                P    W    D    L    F    A   Pts.  
Holland        2    1    1    0    7    3    3  
Italy          2    1    1    0    1    0    3  
West Germany   2    0    2    0    2    2    2
Austria        2    0    0    2    1    6    0

-------------------------------------------------------

Whichever team won would qualify for the Final. A draw would favour Holland - except if West Germany beat Austria by four goals or more. Score flashes from Cordoba soon confirmed this scenario to be unlikely.

The game was everything you'd expect from what was effectively a Semi-Final. Italy, much criticised for their cautious approach to their previous games in the Group, knew they needed to win this one, and attacked for all they were worth. Though the game was physical right from the start, there was much good football to admire from both teams. It was a game which would not have been out of place in the 1990s, with very little use of the width of the pitch, and space in midfield at a premium, as both teams worked hard to deny the other side room to play. It was also a contest in which the pendulum of fortune swung dramatically over the course of the 90 minutes.


Benetti causing problems for Holland.

Italy held the early advantage, playing by far the more positive football, and much more disciplined in their defensive duties. For half an hour or so, Holland were, almost uniquely, overwhelmed in midfield, and could have changed ends two or three goals down. Rossi headed a corner over from close range, Cabrini blasted a shot over the bar, and Franco Causio was sent clear from a throw-in, forcing Schrijvers to come off his line and intercept. Holland struggled to make any headway against tight marking, Rep in particular being forcefully policed by Gentile, and, when Rensenbrink briefly lost his marker to head over the bar, it was little more than a token protest. Brandts's back-pass to Schrijvers required more urgent action from the Dutch goalkeeper, then Romeo Benetti put Causio through to miss an open goal.


Neeskens closing in on Scirea.

At last, inevitably, Italy took the lead - in unexpected fashion. A swift one-two found Roberto Bettega free beyond the square Dutch back line, and it seemed the veteran striker must score, or at least get a shot in on target. But Ernie Brandts set off in pursuit of what seemed a lost cause, and, when Bettega struggled to get the ball under control with his first touch, swept past him and propelled the ball into the Dutch net.


Brandts (on ground) beats Bettega to the ball but puts it past Schrijvers.

He also followed through on Piet Schrijvers, who had been advancing on the Italian forward more in hope than in expectation of making a save, and Brandts's challenge managed to damage the goalkeeper's knee so severely he had to be stretchered off. Jan Jongbloed, however, appeared to have made his peace with Happel (or perhaps the coach had fallen out with Doesburg!), and was back on the bench as substitute goalkeeper, and so, after a brief struggle to find his No 8 jersey, the man who, in the author's opinion, iconised the spirit of this Dutch team came off the bench to deal with the crisis.


Haan attempts first aid on Schrijvers while Brandts contemplates how much money Jongbloed owes him.

... continued.

Immediately, Italy moved in for the kill. Jongbloed saved from Rossi, as a strangely tentative Krol misjudged a header, and a fierce shot from Benetti following a corner brought an inspired save out of the stand-in goalie. At this point, Holland began to assert themselves a bit more in midfield, using the wide areas to rather better effect, and gradually began to gain a foothold in the game. A slick move between Rep and Rensenbrink was foiled by a very marginal offside decision, and from this point the Italians appeared to decide to sit on their precarious lead.


Krol and Jongbloed discuss tactics. 'All-out attack seems a good idea to me, Ruud.'

By half-time, the Dutch were giving as good as they got, in football terms and physically. Haan's foul on Zaccarelli, following a free exchange of hacking by both teams, was worthy of more than the verbal admonishment he received, then the frustrated Rep was cautioned for a high challenge on Benetti. The Italian midfielder was himself booked for fouling Rensenbrink, his second yellow card of the tournament, meaning he would miss the Final if Italy qualified, and probably the true turning point of the game. Looking back from the twenty-first century, an age of mandatory cautions and automatic bans, it doesn't seem at all unusual for a player to be suspended for an important Final, but in 1978 it was just about unprecedented, and Italy in general, and Benetti in particular, seemed quite unable to deal with it. It's no exaggeration to say that the loss of concentration this caused was a major factor in Italy's demise.

Holland, diligent and resourceful as ever, had dug themselves out of a hole, but still they needed a goal.


Brandts in action against Italy.

For the second half, Italy replaced the menacing Causio with Claudio Sala, a far more defensive player than the Juve right-winger. The Dutch for their part pushed Neeskens further forward, and the change in the pattern of play was almost instantaneous, a powerful header from the Barcelona midfielder at a Krol free-kick bringing a great save out of Zoff. Italy, confident of their ability to close the game down, had surrendered the initiative, a mistake that was to cost them dearly. Soon after the break, the vital goal arrived, and again the name of the scorer was a surprise. There was an exchange of headers just outside the Italian penalty area, Gentile and Rep went up for a challenge, and the ball dropped to Brandts. The central defender let fly (without even looking where the goals were, as the Italians ruefully complained) and the ball flew into the net, taking Brandts into Dutch football folklore with it.


Haan in action for Holland.

As the game became stretched, the tackles became nastier and tempers frayed. The Dutch, as ever, were far from blameless. Haan was booked for a foul on Tardelli, then Rossi had the ball in the net as Bettega headed a cross his way, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Indeed, the Dutch, now with the scoreline they needed, started to rely heavily on this offside weapon, and the efforts of the Italian strikers became more and more sporadic. Still they had their moments, though, Krol's superb tackle on Rossi saving one situation, but their composure had all but deserted them. Cabrini was booked for a gratuitous bite at Haan's ankles with the ball long gone, a foul which could well have produced the red card. The Dutch replaced the lukewarm Rep with Adri van Kraay, who adopted a holding position in what was now a five-man midfield, adding further to the Italians' frustrations. When Benetti elbowed Neeskens in the throat, the referee took no action, but Tardelli's two agricultural swings at Poortvliet in quick succession were more than he could tolerate, and another Italian would miss the Final.


Rossi being tackled by (I think) Neeskens - where's the ball though?!

Italy grew more frantic in attack, and less thorough in their defensive marking duties. With 15 minutes left, Gentile fouled Rensenbrink off the ball. Krol took the free-kick quickly to Haan, who advanced up the inside-left channel and let fly from his customary 25 yards. The ball whizzed past Zoff, who, like Maier before him, could do nothing but gape. Italy brought on Francesco Graziani for Benetti, but the contest was now beyond them. Rather than sit back and defend, Holland took the latter minutes of the game at a canter against a now dispirited Italy team. Zoff was called into action again, as Haan and Neeskens created a chance for full-back Poortvliet, a throwback to the days of total football that would have pleased Michels. The Italian goalkeeper was required to make another save when Rensenbrink burst between two defenders who were leaving a cross to each other.


Haan challenged by Rossi, again hard to tell where the ball was.

The game was ending, in marked contract to the way it had begun, with Holland totally on top, stern in defence, closing the game down in a manner the Italians would have appreciated, and with an efficiency the 1974 team could not have matched. Italy, with nothing more to lose, had attacked passionately enough, but, once the equaliser had gone in, they couldn't make another dent, and Holland were through to another World Cup Final. They had, frankly, struggled at first, and the manner of their passage through the first round had been unspectacular, to say the least, but the performances in the second phase had been exhilarating. Once again, as they went into a World Cup Final, they had the world behind them.

-------------------------------------------------------

Group A Table.

CODE

                P    W    D    L    F    A   Pts.  
Holland        3    2    1    0    9    4    5  
Italy          3    1    1    1    2    2    3  
West Germany   3    0    2    1    4    5    2
Austria        3    1    0    2    4    8    2

Holland qualify for Final v Argentina; Italy for Third-Place Play-Off v Brazil.

... continued.

The game started as it was to go on, amid controversy and poor sportsmanship. With the crowd in the "Monumental", as the River Plate stadium was nicknamed, whipped up to a crescendo, the Dutch slouched onto the field, casually and in ragged formation, as was their wont. Fully five minutes later, no doubt in a planned move, the Argentinians strode on, to a deafening reception, and into the hall of football infamy


Referee Gonella challenges René van
de Kerkhof for an arm-wrestling contest

The well-orchestrated protests about the plaster protecting the broken bone in René van de Kerkhof's wrist were a crude and cynical attempt at gamesmanship. That the referee entertained such complaints was weak enough, that he upheld them ludicrous: the injury dated back to the penalty René had won against Iran, and he'd worn the plaster in every game since then, without objection. Surely any legitimate concerns should have been voiced to FIFA before the game?


René in that plaster cast

The kick-off was further delayed while the Dutchman put another bandage over the first one, a move of no benefit to other players' safety, but the damage had been done to the Dutch team's collective concentration - at one point, it had looked as if they were about to walk off!

Regrettably, this insipid piece of refereeing set the scene for what was to follow. The Italian referee was, frankly, dreadful, and the linesmen, both international referees of considerable reputation, were, as linesmen, almost unbelievably bad, and, sad to say, it appeared all the bad decisions went Argentina's way.


René van de Kerkhof offers to shake hands
with Daniel Passarella

When the game started, it was brutal beyond expectation. Poortvliet clattered in on Daniel Bertoni, then Haan fouled Ardiles, and Américo Gallego squared up to Neeskens in the fracas which followed. The Dutch were angry, and didn't trouble to disguise it, the Argentinians, as ever, more than ready for any physical confrontation, with the hysterical crowd on their side and the referee utterly unable to exert authority.

When people complain about FIFA's periodic clampdowns on discipline in the 1980s and 1990s, the mandatory yellow cards and lack of "discretion" allowed to individual referees, just ask them to watch a video of this game, if game it can be called. Had it been played according to, say, 1998 rules, it would probably have ended up as a five-a-side match.


Neeskens discussing merits of
tackle from behind with a Argentina
defender


Haan en René van de Kerkhof
against Passarella

In those days where the tackle from behind was not so much tolerated as almost compulsory, football was still far from being a true world game. The Dutch, in common with most of the northern Europeans, regarded a two-footed challenge as fair as long as the ball was somewhere in view; the Argentinians, like all South Americans, saw it as a crime. Yet the cynical, off-the-ball tripping and elbowing so popular among the Latin nations at the time were anathema to the Dutch, and the diving, which had consistently infuriated Argentina's opponents throughout the competition, would have been pitiful had it not proved so effective at winning free-kicks from a succession of supposedly experienced referees who should surely have been less impressionable. Neither hemisphere really understood the other's footballing mindset, and the efforts FIFA have since made to standardise the interpretation of the rules worldwide can perhaps be fully appreciated only in the context of culture clashes like the World Cup Final of 1978.


Kempes (and Jongbloed) can't quite master
the new Dutch Silly Walk as patented by
Suurbier and Krol


Neeskens and Tarantini

End of Part One...

Part Two 1978 World Cup Final:

The Dutch had much the better of the dour early stages, Rep heading past the post when an early goal might have set the game up for a very different storyline. Although Passarella got on the end of a dangerous cross, the Dutch defence looked as if they weren't unduly troubled. Jansen's cross from the right was terribly misjudged by the Argentinian defenders, presenting Rep with another gilt-edged opportunity, but Ubaldo Fillol, one of the least celebrated of the home side's players, rose to the occasion and saved splendidly.


Neeskens shares a waltz with Rensenbrink


Neeskens and Luis Galván in action

The Argentinians steadied themselves, and gradually came back into the game. Bertoni broke the Dutch offside trap (well, the linesman said he did!), but missed the target badly, and Passarella had a good header scrambled clear by the alert Jongbloed.

The Argentinians took the lead in the last few minutes of the first period. From one of many disputed throw-ins awarded to the hosts, Ardiles, using his low centre of gravity to keep control of the ball in the jungle of midfield, started the move, evaded two tackles, and fed Luque. The moustachioed striker cut the ball inside to Kempes, who took it deftly in his stride and ran the ball past Jongbloed.



Kempes's opening goal


Another view of Kempes's first goal

Ardiles was cautioned shortly after, for an incident involving an attempted mugging of René van de Kerkhof. That the diminutive, dignified midfielder was the first Argentinian name in the referee's notebook was ridiculous: his part in the affair was negligible, and throughout his conduct was uniquely sportsmanlike. Yet straight away a blatant hand-ball by Luis Galván went unpunished, further evidence of the referee's inadequacy.


Kempes and Haan in a rare moment of good humour

As the half ended, Passarella (again!) got himself unmarked at a free-kick to cause more consternation in the Dutch defence, then Neeskens headed Willy van de Kerkhof's cross down to Rensenbrink, only for Fillol to save again, this time with his feet. The scoreline apart, it was, as they say, anyone's game.


Krol misses a tackle on Luque

René van de Kerkhof laid the ball back into Haan's path, but the shot was deflected wide. Haan also saved the Dutch at the other end, when Argentina took a quick free-kick while - not for the first time - the rest of the orange-shirted players were arguing with the referee. Another long shot, by Haan again, was well saved by Fillol. Bertoni broke through, and squared the ball to the unmarked Luque, but Jongbloed did just enough to put him off.


Neeskens attempt to tackle Ardiles while
running away from him

Happel played his final cards, bringing on Nanninga for Rep and Suurbier for the flagging Jansen. Having tried the slick interpassing way of getting through the Argentinian defence, the Dutch were now adopting a strategy of power in the air and raw brute force, as central defender Brandts was also pushed right forward, the experienced Suurbier filling in the gap in the defence. Argentina in turn brought on Omar Larrosa for the half-fit Ardiles, and Houseman for the hard-running but somewhat ineffective left-winger Oscar Ortiz.


Fillol catches under pressure

The quality of the game did not improve. Another awful foul by Passarella was ignored by the referee, then Willy van de Kerkhof illegally held back Kempes, who had surely been offside anyway. Even by the standards of this game, the foul on Neeskens just outside the box by Galván was shocking; still no action was taken. And the free-kick was wasted. Alberto Tarantini hauled Neeskens down, Nanninga was fouled off the ball, again no yellow card, then Krol was booked for tripping Bertoni amid a chorus of Argentinian protests.


Haan goes flying


A Brandts tackle on Luque

... continued.

With time fast running out, the equaliser arrived, a moment of real magic. The industrious Poortvliet capitalised on a wild clearance by the desperate Tarantini, found Haan in space centre field, and he in turn spotted that René van de Kerkhof out on the right wing had been untypically neglected by the outrushing defence. The cross on the run was perfect for Nanninga, who rose majestically to beat a couple of off-balance defenders and head home.


Nanninga's equaliser (aerial view)


Nanninga's equaliser (view from the ground level)


Nanninga (left) turns away after scoring - Poortvliet (right)
was wrongly credited with the goal on television

Before too much longer, with a certain inevitability, Neeskens was punched to the ground by Passarella, with the referee unsighted (though the linesman must have been talking to a friend in the stand not to have seen it), and the lengthy stoppage ensured the game was bound for extra-time.


Haan Challenges bravely for a header while
Neeskens sneakily resorts to pulling the Argen-
tinian defenders' shorts down


The same incident (I think) from another angle

Yet it could have been even better for Holland: Krol's hammer-blow of a free-kick found its way through to Rensenbrink, the Argentinian defence mesmerised. Though off-balance, Rensenbrink still had enough composure to turn the ball past Fillol, and, apparently, into the unguarded net. But somehow the ball was deflected, onto the post and away to safety. Whether the debris that had been strewn across the pitch had played a key part, or whether the Hand of God had made a save, who could tell? Players from both teams afterwards confirmed that the ball seemed to all intents and purposes to be as good as in, yet it stayed out. Perhaps, at that moment, the Dutch realised it wouldn't be their day after all.

Extra time is always a difficult thing to predict. Sometimes the team which has just scored has an unstoppable advantage, sometimes a side who has been hanging on for the whistle at the end of 90 minutes comes out for the extra 30 with renewed energy for no apparent reason. Whatever spell Argentinian Coach Menotti weaved, his side, who looked visibly deflated when the Dutch equalised, came out with an increased vigour, and began playing football again. In between the fouls anyway.


Krol and Brandts in action

End of Part Two...

Part Three 1978 World Cup Final:

Bertoni went down from a Suurbier challenge: if it wasn't actually a dive, it certainly hadn't been the worst foul seen today, but Larrosa attacked Suurbier with such ferocity he was lucky only to be cautioned. A minute later, the same Argentinian committed an awful, scything foul on Poortvliet, but escaped further censure. Poortvliet brought Kempes down from behind, and the referee quickly found the notebook he'd obviously been looking for over the previous couple of minutes.


Luque is denied by Jongbloed

And, in amongst the spate of fouls and squabbling, Houseman found himself through on goals, to be thwarted by Jongbloed. It was a warning the Dutch didn't heed.

Kempes, increasingly the dominant force in the game, attacked the Dutch defence, rode two tackles to give himself a chance. Jongbloed threw himself at the striker's feet, but Kempes managed one final touch before going down. The ball bounced agonisingly over the line, with Poortvliet and Suurbier trying gallantly to clear, but to no avail.


Kempes's second goal

All credit to the worthy Kempes, any of his team-mates would have hit the ground and claimed a penalty, and probably got it, but his performance on this day was worthy of winning any match, and this moment, which essentially won the World Cup for Argentina, epitomised it.


Kempes's second goal, the aftermath


Kempes's second goal, the aftermath (other angle)

In the second overtime period, the game was just about on the brink of anarchy. Larrosa fouled Haan, who in turn brought Luque down, and it took several minutes to persuade Luque to get to his feet. Houseman carved out for himself another chance, but shot against the side netting, then Luque burst past Krol, and was denied by Jongbloed.


Bertoni's goal

With the game stretched at both ends, Kempes ran riot again, and, the third goal owed as much to his talent as had the previous two. He ran boldly into the danger area, as ever, tried to play a one-two with Bertoni, a defender intervened, and Bertoni appeared to use a hand to get the ball under control again, a foul spotted by everybody in the world except Signor Gonella.


Muted argentinian celebrations after their third goal

Jongbloed's attempt at a dive looked like a man who expected the whistle to blow, or perhaps just a man who realised the game was up. Anyway, Bertoni's shot hit the back of the net, and the referee ignored the Dutch protests. It was not the first decision that had gone Argentina's way, but it ended any hope the Dutch might have had.

The sight of Passarella being presented with the World Cup by Jorge Videla, head of the military junta which ruled Argentina at that time, was an appropriate note on which to end a game that had always been exciting but never pleasing, and indeed the tournament, which had always been interesting but never satisfying.


Passarella with the World Cup

So Argentina were crowned World Champions, and the party began in the streets of Buenos Aires, but few outside the country celebrated with them. Would they have won the World Cup had it not been held in their own country? Some commentators have asserted they wouldn't have got past Hungary, France and Italy in the first phase, let alone overcome Holland, had the competition been held in Europe, or refereed with a bit more steadfastness.

The Germans of 1974, by contrast, had enjoyed home advantage, exploited it even, but had stopped short of abusing it. They may not have been loved, but they were respected. Holland may have deserved to win in 1974, but had only their own mistakes, and perhaps the bounce of the ball, to blame for their failure - if "failure" is the right word for it. But, in 1978, it always seemed that something more sinister was afoot, as if not everyone was playing by the same rules.

Of course, every team that plays at home is likely to get the benefit of some refereeing decisions, whether playing in the World Cup or in the Scarborough Sunday League, and all opinions offered about match officials will always be personal and subjective. In Argentina, it is generally accepted that the Holland team of 1978 was simply too long in the tooth to cope with the demands of extra time, and that on its own explains the result. And, if the tournament had actually been "fixed", no doubt some irrefutable evidence would have come to light by now, so it seems reasonable to say that the result wasn't actually preordained. But, during this World Cup, Argentina seemed to get the benefit of every decision, on and off the field, from beginning to end. Not the result of a "fix", maybe, but many people, especially outside the game, did have an interest in securing a victory for the home side, and anyone who knows the game must concede that the favouritism shown them by match officials and bureaucrats alike was striking. These two observations, taken together, will always prevent Argentina's triumph from receiving the world-wide acclaim its people would maintain it deserves.

I'd sum it up by saying that Argentina were a good team, indeed, but just how good we'll never know - and that's their own fault. Their evident determination to win at any cost to their reputation will always mean that, having succeeded, the triumph must be put into that context, must always be qualified by dark accusations which, if they can never be substantiated, can never be disproved either, and won't go away. It's just the price you have to pay.

Football in general, and the World Cup in particular, continued its decline for several years. The abiding memories of 1982 will always be Harald Schumacher's unpunished challenge on France's Patrick Battiston, and Germany's shameful, wretched 1-0 win against Austria, while 1986 will be remembered for Maradona's "Hand of God" cheating rather than as a triumph for the truly world-class Argentina team which he led to victory. It wasn't until 1990, when Argentina and Germany played out an abomination of a football match in the Final, that FIFA decided they had to act to clean the game up. If they had done so in 1978, the World Cup Final of that year might at least have served some useful purpose.


A somewhat disconsolate
Jongbloed - 'Oh well, another
four years before the next
one'

As for Holland, Jongbloed and Suurbier would not play international football again, nor would Rijsbergen, injured against Scotland.

But their team had again done the nation proud, and written another glorious chapter in the history of the game. Again, their "failure" would perhaps become more legendary than winning the World Cup could have been.

Whatever, they had given the world some more great memories.

Thanks.

____________________________________

Final Appearances: Jansen, Krol, René van de Kerkhof, Willy van de Kerkhof, Rensenbrink - 7 each; Haan, Poortvliet, Rep - 6 each; Neeskens - 5; Brandts, Jongbloed - 4 each; Rijsbergen, Schrijvers, Suurbier - 3 each; Wildschut - 2.
As Sub: Nanninga - 4; Van Kraay - 2; Boskamp, Jongbloed, Rep, Schoenaker, Suurbier, Wildschut - 1 each.
Goals: Rensenbrink - 5; Rep - 3; Brandts, Haan - 2 each; Nanninga, René van de Kerkhof, Willy van de Kerkhof - 1 each.

Johan Cruyff
Overview | Watch Video Clips

Very few players have earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as Pele, Beckenbauer and Diego Maradona. Although he never won an international title at country level and played in only one World Cup, Johan Cruyff is one of them. Such was his natural talent, the Dutch Master enjoys an undisputed reputation as one of the game’s all-time greats.

Johannes Hendrikus Cruyff was born two years after the end of the Second World War, on 25 April 1947 in Amsterdam. He was brought up in the shadow of Ajax Amsterdam’s stadium and training ground, where his mother worked. His father died from a heart attack when Johan was 12. From a very early age, the young Cruyff set his sights on one thing alone: becoming a professional footballer. He began formal training when he was seven years old, and to his mother’s horror, left school at 13 to concentrate exclusively on sport.

Coaching legend Rinus Michels spotted the slightly-built youth’s talent, and designed an exercise programme aimed at developing his frail physique to withstand the rigours of a professional career. Cruyff quickly won a place in Ajax’s first team, and in 1966, at the age of 19, picked up the first of nine Dutch league titles destined to come his way.

He soon rose to international prominence as a fleet-footed, elegant and technically gifted footballer, who never bottled a tackle. Cruyff was a playmaker, ammunitions provider and marksman rolled into one, with an ability to time a pass that has hardly been equalled before or since.



He was a leading figure off the field as well, confident and opinionated, and never one to mince his words in order to avoid making enemies. This has not always worked in his favour, as when he was removed from the captaincy at Ajax by a 13-3 vote of his team mates in 1972. Accusations of arrogance have also been fanned by interview quotes such as “I don’t think there will come a day when you can say Cruyff and people won’t know what you’re talking about”, or “Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake”.

As well as skirting the boundary between honesty and arrogance, Cruyff's quotes are also widely known for walking the fine line linguistically. In addition to his inimitably mangled grammar, which has been the subject of articles in language journals, he is also famous for the meandering logic of his longer monologues, which invariably lead him to the conclusion that he was right about something, while leaving his adversary baffled. “Essays in their purest form”, a noted literary critic called them. In the Netherlands his quotes have been published in book form, and are used in management seminars.

For one of the greatest players of all time, Cruyff's international career was relatively short. He made his debut for the Dutch national side against Hungary in September 1966, and would go on to make 48 appearances for the “Oranjes” before calling time in October 1977. His last feat as an international was to help Holland qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, though even then he was only called up for the important games.

His greatest achievement as an international came in the 1974 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany. Holland went into the tournament with few expectations, having only barely qualified and with the team giving little indication that they were comfortable with coach Rinus Michels’ tactics. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place just in time however, and, after the first round, Holland were unanimously appointed the leading favourites for the title by the world press.



It was the unveiling of total football, a style of play epitomised by Cruyff himself. Although he was fielded as centre forward he wandered all over the pitch, popping up wherever he could do most damage to the opponent. The other players adapted themselves flexibly around his movements regularly switching positions, so that the tactical roles in the team were always filled but not always by the same person. This was a revolutionary concept, and it took the world by storm.

So did Oranje and Cruyff. In the second round the Master himself got involved in the scoring, and netted his first two goals in Holland's 4-0 thrashing of Argentina, arguably their best game in the tournament. The match against East Germany was a more subdued affair, won 2-0, and in the last of the second round group games Holland met Brazil in what was for all practical purposes a semi-final. After a rough-and-tumble contest Holland walked off 2-0 winners. Cruyff scored Oranje's second goal, and it is remembered as one of his best ever in international play. It came in the 65th minute, when he met a centre from Krol with a flying volley which wrongfooted Leao and crashed into the left side of the goal.

Cruyff's brilliance was again on display in the final, which started spectacularly. Cruyff kicked off, and Holland passed the ball around. After having gone through 14 players, all of them Oranje, it came back to Cruyff who started a rush, slipped past Vogts, and was mowed down by Hoeness inside the box. Neeskens scored from the resulting penalty kick before a single German player had had occasion to touch the ball. The Dutch failed to press their advantage however, and allowed the Germans back into the game. The home team equalised through a penalty kick, and were ahead two minutes before half-time through Gerd Mueller. In the second half the Dutch failed to overcome the barrier that was Josef “Sepp” Maier, and so they lost the title. Cruyff’s player of the tournament award was scant consolation.



During the World Cup in Germany, Cruyff had already announced that he would not play in the next World Cup in Argentina, mainly because he didn't want to be away from his family for so long. That and a series of disagreements with the national federation brought a premature end to his international career.

However, at club level Cruyff excelled. Between 1971 and 1973, he won the European Cup three times in a row with Ajax Amsterdam. In 1973 he moved to Spain with Barcelona, collecting the league title in his first season. He announced his retirement in 1978, only to resurface in May 1979 in the US Professional League. He played for two seasons in the US and then less than a dozen matches for Spanish second division side Levante before returning to Ajax Amsterdam in the summer of 1981. In 1983 he moved to arch-rivals Feyenoord Rotterdam, enjoying one final taste of glory as a player as his new team did the domestic double. In his mid-30s, Cruyff was amazingly playing some of the best football of his life and was voted Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1983 and 1984. The best Dutch player of all time hung up his boots once and for all in 1984.

Although Cruyff had no formal coaching qualifications, he took over as technical director at Ajax Amsterdam at the beginning of the 1985-86 season. Indeed he had given an indication of his aptitude in 1980 when, in Holland training with Ajax during the US off-season, he came down from the stands during a Dutch league game and started handing out unsolicited advice to Ajax coach Leo Beenhakker. Ajax were down 3-1 to FC Twente at that moment, but ended up winning the game 5-3. Although he left after three years because of opposition within the club, he helped Ajax win the 1987 European Cup Winners’ Cup and developed talented youngsters such as Dennis Bergkamp, Aaron Winter, Brian Roy and the Witschge brothers Rob and Richard, all of whom went on to become accomplished performers themselves.

In a repeat of the journey he had made as a player, Cruyff left Ajax for Barcelona, where he was installed as coach and technical director. He set about reconstructing the team, releasing a dozen players including German Bernd Schuster, and spending million on new stars. Soon, he had fashioned another top European side which won the European Cup Winners’ Cup, Champions League, the Spanish Cup and four domestic championships in a row between 1991 and 1994 with a side known in Spain as the “Dream Team”.

This glittering track record established Cruyff as the undisputed master of the club’s on-field activities, and he held onto his job for longer than any of his predecessors. He also came close to making his return to the World Cup as a coach, but at the last moment negotiations with the Dutch Football Association broke off and in the end Cruyff did not become part of Oranje's 1994 World Cup campaign.

After an eight-year relationship, Johan Cruyff and Barcelona parted company for a second time in 1996. Cruyff, who had had to give up smoking after a bypass operation in 1991 and had recurring heart trouble in 1997, swore he would never coach again and, as could be expected, he has kept his word – though his name still seems to come up every single time Oranje need another coach, while he continues to be revered at the Nou Camp.

For the past five years he has divided his time between the Johan Cruyff Foundation, which makes grants to disabled sportspeople and finances a sports medicine research programme, and the Johan Cruyff International University, which he set up in 1998 to assist retired sportspeople in defining new career paths.

Playing career

Clubs
1964-1973: Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands)
1973-1978: Barcelona (Spain)
1979: Los Angeles Aztecs (USA)
1980-1981: Washington Diplomats (USA)
1981: UD Levante (Spain)
1981-1983: Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands)
1983-1984: Feyenoord Rotterdam (Netherlands)

Club honours
1966 Dutch Championship winner
1967 Dutch Championship winner
1967 Dutch Cup winner
1968 Dutch Championship winner
1970 Dutch Championship winner
1970 Dutch Cup winner
1971 Dutch Cup winner
1971 European Champions Cup winner
1971 European Footballer of the Year
1972 European Champions Cup winner
1972 Dutch Championship winner
1972 Dutch Cup winner
1972 World Club Cup winner
1973 Dutch Championship winner
1973 European Champions Cup winner
1973 European Super Cup winner
1973 European Footballer of the Year
1974 Spanish Championship winner
1974 European Footballer of the Year
1978 Spanish Cup winner
1982 Dutch Championship winner
1983 Dutch Championship winner
1983 Dutch Cup winner
1983 Dutch Footballer of the Year
1984 Dutch Championship winner
1984 Dutch Cup winner
1984 Dutch Footballer of the Year

International honours
48 caps (33 goals), 33 as captain
1974 FIFA World Cup Germany™ runner-up and Player of the tournament

Coaching career
1985-1988: Ajax Amsterdam
1988-1996: Barcelona

Coaching honours:
1986 Dutch Cup winner
1987 Dutch Cup winner
1987 European Cup Winners Cup winner
1989 European Cup Winners Cup winner
1990 Spanish Cup winner
1991 Spanish Championship winner
1992 Spanish Championship winner
1992 European Champions Cup winner
1992 European Super Cup winner
1993 Spanish Championship winner
1994 Spanish Championship winner

Fantastic thread.

Dutch football is just so...magical.

I have never felt the same about any other footballing nations.

Funki, you are an absolute gem. I feared it got lost in the moving process.

FEYENOORD CLUB HISTORY: PART 1

Ask ten Feyenoord supporters about their club’s greatest moment and you will just have started a discussion that has no end. Was winning the European Cup better than winning the Dutch league for the first time? Did Julio Cruz’s goals against Juventus mean more to Feyenoord than Rinus Bennaars’s shot that once brought Vasas Budapest to its knees in Antwerp. And was the sailing of the Groote Beer and the Waterman to Lisbon more impressive than 30.000 Feyenoord fans watching Feyenoord beat Groningen to claim the title in 1995 on two giant TV-screens in the Kuip. Feyenoord’s wealth in memorable moments is so vast that nobody can really answer that question. And that’s all for the best really.


Vs. Celtic FC (1970).

In the night of the 6th and 7th of May 1970, four trains shot through the night. They were coming back from Milan to Rotterdam. Thousands of fans heading home, worn out, but intensely happy. They had been there! For the first time in the history of Dutch football a European Cup had been won. Their club, their Feyenoord had now managed to do, what Ajax wasn’t able to do the previous year, Scottish champions Celtic had been beaten 2-1.

Only after 117 minutes of play, when the opponents were expecting a replay, did Ove Kindvall by lobbing the goalkeeper deliver the deserved final blow. To 25.000 Feyenoord supporters the Milanese San Siro stadium had become part of 7th heaven. Millions at home, tense and biting their nails, had been watching the match in front of the television.

Feyenoord was popular. The admirers of Feyenoord’s game, a combination of high-level technical football, and a reliable insight on the field, cast together by Viennese football professor Ernst Happel, lived in and far beyond the city of Rotterdam. But there was more to Feyenoord than just that. Feyenoord also meant: a sixty year long history of the simple people’s club from a poorer area in Rotterdam Zuid; a people’s club that had climbed all the way to the top of Europe.

The road, taken by former directors, had proved to be a right one. There were many who shook their heads and raised an eyebrow or two at remarkable decisions in the past: chairman L. van Zandvliet who ordered the building of a stadium with a capacity of some 65.000 people, chairman Cor Kieboom who brought in player that weren’t from in or around Rotterdam. Loyal supporters hadn’t in fact taken it the wrong way. The stadium was packed on a regular basis and whoever wore the red and white, would be accepted by the crowd. On the 6th of May the icing had been put on the cake.

This of course was the undisputed highpoint in the club’s history, but on that train that night were also a few people who had been through a thing or two with Feyenoord. In one carriage were six seniors who could still remember the matches v. Arsenal of 1937 and 1938.

ARSENAL
____________________________________________


Waites.

Feyenoord was still an amature club, while Arsenal was already a seasoned professional club. English professional football was considered the top of the trade back then. They were the inventors of football and their game was held in high regard. English coaches had no trouble finding work in Holland, so too at Feyenoord, that had recruited trainer Bill Julian in 1921. Waits, Hall, Lamb’Donaghy and Topping followed in later years. Feyenoord lost to Arsenal on June the 6th 1937, but there was no shame in that defeat. Arsenal was a size too big.

Then on May the 8th of 1938, revenge on the English champion came. Somebody was able to remember how many people there were: 51.000. Another was able to name the eleven players sent into the field by Hungarian Richard Dombi, besides Ernst Happel, the other magician in the line of Feyenoord coaches: in goal was Adri van Male, Pleun de Groot and Joop van der Heide as defenders, Bas Paauwe, Gerard Kuppen and Puck van Heel in midfield, and up front, from left to right, Manus Vrauwdeunt, Leen Vente, Piet Kantebeen, Arie Voet and Jan Linssen.


Lamb’Donaghy.

Feyenoord won 1-0 through a goal from Manus Vrauwdeunt from the Paul Krugerstraat. Looking out of his window he had a view of the Afrikaanderplein, the first pitch, where the roots of his club lay. Now him and his mates had beaten the Gunners. Leen Vente had dribbled the ball forward an placed a diagonal cross in to Linssen. He sprinted towards the goal line and crossed it. With a big hoof Vrauwdeunt made it 1-0. Those were the days.

NEW STADIUM
_________________________________________


First game with artificial light

Someone in the carriage started on the stadium’s opening match. He was able to remember it as if it had happened only yesterday: the bad weather that day couldn’t put a damper on the atmosphere. Very proud they were: they had fixed that nicely. “Brought about by our own forceful spirit”, is how they would call it proudly at Feyenoord. He had saved his ticket of the first match in the new stadium, that colossus of steel, concrete and glass, as a precious relic.
A friendly relationship with Belgian team Beerschot had existed for some years now, so they were invited to play the opening match. Anyone there would never forget: Feyenoord-Beerschot 5-2. The score didn’t matter; it was the new stadium that counted. They knew the names of their heroes that inaugurated the football temple in front of 37.825 people on march the 27th 1937: Van Male, De Groot, Van der Heide, Bas Paauwe, Kuppen, Van Heel, Smits, Vrauwdeunt, Vente, Kantebeen and Linssen.

Another recalled the first match under floodlights in the new Feyenoord stadium. The match was of no importance, but still there were 46.000 people in the Kuip. Feyenoord played Bolton Wanderers and lost 3-0. All goals came after the break. Still, every Feyenoord supporter went home contentedly: the stadium had a fantastic lighting installation. Prior to the game dr. Ir. L.G. Versteege, president -commissioner of the stadium, had ordered all lights to be switched off. After that he asked the crowd to light a match or lighter. That gave a stunning effect: the stadium looked like a Christmas tree. Then the lights on the four masts were lit. A wave of light flooded the pitch. The story was that Vrauwdeunt’s goal against Arsenal on May the 8th 1937 caused a roar that could be heard in Dordrecht. The oohs and aahs of the igniting of the lights must have carried just as far if not further.

MEMORABLE MATCHES
_____________________________________________


Henk Schouten.

The four special Feyenoord trains passed many abandoned little train stations in Germany that night without stopping. Everyone was in the best of spirits.

Someone started on the match when Feyenoord played De Volewijckers. That memorable match of april 2nd 1956, final score 11-4, in which Henk Schouten scored as many as nine goals. Nine! That was three hat tricks. And to think that Schouten only played as a center forward in that match, because the other goal getter on Feyenoord’s payroll, Cor van der Gijp, was injured.The two other goals came off Tinus Bosselaar and Riny van Woerden. The Feyenoord-legion was begging Schouten for a tenth goal. He made it alright, but is was disallowed. Too bad. Another thing was that the scoring board in the stadium couldn’t go into double figures and so they had to get the red scoring plates from the speedway races in to fix the score.

After that, someone else in that Feyenoord-express from Milan couldn’t stop talking about a match in which Coen Moulijn had played a big role. It was a match against Real Madrid, for the European Cup, on September the 8th 1965. Feyenoord won, 2-1, and that in itself was enough to turn that evening into an unforgettable one, and that in the presence of princess Beatrix, her fiancée and her father.

The stadium was packed. Of course. You didn’t get to see big stars like Ferenc Puskas in Rotterdam every day. In the first place of course Feyenoord supporters came to see their own Feyenoord play. That Feyenoord fought a heroic battle.
Defender Hans Kraaij got a kick in the head by the Madrilenian Pachin and was forced to leave the field in the 31st minute with a heavy head injury and blood on his face. He would definitely go straight to hospital, surely, but after the break he was back in the field with five staples in his head, covered by a big bandage. He even made the winning goal.


Hans Kraaij Senior.

Beating Real Madrid in it self was enough to never forget that match and a mean challenge by Miera the defender ensured that. Right in front of the royal box Miera flung Coen over his hip. The cry of disbelief must have been heard all the way in Breda. Moulijn got so angry that he got up, and started chasing the Spaniard, swiftly aided by the other Feyenoord players. Supporters climbed over the new seven feet high fences as if they weren’t there. Miera zigzagged over the field to avoid the Feyenoord players. Policemen, stewards and officials of both teams raced in to stop it. The Czech referee, mr. Galba, thought it better to stop the match at that point. In the dressing room Cor Veldhoen explained that he was disappointed he hadn’t gotten a hold of Miera.

Gangesters, they called the Spaniards, gangsters who were bad losers. They had been really disappointed in them. Guus Haak degradingly spoke of scum, pointing towards the Madrilenian back line. Henny Weering was complaining about the blows and kicks he had received. There hadn’t been a ball in sight and referee Galba acted as if he had a nose bleed.

The supporters didn’t mind. They were chuffed. Feyenoord had beaten Madrid, even if the royal team had disgraced itself in that manner. Rotterdam had been a ghost town that night. Everyone wanted to see the match, whether at home or in the Kuip. Now the celebrations erupted. The bars in Rotterdam-Zuid flooded with ecstatic supporters.

Two weeks later it became clear that there was a long way to go still. Feyenoord got hammered 5-0 in Madrid. That was the down side; nobody could take away that beautiful moment of September the 8th 1965.

THE FIRST LEAGUE TITLE
_______________________________________________



There were even a couple of old geezers in the train from Milan to Rotterdam, who could still remember the club’s first national championship. That was in 1924. Feyenoord had only existed a mere 16 years. The club had been established in 1908 by a couple of youngsters, who were playing regularly on the square in front of the Wilhelminakerk in the Oranjeboomstraat right in the middle of the new workers quarter of Rotterdam-Zuid. Feijenoord had been the neighbourhood’s name, for centuries, even before there were houses or people there.

They gathered in a bar on the corner of the Persoonshaven and the Damstraat on July 19th 1908 and established a football club. It was called Wilhelmina, after the queen who had also given her name to the impressive church situated in their area. Since its establishment in Café De Vereeniging, owned by Jac. Keizer Hz., the club had changed its name a couple of times. In 1912 they finally chose Feijenoord, after the club’s place of birth, even though they had been playing in the Afrikaanderwiijk from the beginning. Sixteen years later the boys from the streets of the Island Feijenoord had become national football champions of the Netherlands. More championships followed later, but that first one was the best of them all because the rolls had been reversed forever: the workers had beaten the bourgeois. Their club, their Feijenoord, from the heart of the people, was Holland’s best. That´s when the successtory began. The names of that first championship team would forever stay in their memories: Vermeulen, Notenboom, Van Dijke, Zuidam, R. Bul, Van der Velde, Petterson, Koonings, Pijl, J. Weber en De Zeeuw. Undoubtedly they knew the men on the bench too: Visser, Borremans and Van Heel.

PASSAGE TO LISBON
___________________________________________



There was also a couple in the carriage filled with lyrical stories about the trip to Lisbon, that they held in higher regard even than this trip to Milan. Hundreds of thousands of people stood on the banks of the Nieuwe Maas and the Nieuwe Waterweg to see off the Groote Beer and the Waterman. The ships brought thousands of supporters to Lisbon, where Feyenoord had to play notorious Benfica on May the 8th 1963. Feyenoord was finally playing with the big boys now. On April the 10th, Feyenoord had managed to keep Benfica, the champions of the last two years, to a nil-nil draw. Now there was a chance to progress for Feyenoord itself and beat those champions. And why not? The pride of Rotterdam-Zuid had also beaten French champions Stade de Reims in the quarterfinals. That was why they had no trouble loading up the ships to their full capacities. Every Feyenoord supporter wanted to experience the coming glory of the club. And those who couldn’t come along saw them off with a wave.

And hadn’t the story so far been spectacular? They had played Servette of Switzerland three times in the first round. Winning away from home with 3-1, and thinking they were already through. Then losing by the same score at home. Then came the decisive match in Düsseldorf.

And again the score was 3-1, in Feyenoord’s favour this time though. Next up were the ball wizards from the Hungarian champions Vasas.

Feyenoord drew both matches: 1-1 at home and 2-2 away. According to the rules in those days another decisive match would have to be played. The third match was played close to Rotterdam; in the stadium the Bosuil in Antwerp. That was why some 30,000 fans had made the trip to Antwerp on December the 12th 1962. There was a traffic jam from the Dutch-Belgian border all the way to the stadium. Rinus Bennaars scored the only and therefore winning goal of the match. For beating Hungarian goalie Szenmihalyi and taking Feyenoord to the next round, they called him: The Hero of Deurne. He had deserved it. Eventually Feyenoord wouldn’t make it past the semi-finals. After the goalless draw in Rotterdam, Feyenoord lost 3-1 in Lisbon.

FEYENOORD CLUB HISTORY: PART 2

THE RIVAL
_______________________________________


AFC Ajax.

There’s always someone in a party starting about one of those fantastic matches between Feyenoord and Ajax. One of those matches seldom talked about in Amsterdam. Like that cup match where Mike Obiku wrong-footed the Ajax defence in over-time and scored. That match of March the 8th 1995 is yet to become immortal, it still has to sink in, ripe if you like. That already is the case with the match of November the 11th 1956. That was when Feyenoord hammered Ajax 7-3, with four goals by Daan den Bleijker. Or that 9-5 of august 1960 with four goals by Henk Schouten. And that historic Feyenoord-Ajax of November the 29th 1964, final score 9-4, with five goals by Hans Venneker. Years later the Ajax supporters would still claim that their keeper Bertus Hoogerman was wearing his wife’s contact lenses. Rubbish, of course. Feyenoord was just too good.

No matter how chuffed everyone was on the trip home back from Milan, to many the final had already taken place months earlier. Then Feyenoord beat AC Milan and in those days AC Milan meant the top of European football. Nobody would give two pennies for Feyenoord’s chances, no one but Ernst Happel. Months later there would still be disbelief when spoken of that goal by Wim Jansen on November the 26th of 1969. No one had expected that goal., certainly not Wim Jansen himself and least of all reporter Theo Koomen. He brought his match report out on record, including his remark when thinking that the ball went over the crossbar but it turned out to be a goal: “It’s gone in, it’s gone in!”

PARTY IN ROTTERDAM
__________________________________________


Coolsingel flooded.

While the trains were racing through the polders, the party in Rotterdam was already in full swing. The heroes of Milan had already been welcomed back. The plane carrying the European champions would land at Zestienhoven. When that was made public, tens of thousands of fans raced over there. In no time the airport was flooded. It looked like an ocean of red and white supporters.

It had become impossible to land and the plane had to avert to Schiphol. Upon hearing that, the supporters left to go to the sides of the Rijksweg 13 to greet the buses with their heroes. Zestienhoven ebbed empty again and the plane turned around. It was able to land after all. The bus with players and supporters drove, first via the normal route and then via a non-designated route, to the back door of city hall in Rotterdam. Hundreds of thousands of people were already waiting at the front end, when their heroes appeared on the balcony. When that happened the chorus of “Hand in hand” went over the stadhuisplein, over the Hofplein, and over the Lijnbaan and further still, all the way to Dordrecht, Delft and The Hague or Schiedam, Vlaardingen, Maassluis. All of the Netherlands knew about it.

The expectation was that Feyenoord´s tour of victory could only continue. Even Ajax-chairman Jaap van Praag was convinced that Feyenoord would be unbeatable the coming ten years. So the disappointment was great when puny UT Arad of Rumania knocked Feyenoord out of the European Cup. Fortunately the winning of the World Cup on September the 9th 1970 healed some wounds. Estudiantes de la Plata was beaten in the Kuip.


Van Daele's Glasses.

Two weeks earlier Feyenoord had drawn the match 2-2. Now the clash of the titans ended in a 1-0 victory for Feyenoord with the only goal coming from Joop van Daele, replacement for Coen Moulijn. That cost him his glasses. In his rage over Van Daele’s goal the Estudiantes player Malbernat ripped it of his nose and trampled on it. You weren’t allowed to play with glasses, was his excuse, at least not in South America. That night the Coolsingel was, naturally, packed again. Out of the European Cup and winners of the World Cup. Joy and despair lay close together. That went for both the players, as well as the supporters.


Van Deale.

Years passed. Players came and went. Feyenoord won the League in 1971 and 1974 and on May the 29 1974, it also won the UEFA-Cup, after a final against Tottenham Hotspur in the Kuip. Still May the 29th wasn’t a joyous day. For the first time the stadium was host to the football hooligans from England. When defeat seemed inevitable, they started fighting and demolishing their section of the stadium, causing many injuries.

After a couple of years the memories faded. In any event a new generation of supporters came to the stadium. They also wanted to join in on the successes of the club. They didn’t care about the stories on Puck van Heel, Ove Kindvall or Coen Moulijn. They were aching for a new title.


Johan Cruijff.


That title came in 1984, and a world famous Amsterdammer took care of that. Written off by Ajax, Cruyff wanted to show the world that he could still make a team champion of Holland. And so he did, though not all on his own. Under his captaincy Feyenoord won the double: League and cup in 1984. The revival was a short-lived one. In the years to come Feyenoord would drop down a long way.

TURNAROUND
_________________________________________



For many supporters the question was whether or not Feyenoord could still be considered a top team. So-called funny people called it a “flop team”. That wasn’t nice, of course, but Feyenoord had only itself to blame. Feyenoord overcame this terrible period through the help of two special men. They had played an important role in the successes of Feyenoord as players. They played in the football feat of May the 6th 1970 in San Siro. For a great part, Feyenoord had owed this success to these two men: Wim Jansen and Wim van Hanegem, or Wimpie and Willem as the fans lovingly called them. They would serve the club in a different way. To ask Wim Jansen to take over in 1991 had been a golden move by the Feyenoord board of directors. At the time he was working as manager of SVV, but because of his long career at the stadium team, he was called Mister Feyenoord. He couldn’t refuse, so that’s why he came.

Jansen gave Feyenoord back their self-belief and wouldn’t venture in to any adventure. The team was to be built up from the back. Success followed soon. At the end of the season the first prize had been won. Feyenoord won the Cup final against BVV Den Bosch. The match was terrible, but in cup competition only the results count. Feyenoord won by one goal to nil, and so coach and players and supporters were ecstatic. The fans stormed onto the field, which prevented the team from making any sort of an honorary lap to show the cup. At the start of the next season Feyenoord won the Supercup by beating champions PSV. The cup was won again the following year. In a better final than the previous year, Roda JC was beaten 3-0.
Starting the 1992/1993 season, Willem van Hanegem joined the technical staff at Jansen’s request. They had been a solid couple in their playing days. Hopefully that would still be the case, because the fans demanded more of them still. They had suffered long enough.

At first it didn’t look like Feyenoord had a shot at the title, but towards the end their chances of taking the title grew by the match. On May the 22nd Feyenoord beat Willem II, while PSV, their main rivals, lost at Vitesse Arnhem in the same weekend. That caused the turnaround and the title race was heading for a spectacular finish. Where PSV looked to have the best chances all season, now it was Feyenoord who were in charge. Two matches separated Feyenoord from the national title: one in the far south, against MVV Maastricht, and one all the way up north against FC Groningen. The Rotterdammers were reborn. Everybody wanted to watch the final sprint. The match against MVV was transmitted live on television. Almost three million people watched the penultimate leg of Feyenoord’s title race on television. The force from Zuid hadn’t lost any of it’s popularity in the country over the years. Feyenoord beat MVV Maastricht on May the 25th 1993 by two goals to nil. Now only the final and all-deciding match against Groningen, a week later, remained.

5.000 Feyenoord supporters travelled with their idols on May the 31st 1993. There was no room for any more in the Oosterpark. To soften the pain of not being there, Feyenoord came up with a both beautiful and unique solution. Giant TV-screens were put up in the Kuip. Via the television the 5.000 supporters in the Oosterpark would sing to the 33.000 in the Kuip:”And we’re all waving to the Kuip”. And they waved back in the Kuip: a magical bond was welded.

This way Feyenoord simply couldn’t lose. The final score was a reflection of the fans’ optimism: at the break Feyenoord was up 0-2, after the full 90 they won by 0-5. Feyenoord were the champions once again and that night there once again was also a party. The returning supporters from Groningen were thought of especially. A space on the Coolsingel had been reserved for them only, just near the city hall.

The year after that Feyenoord ended up second behind Ajax, but ahead of PSV. The cup, though, would once again come back to Rotterdam. On may the 12th 1994, Feyenoord beat NEC 2-1 in the final. It was the fourth successive prize-winning season. The supporters were very content. In Wim van Hanegem Feyenoord appeared to have recruited once again another top coach. The immensely popular trainer had built up some credit with the fans.

INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS
_____________________________________________


Van Gastel.

After all those successes on home soil, the one thing missing, according to the players and fans was a notable result in Europe. There hadn’t been one in the years gone by. That time came in 1994. Although it didn’t involve winning one of the European Cups, the setting was the 1/8 finals of the Cupwinners Cup. Feyenoord drew Werder Bremen, regarded as a very strong team. Feyenoord had developed a cup fighters mentality in all those successful cup competitions in Holland over recent years, and that would come in handy now. At home Feyenoord won 1-0 by a goal from the Swedish center forward Henrik “Henke” Larsson.

A fortnight later it was crunch time. About 7.000 fans accompanied their heroes to the North-German port town. Most of them came by bus. They watched Larsson score three times. After a 1-0 deficit, Feyenoord managed a 4-3 victory. In the next round, the quarterfinal, Feyenoord lost to Spanish cup holders Real Zaragoza. Any way, to the fans the 1994/95 season was already a success. It didn’t stop at the fine victories against Werder Bremen, because for the fourth time in five years, Feyenoord had won the Dutch cup.
The young fans who once had been complaining about the absence of new success, could now cherish their own unforgettable moments. It appeared that the 1995/1996 season would bring more good things. The arrival of Ronald Koeman and the fine play against Ajax in the Supercup, had given new confidence. At the start of October 1995 the men from Rotterdam had their shortcomings severely pointed out when they lost to PSV (3-0). Despite the changing of coaches ( Van Hanegem-Haan) and a rough ride in the second half of the season, Feyenoord did achieve some memorable highs by beating Dag Liepaja, Everton and Borussia Monchengladbach in the Cupwinners Cup. In the next round, Feyenoord didn’t get what it deserved in the home game: 1-1. The away match was lost 3-0. Erasable from memory remained the match against Borussia, when some 14.000 people showed up to support their team in the away match, something that even silenced Ronald Koeman.

Under a new coach, Leo Beenhakker, Feyenoord would write history at unexpected moments. The 2-0 victory over Juve at home, with two goals from the sublimely playing Julio Cruz, is unforgettable, just like the victory over Olympique Marseille in the Champions League. But the highpoint was the winning of the league that year, when Feyenoord, under the supervision of Don Leo, showed, it didn’t always have to play well to win most of its matches. Feyenoord had another title and the Coolsingel would be packed again. The windows of the city hall, almost burst when Jean-Paul van Gastel showed the aching Legion the championship dish and an ear-deafening roar went through the city. Champions! Champions!, the fans screamed to the players, just before a big bunch of trouble makers partially ruined the party, by roaming through the city centre and causing riots along the way.

BACK IN EUROPE
__________________________________________________


Feyenoord's 01/02 Uefa Cup winning team.

8 May 2002 showed that the relatively successful nineties were just a springboard to an even greater achievement. Under Bert van Marwijk and driven on by the brilliance of Pierre van Hooijdonk a rejuvenated Feyenoord claimed the Uefa Cup on home turf at De Kuip 28 years after the last triumph. No one in the Netherlands really believed it could be done in the era of big bucks.

Feyenoord started the 2001/02 season in the Champions League, but they found it tough going and it took all their strength to secure third berth in the group to win a place in the Uefa Cup. Things would get better however. The first opponents were SC Freiburg. Racked by injuries and suspensions Feyenoord managed to gain a slender one-goal lead at De Kuip thanks to Shinji Ono. In Germany the adventure looked to be over when the home side took a two-goal lead, but then Feyenoord were awarded a free kick over by the dead-ball line on the left flank. Pierre van Hooijdonk stepped up to guide the ball across the ball and behind a despairing keeper to score perhaps the most remarkable goal of recent seasons. It was an important one too, because the home side never really recovered from the shock, and Leonardo levelled the game at the death to confirm Feyenoord’s advancement to the next round.

The European campaign resumed after the winter break and Feyenoord immediately looked hungrier and more confident. With Van Hooijdonk in inspirational form, Feyenoord locked horns with Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers. It was an emotional return to Ibrox for Van Hooijdonk, who had plied his trade with the Gers’ old-firm rivals Celtic across the city. Shinji Ono gave the Rotterdammers the lead in Scotland, but a lot of huff and puff from the home side finally won a penalty that brought them level. Back in Rotterdam Rangers scored first, but Van Hooijdonk sent a signal to the rest of Europe by converting two almost identical free kicks before the break to give his side more than a fighting chance. After the turnaround Bonaventure Kalou added the third with his head, after European debutant Robin van Persie had waltzed through the Scottish defence. The Scots got their second penalty of the tie just before the end, but Ferguson’s strike was not enough to save the visitors.

There was a domestic opponent in the quarter final, as Feyenoord were drawn against PSV. The two sides met five times that season and four of them ended in deadlock after ninety minutes. The game in Eindhoven was worthy of the occasion, but it was back at De Kuip that the fireworks started in a night that the Feyenoord legion will surely never forget. The home side played well, but with fourteen minutes left PSV took an aggregate lead through Bert van Marwijk’s son-in-law Mark van Bommel. As the clock ticked down it looked like curtains for Feyenoord, until that is Pierre van Hooijdonk got his head on Johan Elmander’s 94-minute cross to find the back of the net and send the stadium into raptures. Extra time brought no more goals, although there was a red card for Van Bommel, and the game went to penalties. At 4-3 to Feyenoord Edwin Zoetebier stopped Gakhokidze’s spot kick, setting it up for Pierre to shoot Feyenoord into the semis. As De Kuip celebrated the victory, Van Hooijdonk was not the only one with tears in his eyes.

San Siro hosted the first leg of the semi-final, after Feyenoord were drawn against Inter Milan. Around 10,000 fans made the trip to the scene of Feyenoord’s 1970 European Cup victory and they were rewarded with a mature performance from their team, which ended in victory for the Rotterdammers thanks to Cordoba’s own goal. Suddenly the dream was in sight. Back at De Kuip Feyenoord played a powerful game against the Italians, brushing Internazionale aside in the first 70 minutes to take a two-goal lead – Van Hooijdonk and Kalou were the scorers. With the final within touching distance Bert van Marwijk’s side showed some nerves in the last 20 minutes as Inter pulled a goal back, but it was too little too late.

Feyenoord had reached their first European final in 28 years and, as if predestined, it was to take place at their very own De Kuip stadium. The Feijenoord stadium was a-wash of red and white on the one hand and yellow and black on the other on 8 May 2002, as Feyenoord lined up against Borussia Dortmund in the final. It was an emotional evening in which Pierre van Hooijdonk once again excelled for the Rotterdammers. Two goals from the big man in the first half – including of course one of those trade mark free kicks – gave Feyenoord a great start, and after a German goal early in the second half a Jon Dahl Tomasson strike restored the ‘home’ side’s lead. A thunderous Jan Koller effort was not enough to stand in the way of Feyenoord’s date with destiny, however as Paul Bosvelt lifted the trophy amidst some poignant scenes at De Kuip.

AJAX CLUB HISTORY: PART 1




___________________________________________________

The foundation of A.F.C. Ajax
___________________________________________________

In 1883 a small group of friends around Han Dade, Carel Reeser and Floris Stempel founded a small football club. Dade was the owner of a real leather ball



A few years later Stempel became the first chairman when Ajax was officially founded in 1900. They first called the club 'Union', but in 1894 they changed this to 'Footh-Ball Club Ajax'.


Floris Stempel - Founder and first chairman of AFC Ajax

At the end of the nineteenth century, after an enthusiastic start Ajax played a fairly anonymous role. Following the many small clubs that mushroomed around 1900, the original triumvirate of Stempel, Dade and Reeser decided to send out a letter calling upon interested people to consider the foundation of a 'completely new football club'. They wanted to put a definitive end to the old unsuccessful Ajax.


In 1901 the old club card (with spelling mistake) was still used.

At a historical meeting on 18 March 1900 in the 'Café Oost-Indië' in the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam, a new football club was founded with the (this time correctly spelled) name of 'Football Club Ajax'. The club joined the Amsterdam Football Association (Amsterdamse Voetbal Bond/AVB) and rented a playing field in Amsterdam Noord for its home games.

THE STADIUMS
____________________________________________

Amsterdam North 1900 - 1907
The ambitious plans of Floris Stempel, Carel Reeser and Han Dade, three of the Ajax 'founding fathers', were not reflected in the next site Ajax chose to play its matches. There was a great shortage of football fields in Amsterdam and Ajax played alongside farmers' fields in Buiksloterham, Amsterdam Noord. At the time quite a trip for the spectators: it took them a journey with a chain ferry and a quarter-hour walk to reach the football field. There was, however, a barn near the field which could be used as a dressing room, quite a luxury in those days.
The players themselves were in fact also dissatisfied with the far-away location and a year later Ajax moved to a playing field only a 5-minute walk away from the ferry. Despite all these difficulties, Ajax were runners-up in their group twice in their first two seasons.



The Wooden Stadium 1907 - 1934
In 1907, building plans for new housing at the location in Amsterdam Noord forced Ajax once again to move and find a new playing field. Two football fields were found at Middenweg (at the site of the present Christiaan Huygensplein in the municipality of Watergraafsmeer), which was again in the middle of nowhere in a typical Dutch polder. There were no stands, no dressing rooms and water facilities, but the The small Pitch es were closer to the city and had extra room for training fields. Café Brokelmann across the road served as a dressing room: in short, an ideal location


The entrance of Ajax' first stadium

When, in 1911, Ajax was promoted to the first division a covered stand with seats was built along a long side of the playing field and an open stand along a short side. In 1916 the stadium was expanded again: the businessman Willem Frederik Egerman built two more stands along the two remaining open sides of the The small Pitch .

This wooden stadium soon proved too small, however. In its 'Golden Age', the early thirties, Ajax won four league championships in succession and the number of spectators increased rapidly. In the last league match to be played in the stadium (against Feyenoord) on 11 November 1934, the players couldn't even take corners properly as there was far too little room for the 15,000 spectators.

De Meer (1934 - 1996)
'The value of a football stadium is not determined by the building costs but by the team playing in it'. This was the basic idea behind the Ajax Board's plans for a new stadium, Ajax's second. The 'De Meer' stadium was to become Ajax's home base for 62 years, where legendary players such as Piet van Reenen, Wim Anderiesen, Rinus Michels, Sjaak Swart, Henk Groot, Johan Cruijff, Piet Keizer, Marco van Basten and many others built up the worldwide reputation Ajax now has.
Again the club's successes and outside pressure were reasons to move. Not only had the successes in Ajax's first 'Golden Age' greatly increased the numbers of supporters, but the annual maintenance costs of the covered wooden stand were a strain on the club's finances. In addition the City of Amsterdam had building plans for the municipality of Watergraafsmeer which it had incorporated.

Not far from the old location the Ajax Board found a site at Middenweg opposite Betondorp which still had a farm 'Voorland' on it. The architect of the new stadium was himself an Ajax member. Daan Roodenburgh was commissioned by the Ajax Board, chaired by Marius Koolhaas, to design a 'cosy Ajax home', though it should not cost more than 300,000 guilders as there was, after all, an international economic crisis and the club had to pay for the new stadium from its own funds. In fact, even the players chipped in.

The new stadium was indeed very impressive. Although before building started it had been decided not to put up any light masts (they were only installed in 1971), the stadium did uniquely have its own covered sports hall where the players could practise in the event of bad weather. Over the years, the stadium's capacity was expanded from 22,000 to 39,500 spectators.



In the late eighties Ajax had grown too big for the 'club's living room', and the stadium could no longer accommodate the large numbers of supporters and spectators that Ajax's games drew. The increasing hooliganism during matches in the Netherlands forced the club to take all sorts of security measures, which did not improve the atmosphere in the stadium. In addition, UEFA ruled that by the year 2000 all stadiums had to be all-seater stadiums. This meant that 'De Meer' would become too small, and although it pained many to say goodbye to the place where so many legendary players had played and so many historic matches had taken place, Ajax decided to move.

The Amsterdam Olympic Stadium (1930 - 1996)
The Amsterdam Olympic Stadium has played an important role in the history of AFC Ajax. Until the completion of the Amsterdam Arena it was used for matches for which more than 20,000 spectators were expected or which had to be played in the evening. Although the Olympic Stadium had not originally been intended as a football stadium and has never been the official property of one single football club, Ajax played many important matches in the stadium. Many people cherish their memories of these historic Ajax matches played against the concrete backdrop of the old Stadium.

The stadium became the home base for Blauw Wit after its old stadium across the road had been demolished in 1919, and it was also regularly used for internationals and important Ajax games. Ajax had already indicated it did not want to move because the wooden stadium in the Watergraafsmeer still served its purpose quite well. And anyway, in 1934 Ajax acquired its own stadium with 'De Meer', although it did occasionally make use of the Olympic Stadium if the expected number of spectators for a match exceeded its own stadium's capacity. 'De Meer' was perfectly suitable for the average league game (after all, in the thirties it was very rare for an Ajax game to draw more than 20,000 spectators). The first match for which Ajax had to move to the Olympic Stadium was the league game against Velocitas on 9 March 1930. Ajax won the match 8-0. Until the introduction of professional football in 1954 Ajax only used the Olympic Stadium for championship matches. It was only when Ajax had to play European Cup matches that it started to use the Stadium on a regular basis.

Another important reason for Ajax to use the Olympic Stadium was of a technical nature. When 'De Meer' was built in 1934 no light masts had been put up as evening matches were a rare occasion in those days. From 1934 the Olympic Stadium did have permanent light masts; in fact, on 23 October 1929 Amsterdam had had a European first: Philips had borrowed tram wires from Amsterdam Public Transport and hung them at 15 metres high across the The small Pitch . It was a miracle that the ball never hit any of the 64 lights. It was only in 1971 that 'De Meer' got its own light masts and from then on less important European Cup matches were played there.

Perhaps Ajax's most memorable European Cup match to be played in the Olympic Stadium was the game against Liverpool in 1966. In a very foggy Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam the referee Sbardella just managed see both goals and did not consider it necessary to abandon the game. Ajax beat Liverpool 5-1 thanks to three goals by Henk Groot and two by Cees de Wolf who replaced the injured Piet Keizer. In the return at Anfield Road, during which Ajax's lead was never threatened, Cruijff scored twice (2-2). Ajax's disappointment was great when they lost their quarter finals against Dukla Prague (1-1 at home and 2-1 in the away game).



When the Arena, with its 50,200 capacity crowd, was completed, however, it was no longer necessary for Ajax to use the Olympic Stadium.

Amsterdam Arena (1996-present)
Ajax played its first game on august 14 in a friendly against AC Milan, which Ajax lost with 0-3. The first Ajax goal was scored on september 22 by Kiki Musampa in a league game against NAC Breda

AJAX CLUB HISTORY: PART 2

____________________________________________

THE THROPHIES
____________________________________________

1929-1939
Until the glorious period of the early seventies, the nineteen thirties had always been seen as the club's 'Golden Age'. In ten years' time, Ajax won the league championship seven times, and the national championship five times.



Piet van Reenen is the most productive Ajax player of all times: from 1929 to 1942 he scored 272 goals in 235 league matches. He is also Ajax' single game topscorer: in the champion match against Veendam on 3 april 1932 he scored no fewer than seven goals.
In those days, Go Ahead and Feyenoord were the main opponents in the league. In the 1930-31 championship season Ajax beat PSV 5-2 in its lastgame. Feyenoord, with three games in hand and five points less, couldstill win the championship. Fortunately, Go Ahead beat the Rotterdam team 3-2 and gave Ajax its first national championship since 1918-19.

At Ajax one still speaks with the highest respect of 'The golden age of the thirthies'. In ten years time thirteen titles were won: eight times divisional championship and five times the national championship. One of the most famous players was Gerrit Fischer, here in action against (DWS - 4 juni 1939: 1-1).
On 11 January 1931, the 'new' Ajax achieved the highest victory in its history beating VUC 17-0.

Wim Jonker, Henk Mulder, Jan Schubert and the captain Wim Anderiesen allplayed their part in this 'first' Golden Age. Certainly Anderiesen's achievements, a police officer in daily life, were incomparable. He is in fact the only Ajax player who has ever had a street named after him. In 1955 a courtyard in the newly built suburb of Geuzenveld was named after him.



1960 - 1965
The first half of the nineteen sixties can be called 'the calm before the storm' for Ajax, as this period precedes the great successes in the second half of the decade. Led by the Englishman Vic Buckingham, who was head coach for two periods (1959-61 and 1964-65), Ajax played some excellent matches but never won any national championship.

In the Dutch league, Feyenoord continued to be one of Ajax's main rivals. In the 1960-61 season Ajax lost the Feyenoord match 9-5 and had to make do with second place. Ajax did however win the KNVB Cup that year, which competition was played for the first time since the war. In the last quarter of the Cup Final against NAC Henk Groot scored all three goals.



The 1964-65 season was an absolute low in Ajax post-war history. The club narrowly escaped relegation to the second division despite having players like Sjaak Swart, Johan Cruijff, Piet Keizer and Wim Suurbier, who were to become famous all over Europe a few years later.

Vic Buckingham left and the Ajax Board, which had just appointed Jaap van Praag as its new chairman, immediately hired Rinus Michels, former player and coach of Zandvoort-Meeuwen and AFC, as his successor. Michels was the first Dutch head coach at Ajax and succeeded in taking the club to the European top.

1965-1971
Rinus Michels, nicknamed 'The Sphinx' because he never used two words where only one would suffice, introduced professionalism to the club. Michels adopted the attacking playing style for which Ajax is still known to this day. He also brought back experienced players like Henk Groot (Feyenoord) and Co Prins (Kaiserslautern) and bought new players like Gert Bals from PSV.
Under Rinus Michels, Ajax was very successful. During a six-year period Ajax won the national championship four times and the KNVB Cup three times. In the 1966-67 season Ajax won its first 'Double', i.e. both the national championship and the KNVB Cup. Johan Cruijff and Piet Keizer contributed to a new goal record: 122.

Under the supervision of the new coach, and old player, Rinus Michels Ajax was very successfull. In six years time Ajax won the national championship four times and won the Dutch KNVB-Cup three times. In 1966-1967 Ajax won the 'double', for the first time; the national championship and the KNVB-Cup. Johan Cruijff and Piet Keizer, together, scored 122 goals. A national record.



At the international level Ajax now built up quite a reputation for itself. Many people can still vividly remember the memorable EuropeanCup matches against Liverpool. In a very foggy Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam the referee Sbardella just managed to see both goals and did not consider it necessary to abandon the game.

Ajax beat Liverpool 5-1 thanks to three goals by Henk Groot and two by Cees de Wolf who replaced the injured Piet Keizer. In the return at Anfield Road, during which Ajax's lead was never threatened, Cruijff scored twice (2-2). Ajax' disappointment was great when it lost the quarter finals against Dukla Prague (1-1 at home and 2-1 in the away game).

In 1969 Ajax was given a new European chance. Ajax was the first Dutch club to reach the European Cup final. In Madrid Ajax lost 4-1 to AC Milan, but despite losing the final, Ajax had clearly become a European force to be reckoned with.

1971-1973
The international successes under Rinus Michels during the late sixtiesl aid the basis for Ajax's European supremacy in the early seventies. In the golden years 1971, 1972 and 1973 the club won the European Cup three times in succession, beating Panathinaikos (2-0), Inter Milan (2-0) and Juventus (1-0), respectively. In the 1973 World Cup match against the Argentine team Independiente, Ajax beat the Latin-American champion, declining to play the 1974 World Cup match because of its busy gameschedule.



The Dutch league was more or less a formality for Ajax in those days. Coached by Stefan Kovacs, who succeeded Michels in 1972, the Amsterdamc lub regularly filled both national and international opponents with despair through a playing style, later to be referred to as 'totalfootball', in which the ball was passed round quickly and both midfieldplayers and defenders played very offensively. In addition, the Amsterdam defence was impenetrable. In 1971 goalkeeper Heinz Stuy set a record by remaining unbeaten for 1082 minutes. In 1972 and 1973 Ajax won the championship with goal averages of over 100.



In 1973 Cruijff, hurt by the fact that his team mates has given the captaincy to Piet Keizer, left Ajax and went to Barcelona, having been bought for six million guilders, a record in those days. The Catalan club, which had hired Rinus Michels two years earlier, received Cruijff as 'El Salvador' ('The Saviour') and promptly won the championship for the first time in fourteen years.

Johan Cruijff was special, of course. The European Footballer of the Year in 1971, 1973 and 1974 was the absolute leader of the invincible Ajax of the seventies. He rapidly became the supporters' favourite due to his inimitable style of play. The career of this player from Betondorp, both in Ajax and the Dutch national team, is full of highs and lows, however.



On 6 November 1966 Johan Cruijff was the first Dutch player to be sent off in an international. He was supposed to have tried to hit the referee, something which was never confirmed by television pictures or photographs. Cruijff of course has always denied, but he was nevertheless suspended by the KNVB for a whole year!

1981-1987
In the eighties Ajax was dominated by young players: time and again the club opened 'a new can of talent' as it was called, i.e. young players from its own youth teams playing at Voorland. But players who become big international stars at Ajax proved (and still prove, in fact) difficult to hold on to for the club. After the exodus following the three successful European Cup finals, Cruijff was hailed as the prodigal son when he returned to Ajax as a player in 1981.



At the national level, during the 1981-1987 period Ajax won both the championship and the KNVB Cup three times. Ajax had the most successful goal scorers in Europe. Wim Kieft with 32 goals (1981-1982) and Marco van Basten with 37 goals (1986-1987) received the Golden Shoe as European top scorers. In all, Van Basten scored 151 goals in 127 matches.

It would take the appointment of Johan Cruijff as 'technical director'in 1985 (significantly enough not as trainer/coach as he did not have the diplomas required by the KNVB) to give Ajax its first international trophy in fourteen years. In 1987, led by Cruijff, who after a row with the Ajax board in 1983 had played for Feyenoord for a year, Ajax won its only European Cup Winners Cup after beating Lokomotiv Leipzig 1-0 in Athens after a difficult final.

It would take until 1985 when Johan Cruijff became technical director, not trainer-coach because he had no papers, when Ahax after 14 year finally won an international price. Cruijff conducted the team that won the finales against Lokomotive Leipzig with 1-0 in Athenes in 1987. It is the only time that Ajax won the European Cup for

But Ajax did not win the national championship under Cruijff. This prize was won by PSV three times. In 1986 the Eindhoven team bought Gerald Vanenburg and Ronald Koeman and won the European Cup. Cruijff bought Danny Blind from Sparta and the former FC Utrecht player Jan Wouters, two players who proved very important for the club in later years.

1991-1997
When he was appointed head coach Louis van Gaal was relatively unknown in football. As a youth coach and assistant coach he had already proven his qualities and value for the club, but the media and supporters needed some convincing. He did so, among other things, by winning the UEFA Cup that season (beating Torino 2-0 on aggregate). Ajax had now equalled the successes of top clubs like Juventus (and later Barcelona and Bayern Munich) that had won every European Cup.

On may 24, 1995 Ajax won the European Cup for the fourth time in history. Frank Rijkaard gave an assist to subsititute Patrick Kluivert who scored the only and winning goal against AC Milan in the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna.



These successes did not go unnoticed. Ajax regularly had to accept players leaving for foreign clubs. Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk (to Inter Milan), Bryan Roy (to Foggia), Jan Wouters (to Bayern Munich), John van 't Schip (to AS Genoa), Michel Kreek (to Padova) and Tarik Oulida (to Seville) were some of the players who left.

The good thing about transfers is that the players leaving give new and often young players the chance to prove themselves. As a youth coach, Van Gaal had seen the qualities of some of the players in Ajax's youth teams, and he gave quite a number of them the chance to make their debut in the first team. Edgar Davids (8 September 1991), Clarence Seedorf (28 October 1992) and Patrick Kluivert (21 August 1993) made a reputation for themselves in a very short time.

The 22 year-old Finnish player Jari Litmanen was given a contract to replace Dennis Bergkamp. In the 1993-94 season the striker became the topscorer in the first division with 26 goals. Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was given his place in the first eleven after the unfortunate Stanley Menzo misjudged a cross and tipped the ball into his own goal in the lost away match against Auxerre (4-2) on 3 March 1993. Ronald de Boer was bought back from FC Twente and together with his twin brother Frank he became one of Ajax's most important players.

Louis Van Gaal undoubtly is the most successfull coach in the history of Ajax. Under his supervision Ajax won in six seasons many prices: National Championship (1994, 1995, 1996), Champions League (1995), World Cup (1995), UEFA Cup (1992), Dutch KNVB-Cup(1993), European Supercup (1996) en three times the Dutch Supercup(1993, 1994, 1996).

The sequence of successes properly started with the return of Frank Rijkaard in the 1993-94 season. The experienced midfielder returned from AC Milan to end his football career with his old club. Together with former Ajax player Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit he had already been very successful in Italy, only to continue his successful career playing for Ajax. With Rijkaard, Ajax won the European Cup for the fourth time in its history. In the final on 24 May 1995 in the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna Patrick Kluivert scored the only and winning goal against AC Milan from a pass from Rijkaard.
The match for the World Cup in Tokyo followed as an extra to the already very successful season. On 28 November 1995 Ajax played against the Brazilian team Gremio, the Latin-American champion. It was captain Danny Blind who after extra time scored the winning penalty and showed for the second time in history that Ajax was the best team in the world.


The nineties at Ajax were dominated by Louis van Gaal. He is indisputably the most successful coach Ajax has ever had. In six seasons he won one trophy after the other: Ajax won the national championship three times in a row (1994, 1995 and 1996), the Champions League (in1995), the World Cup (in 1995), the UEFA Cup (in 1992), the KNVB Cup(1993), the European Super Cup (1996) and the Dutch Supercup three times(1993, 1994 and 1996).

Ajax's successes forced the club to push through its plans for the Amsterdam Arena and to say goodbye to its 'De Meer' stadium although many supporters were against the idea. After all, it was at 'De Meer' that Ajax had had so many successes in 62 years and for many supporters the stadium had become a home away from home.

'De Meer' had never seen such a capacity crowd as on the last historic day. On 28 April 1996 Ajax won the third championship in succession in its match against Willem-II (5-1). This was also the day that the supporters saw several players appear for the last time for Ajax: Sonny Silooy left for Arminia Bielefeld, Edgar Davids and Michael Reiziger for AC Milan, and, as it would turn out, Nwanko Kanu and Finidi George for Inter Milan and Betis Seville, respectively.

After this exodus Louis van Gaal wanted to have a last season in the new stadium before trying his luck abroad. Patrick Kluivert, Winston Bogarde and Arnold Scholten also played one more season in the Arena. Unfortunately, for the first time in years so-called 'lucky Ajax' experienced a list of misfortunes. Due to transfers and injuries Ajax lost so many points in especially the first half of the competition that it could no longer catch up with the leaders PSV, Feyenoord and FC Twente after the winter break. Eventually the injured team still managed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Youth academy
____________________________________________

Ajax’s youth academy is world famous. The goal of Ajax is to form talented young players into top football players. Only the very best will reach the top after a difficult and often long road. Johan Cruijff, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Wim Kieft, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Kluivert are but a few of the international stars that have successfully completed the training at the youth academy.


Frank Rijkaard with a 9 year old Patrick Kluivert, 10 years later they went on to win the Champions league together

At AFC Ajax, the training of top football players takes centre stage. That is why the youth academy is also known as the breeding ground of Dutch football. The further you get, the harder it becomes to maintain your place and to reach the ultimate objective - to play in the Amsterdam Arena. Only one or two players make it to the first team each year.

Ajax is partly dependant on players from its own youth academy. The youth teams are trained in exactly the same way as the first team en these boys are therefore already accustomed to Ajax’s style of play.



Central within the club is the style of play (4-3-3), training, behaviour and house rules. Ajax strives to keep the way of playing football recognisable; attractive, offensive-minded, creative, fast, fair and preferably far away from the own goal on the opponents’ half.

Ajax has developed the so-called TIPS model, which stands for Technique, Insight, Personality and Speed. For each part there are ten criteria. P and S are generally innate properties, but I and S can always be developed further. The players own a special Ajax passport, in which all achievements are noted.

PSV CLUB HISTORY



______________________________

THE ORIGIN
______________________________

The Eindhoven Football Club PSV was founded on 31 August 1913, at the end of a big Philips sports party marking the 100th anniversary of Dutch independence. Originally PSV Football was one of 19 members of the Philips Sports Club (in Dutch abbreviated to PSV).The present Philips Stadium is still on the same location where it was first built.

As its name indicates, the club started out as a company-sponsored sports club for Philips employees on August 31 (then Koninginnedag), 1913 to celebrate the centennial defeat of the French in the Napoleonic wars. PSV have evolved into a fully professional football club. Their home in Eindhoven is the Philips Stadion with a capacity of 35,000 spectators which is fully seated. Plans to further expand the ground to 40,000 seats have been put on hold. It was, however, the stadium where many European Cup matches were played, and more recently was one of the Dutch venues for the Euro 2000 competition held jointly by Netherlands and Belgium. It was built at the same time as the inauguration of the club, although its current capacity was only achieved by various modernisation programmes throughout their history. The average attendance for the season 2005/06 was 33,165 spectators.

PSV garnered many honours in the football arena and have been credited as the club where many successful players such as Ruud Gullit, Mateja Kežman, Romário, Ronaldo, Luc Nilis, Philip Cocu, Park Ji-Sung, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Lee Young-Pyo, Jefferson Farfán and Arjen Robben plied their trade and talents. Their success was built on the foundations laid down by other famous players like Willy van der Kuijlen, Jan van Beveren, Jan Poortvliet, the Van de Kerkhof brothers who also played for the Dutch national team and Huub Stevens in the 1970s where the club won the UEFA Cup in 1978, defeating Bastia 3-0 in the final.

In 1988, coached by Guus Hiddink and with a team featuring numerous excellent players such as Ronald Koeman, Eric Gerets, Søren Lerby and Wim Kieft, PSV won the European Cup for the first time and so far in their history, beating Benfica on penalties after a goalless final. Curiously, PSV took the trophy despite not winning any of its final five fixtures in the competition: they eliminated both Bordeaux and Real Madrid on away goals, with all four matches ending in draws. Following the European Cup win, PSV faced off with Libertadores winners, Club Nacional de Football of Montevideo. After a 2-2 draw, Nacional went on to defeat PSV Eindhoven in penalties to win their 3rd World Club title. Guus Hiddink still calls that game one of the hardest defeats of his career.

Despite being able to scout South America and most of Europe for budding talents such as those players above, many of them have indirectly made PSV as a springboard for professional development such as Ronaldo who spent only two seasons at the club as well as Mateja Kežman and Arjen Robben, and most recently, Park Ji-Sung and Lee Young-Pyo who were restless at the opportunity to move to a more illustrious league after a mere two seasons. The recent transfer of South Korea player Park to English club Manchester United was even quoted by PSV spokesman Pedro Salazar-Hewitt as having admitted that 'we'd love to keep him but the club has already asked for the player' indicates a total lack of control over the future of their own players. [1]. Regardless, after the departures of influential players such as Mark van Bommel, Johann Vogel, Park Ji-Sung, Lee Young-Pyo and Wilfred Bouma after the 2004/2005 season, PSV have moved to secure the services of players like Mika Väyrynen, Osmar Ferreyra and Belgium midfielder Timmy Simons. With the addition of young players to bolster the squad such as Ismaïl Aissati and Ibrahim Afellay, PSV reached the knockout stage of the Champions League 2005/2006 for a second running, having achieved the semi-final stage in the Champions League season before.

Famous coaches such as Guus Hiddink (who between stints at PSV coached the Dutch national team to a fourth-place finish in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and South Korea to a similar fourth place in the 2002 FIFA World Cup) have managed the team over the years and have brought considerable successes to the club. Eric Gerets' stint as manager at the club has also yielded two Eredivisie titles.

First successes
_______________________

From 1914 onwards PSV have competed in league football. A few years later, after a string of promotions, PSV entered the top flight of Dutch football. They clinched the Dutch title for the first time in 1929 and won their first Dutch Cup in 1950. Five years later PSV were the first Dutch club to take part in the Coupe Européene, the predecessor of the European Cup I. In the 1956-1957 season PSV striker Coen Dillen made history by scoring 43 league goals in one season, a goal-scoring record that has not been broken yet.

The seventies
_______________________

The mid and late 1970's were a golden era for PSV. They boasted quality players with the likes of Willy van der Kuijlen, the Van de Kerkhof brothers, Jan van Beveren, Jan Poortvliet, Harry Lubse and Huub Stevens and won two domestic cups and three domestic championships. PSV also won the UEFA Cup, their first major European title, on 9 May 1978. At home PSV beat French opponents Bastia 3-0 in a spectacular game in the final?s first leg. The UEFA Cup is now in the trophy cabinet.

1988, PSV win the treble
In the late 1980?s PSV signed a great many international top players such as Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman, Gerald Vanenburg, Erik Gerets and Hans van Breukelen.

PSV again gained a great many sporting successes. They won an amazing seven league titles and won three Dutch Cup finals in seven seasons (1986-1992). In the 1987/1988 season they even won the treble (Dutch title, Dutch Cup and European Cup I). After a thrilling match PSV beat Benfica on penalties. Some players of the squad also celebrated winning the Euro 1988 with the national team in Germany.

Brazilian talent
_______________________

After winning the European Cup, PSV succeeded in completing a deal with one of the world?s most talented players: Romario de Souza Faria. During the early nineties he was undoubtedly the star player on the Dutch pitches. After his departure in 1993, he was replaced by another talented youngster: Ronaldo, a world class striker.

Late Nineties
_______________________

In 1996 PSV won the Dutch Cup for the seventh time. PSV also won the Super Cup, renamed the Johan Cruijff Shield in the same year. In 1997 PSV clinched their fourteenth Dutch title and two years later they also won the Johan Cruijff Shield again. A few years later another lengthy period of glory began. As from 2000 PSV won as many as five Dutch titles in a seven-year spell. They took part in the Champions League tournament every season. So far without gaining spectacular results yet, though. In the 2000-2001 campaign PSV earned nine points and finished third in their group. Consequently they were entitled to compete in the UEFA Cup tournament, where they reached the quarter finals. PSV lost out to FC Twente in the Dutch Cup final.

The new millennium
_______________________

The next few years PSV enjoyed great successes in the domestic league, in the Dutch Cup campaign and on the European stage. PSV won the Johan Cruijff Shield again in the 2001-2002 season. They were eliminated in the UEFA Cup in the quarter finals. The next season Guus Hiddink made a comeback after twelve years. It was an exciting campaign and the championship was decided on the very last match-day. PSV collected one more point than the runners-up and clinched the title. PSV won the Johan Cruijff Shield at the start of the 2003-2004 season and were second in the Dutch league. Although PSV earned as many as ten points in the Champions League campaign, they did not progress to the second phase and were eliminated in the UEFA Cup quarter finals.

The 2004-2005 season was one of the most successful season in the club?s history. PSV strengthened their squad with the signings of Gomes, Alex, Jefferson Farfán and Phillip Cocu and magnificently won the double. They progressed to the Champions League knock-out stages and were cruelly eliminated in the semi-finals, being beaten by a late AC Milan goal in their semi-final second leg.

2005-2006
_______________________

Expectations at the start of the 2005-2006 season were not high. The successes took their toll and star players the likes of Mark van Bommel, Ji-Sung Park, Johann Vogel, Young-Pyo Lee moved to other clubs. However, PSV signed some good replacements and captain Phillip Cocu guided them to another championship. PSV progressed to the Champions League knock out stages for the second time in a row, but acknowledged Olympique Lyon as their superiors. Yet the first six years of the 21st century mark yet another golden chapter in the clubs rich history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1VWSntqRg

One of the greatest players ever.