RIP Johan Cruyff

 Football is art, and great football is great art. And Johan Cruyff was indeed one of the greatest football artists the world has ever seen. His greatness went beyond his outstanding technical skills and physical qualities, but what made him one of the men that has changed football, was that he perhaps more than anybody else, was the first great footballer who “thought” football; who combined his skills and his brains to develop a whole new style of football.

As a player he won three European Cups with Ajax Amsterdam, as well as la Liga and Copa del Rey with FC Barcelona. He also, more than any of the other immensely talented players of a great Dutch generation, symbolized the Total Football that took the Netherlands to two World Cup finals, and made them darlings of the world.

As a manager he took all his skills to create a style of football that led FC Barcelona to four league titles in a row in the early 1990s, and FC Barcelona's first ever European Cup triumph in 1992. More than anyone else he created the foundation for the FC Barcelona style of today, meaning that not only Barcelona should be thankful, but also the Spanish national team, who would never have won the 2010 World Cup without that style.

The Netherlands, Spain, and the entire football world should be sad with his parting, but at the same time thankful for everything he gave to the entire football world.

An artist and a genius is joining Heaven's top League today.

Greatest World Cup matches: Argentina-Netherlands (1978)

In 1976 Argentina’s government was overthrown by a military coup. The country had been awarded to host the world cup two years before, and when the coup happened, FIFA, led by the new president João Havelange, found no reason to suspend the tournament as news from Argentina of the military junta's harsh repression and violence against political dissidents started coming out of the country. As the world cup approached, talks of boycotting the tournament came increased, but with little effect on most people, except for one of the best players of the time; the legendary Dutch player Johann Cruyff refused to participate in protest against Videla’s military government.
In the meantime, the Argentine military government put all efforts into creating a world cup where Argentina would ultimately be victorious, diverting the people’s attention away from the military repression and give a positive image of the regime. Many dissidents were jailed, millions and millions of dollars spent on infrastructure, and shortly before the tournament, the media was even prohibited from making critical comments of the national team, which was coached by the charismatic Cesar Luis Menotti.
In spite of this odious favouritism of the Argentinean team, there is no doubt that they had a very strong side that was further energized by the nationalist euphoria of the Argentinean fans, who arguably created one of the most intimidating atmospheres for the visiting sides ever seen in a world cup. Cesar Luis Menotti had even had the luxury of leaving a 17-year old superstar, Diego Armando Maradona, out of the Argentinean side, although he was already being hailed as the best player in the world.
The Argentinean team was built around a list of skillful players: the River Plate captain Daniel Passarella was also captain of the team, the Huracán (and later Tottenham legend) Osvaldo Ardiles commandeered the midfield, and there were powerful strikers in River Plate’s Leopoldo Luque and Valencia’s Mario Kempes, who had been top-scorer of the Spanish league for the two previous seasons. Finally, on goal, Argentina had Ubaldo Fillol, from River Plate, who rose to become one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and was instrumental in Argentina’s victory.
Still, Argentina’s way to the final remains highly controversial: in the first round they defeated Hungary and France, but lost to Italy only to take second place in their group. In the second round group they started by defeating Poland 2-0, on two goals by Kempes, and tied Brazil 0-0 before their final match against Peru. Due to the previous results in the group, Argentina had to win by at least four goals to make it to the final, and their subsequent 6-0 victory was thus shrouded by controversy, as the military government in Argentina transferred significant sums of money to Peru after the victory, and the Argentinean president, Videla, visited the Peruvian team just before the match.
No matter what happened, Argentina was euphoric as the team made it to the final, where they were to face the Netherlands, who were making it to their second world cup final in a row.
Even without Johan Cruyff, the Dutch team was excellent, with many experienced players from the 1974 World Cup, such as Johnny Rep, Rene van der Kerkhof, Johan Neeskens, Rob Rensenbrink and captained by Ajax Amsterdam’s Ruud Krol. At the same time the team had been complemented by some new talents from the Dutch school such as Ajax Amsterdam’s Arie Haan, Roda’s Dick Nanninga, and PSV Eindhoven’s Ernie Brandt (who previously in the tournament, against Italy, had been the first player in a world cup to score a goal for each team in the same match).
In spite of the players, the Dutch team had not been as awesome as in 1974, and had only qualified from the first round behind Peru, after defeating Iran, tying with Peru and losing to Scotland. In the second round they had played 2-2 with their arch-rivals from West Germany, destroyed Austria 5-1, and made it to the final by defeating Italy 2-1.
The final in Buenos Aires Estadio Monumental was played in an extraordinary and intimidating atmosphere for the visiting Dutch team, that even before the match experienced a war of nerves as the Argentinean team delayed their entrance onto the pitch, and then protested about a plaster on Rene van der Kerkhof’s hand.
As the match started, the Dutch dominated, and Johnny Rep had a close header. However, after the first fifteen minutes the Argentineans got more into the match and had a couple of good chances, before Johnny Rep had another excellent shot that was extraordinarily saved by Fillol.
In the 38th minute Argentina went ahead 1-0 by Mario Kempes, who, receiving the ball from Leopoldo Luque had made a quick rush between two Dutch defenders and just pushed the ball under the Dutch goalkeeper Jongbloed.
In the last minutes of the first half, Fillol again saved Argentina on a close Dutch try, and first half ended with a lead for the home team. The match had not been pretty – there were many dirty free kicks from both sides, something that continued throughout the match and which the weak referee Sergio Gonella was unable to entirely bring under control.
Argentina came out to the second half with a well-organised defense, knowing that the Netherlands had to attack, and waiting for the counter-attack chances for their quick strikers – something that in fact brought them closer to scoring than the Dutch when Jongbloed made an excellent save alone with Luque.
Unable to break the deadlock, the Dutch coach Ernst Happel substituted Johnny Rep with Dick Nanninga. Only ten minutes from the end of the match, as it looked like Argentina would carry the day, Dick Nanninga silenced the entire stadium when he rose to a perfect header on a cross from Rene Van der Kerkhof and scored a beautiful goal.
1-1, and in the last ten minutes the Netherlands went for the victory against the stunned hosts: in the very last seconds the Dutch came very close to crowning themselves as world champions when Rob Rensenbrink hit the post.
The match now had to go into an extra time, where Argentina’s best player, Mario Kempes proved to be unstoppable for the tired Dutch defenders; his long rushes down the center had been difficult for the Netherlands the entire match, and fifteen minutes into the extra time another rush down the Dutch central defense got him through somehow luckily, and he made it 2-1. With fifteen minutes left against an exhausted Dutch side, Argentina had all the advantages, and it was not surprising when Sevilla’s Daniel Bertoni fortuitously received the ball during another Kempes raid, and made it 3-1 for Argentina.
Argentina was in ecstasy at their victory, forgetting the pains of the dictatorship. The later Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Lopez Esquivel, who was imprisoned at the time, told how guards and prisoners alike became united for some moments, in spite of the triumph being a huge propaganda victory for the military dictatorship.
Although the Argentinean title was shrouded in controversy about the role of the military junta, fixed matches and intimidation, as well as regrets from many players about how they had been used by the repressive regime, it was perhaps Leopoldo Luque who was most correct when he said that “Menotti and the players won the world cup, not the military. I was playing with Kempes and Bertoni, not with the Junta.”
However, Argentina’s first world cup title will always be shrouded by the political controversy surrounding it.

Match stats:

• 25th June, 1978, Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires
• Attendance: 77,260
• Referee: Sergio Gonella (Italy)

Argentina-Netherlands 3-1 (after extra time)
Goals: 1-0 Kempes (38), 1-1 Nanninga (80), 2-1 Kempes (105), 3-1 Bertoni (115)

Teams:
Argentina: Fillol, Olguin, L. Galvan, Passarella (c), Tarantini, Ardiles (Larrosa), Gallego, Kempes, Bertoni, Luque, Ortiz (Houseman)
Netherlands: Jongbloed, Jansen (Suurbier), Brandts, Krol, Poortvliet, Haan, W. Van der Kerkhof, Neeskens, R. Van der Kerkhof, Rep (Nanninga), Rensenbrink

Greatest World Cup Matches: West Germany-Netherlands (1974)

The two teams to dispute the final of the 1974 world cup in West Germany were undoubtedly the best teams in the world at the time: West Germany were defending European champions, and were led by Franz Beckenbauer, the Bayern Munich captain, and arguably one of the best players of all time. Solid on all places, they furthermore had the striker Gerd Müller, who after this tournament became the most scoring player of all world cups (until Ronaldo in 2002).
The home team had nevertheless not started the tournament well. In the first round they had only finished second in their group, after losing against East Germany in a politically loaded match in Hamburg. However, this match had apparently awakened the Germans, who in the second round had scored three consecutive victories against Yugoslavia, Sweden and Poland, to make it to the final.
In spite of playing at home in Munich in front of almost 80,000 fans, the Germans were not favourites: they were facing the Netherlands, a team that had taken the world with storm. Coached by the former Ajax Amsterdam coach Rinus Michels, the Dutch “orange machine” played a style of football that came to be known as “Total football”, putting pressure everywhere on the pitch with its many extraordinary players, notably Barcelona’s Johann Cruyff, the European footballer of the year in 1971, 1973 and in 1974, and one of the best players of all time.
The Dutch had been incredible the entire tournament, winning their first round group ahead of Sweden, Bulgaria and Uruguay, and in the second round cruising through Argentina, East Germany, and finally defeating the defending world champions of Brazil 2-0.
Thousands of Dutch fans had crossed over to West Germany from the Netherlands to see what was in reality an extraordinary feat for the small country against its big neighbour, who many Dutch people had a hateful relationship to. For instance, the Dutch Feyenoord player Wim Van Hanegem, who had lost his father and two brothers during WWII, expressed his disdain for Germans when stating "I don't like Germans. Everytime I played against German players, I had a problem because of the war."
The stage was thus set for an enormous drama in Munich.
And it all started well for the Dutch favourites. As they gave up the ball they passed the ball around, without a single German player getting a touch, when the ball landed with Johann Cruyff. The small Borussia Mönchengladbach player known as “the Terrier”, Bertie Vogts, was appointed as the player who was to neutralize Cruyff, but he was unable to stop the Dutchman in this first minute, as he rushed at full speed directly towards the German goal. As he entered the German area a desperate Uli Hoeness tackled him, and the English referee Jack Taylor correctly awarded a penalty for the Dutch. The Ajax Amsterdam (and that year Barcelona) striker Johann Neeskens took the penalty and scored his fifth goal of the tournament, and the Dutch machine was ahead 1-0 after only one minute.
The Germans had not even touched the ball yet.
But if one thing has characterized German football throughout football history, it is that German teams never give up, and in front of their home crowd, the West German side increasingly managed to fight themselves into the match, and in particular Berti Vogts completely managed to neutralize Johann Cruyff, while the Dutch thought that they had the match under control. Johann Cruyff later recalled: “Being ahead so soon caught us off balance since we never expected that defeating the hosts would be so easy. We had a sense of vertigo. Germany was almost defeated, but we then started to make mistakes. Germany didn’t win the world cup, but we lost it.”
The Dutch were overconfident, and 25 minutes into the first half they were punished when Eintracht Frankfurt’s Bernd Hölzenbein stormed down the left side, and in a rush that reminded of Cruyff’s 24 minutes earlier, stormed into the Dutch area, and right before shooting, was brought down by Feyenoord’s Wim Jansen.
Referee Jack Taylor awarded the Germans the second penalty kick ever in a world cup final, and the outstanding Bayern Munich defensive midfielder (soon to become Real Madrid player) Paul Breitner made no mistake in scoring the equalizer for West Germany.
In spite of the Netherlands still often controlling the ball, the Germans now seemed more solid all over the pitch. Almost at the end of the first half the youngest German player, Rainer Bonhof, passed the ball into Gerd Müller inside the Dutch penalty box. The pass was too close to Müllers feet and the ball bounced backwards, away from Müller and the Dutch defender, but in a split-second Müller turned and shot immediately, not too hard, but past Jan Jongbloed in the Dutch goal.
The home team was up 2-1 at half-time, with the Dutch effectively having thrown away their early advantage.
The Dutch tried to attack feverishly in the second half, but the solid German defense and an excellent Sepp Maier on goal, prevented the Netherlands from scoring. On the opposite side, West Germany had more chances on counter-attack, with a Gerd Müller goal even being disallowed for off-side. In any case, the 2-1 result held for West Germany, who twenty years after their first world title in Switzerland, West Germany had deservedly won the world championship at home against a Dutch team that remains one of the best teams ever never to have won the world cup.

Match Stats:

• 7th July, 1974, Olympia Stadion, Munich
• Attendance: 77,833
• Referee: John Taylor (England)

West Germany-Netherlands 2-1
Goals: 0-1 Neeskens (1) (pen); 1-1 Breitner (25) (pen); 2-1 Muller (43)

Teams:
West Germany: Maier, Vogts, Schwarzenbeck, Beckenbauer, Breitner, Bonhof, Hoeness, Overath, Grabowski, Muller, Hölzenbein
Netherlands: Jongbloed, Suurbier, Rijsbergen (de Jong), Haan, Krol, Jansen, Van Hanegen, Neeskens, Rep, Cruyff, Rensenbrink (R. Van der Keerkof)

Greatest World Cup Matches: Netherlands-Brazil (1974)

The tournament of 1974 was designed somewhat differently from the previous tournaments: instead of quarterfinals and semifinals, the winners and runners-up of each group would go through to two play-off groups of four teams, whose winners would then dispute the final.
In the second group stages the defending world champions of Brazil came face to face with the revelation of the tournament, the Dutch “Orange machine” in the last match of the groups that could see either side go to the world cup final.
After the great 1970 side, Brazil had undergone enormous changes; of the players that had played the 1970 final almost none were left, only Jairzinho and Rivelino, who were not able to lift the Brazilian play.
In spite of going undefeated through from the first round, Brazil had not been overwhelming: two 0-0 draws against Yugoslavia and Scotland, and a 3-0 victory against Zaire had been enough to just secure Brazil to go through ahead of Scotland on a one-goal difference. In the second round they still had a chance to get to the final though, as they had defeated East Germany and Argentina before the last match against the Netherlands, where a victory would put the South Americans in the final.
But the Brazilians were facing a confident Dutch side that had taken the world with storm. The Netherlands was coached by perhaps the greatest footballing genius ever, Rinus Michels, who had led Ajax Amsterdam to win the European Champions Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1974, by playing the style that came to be known as “Total Football”, where their extraordinarily athletic and technically-skilled players were able to play any position on the pitch, adapt their style to any opponent, and take advantage of any weak point in the opposition.
The Dutch team was full of many extraordinary players, many of whom had emerged from the Ajax Amsterdam footballing school. Among them, one stood out, namely the then-Barcelona player Johan Cruyff, who as Ajax Amsterdam player had been named European footballer of the year in 1971 and 1973 (and was to win the title again in 1974). Other of the extraordinary and versatile players were the Ajax midfielder Johan Neeskens, the also Ajax striker Johnny Rep, Anderlecht’s Rob Rensenbrink, and Feyenoord’s legendary defender Wim van Hanegem (Feyenoord had in fact won the European Champions Cup before Ajax in 1970 setting the stage for Dutch dominance in the 1970s).
Followed by a hordes of charming and orange-clad fans from across the Dutch-German border, the Dutch team had impressed everyone with their style. In the first round they had won their group after defeating Uruguay 2-0, Bulgaria 4-1 and tied 0-0 against Sweden. In their first two matches of the second round, they had destroyed Argentina 4-0 and defeated East Germany 2-0. Thus, a tie against Brazil would be enough to put them in the final.
Although Brazil had some chances at the start of the match, it was clear that the orange machine was making it difficult all over the pitch for the Brazilian world champions, who increasingly, as the game progressed became more foul in their attempts at stopping the Dutch attacking waves. Although first half ended 0-0, the Dutch had been the better side, and only five minutes into the second half, Netherlands went ahead: Johan Cruyff received the ball from Neeskens on the right side, and Neeskens himself ran forward into the Brazilian area. Cruyff crossed into the area where Neeskens just got ahead of the Brazilian defender and elegantly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper.
The Brazilians now had to score twice, but were unable to do anything against the strong Dutch, and only fifteen minutes later the Dutch scored again, this time on a goal by Cruyff himself, who in perfect balance first-timed a cross from Rensenbrink on the left side.
The goal frustrated the already tense Brazilians, who played uglier and made some extremely harsh attacks on the Dutch players. This culminated in the last minutes of the match when Atlético Madrid’s defender Luis Pereira was shown the red card after a vicious tackle on Neeskens. Pereira left the pitch making provocative signs at the Dutch fans.
The defending champions had not fallen with grace against a Dutch side that the entire football-loving world had fallen in love with, and were to take on the West German hosts in the final in Munich.
Although one of the best teams ever, the Dutch lost the final to the efficient Germans 2-1.

Match Stats:

• 3rd July 1974, Westfalenstadium, Dortmund
• Attendance: 52,000
• Referee: Kurt Tschenscher (West Germany)

Netherlands-Brazil 2-0
Goals: 1-0 Neeskens (50); 2-0 Cruyff (65)

Teams:
Netherlands: Jongbloed; Haan, Van Hanegen, Jansen, Krol, Neeskens (Israel), Cruyff, Rensenbrink (de Jong), Suurbier, Rijsbergen, Rep
Brazil: Leão; Luis Pereira (RC, 84), Marinho Peres, Ze Maria, Marinho Chagas, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Paulo Cesar (Mirandinha), Valdomiro, Carpegiani, Dirceu