Johan Cruyff (1947-2016) is part of the gallery of football geniuses who enchanted the world, but who never won a World Cup. The athlete, who immortalized the number 14 shirt, was the brains of the Dutch team, runner-up in 1974. The team’s debut in the competition was one of the most sensational games of all time. On June 15 of that year, the planet was introduced to “a clockwork orange”, a reference to the title of Stanley Kubrick’s film.
The pieces of the team coached by Rinus Michels did not maintain a fixed position and confused the marking. The players moved like a merry-go-round. In addition to Cruyff, Neeskens, Van Hanegem, Krol and Rensenbrink were the highlights. The Netherlands’ first victim in the World Cup was Uruguay, in Hannover. “Celeste” had Pedro Rocha, Pablo Forlán, Luis Cubilla, Fernando Morena and goalkeeper Ladislao Mazurkiewicz. Rep was the scorer of two goals in the match: 16 in the first half and 41 in the final stage. Reviewing the game, it seems that the Netherlands had 22 players on the field, just like the way the empty spaces were occupied. The press spoke of “total football”.
The “clockwork orange” is the only team to beat the big three in South America in the same World Cup: Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. Against the national team, led by Zagallo, the Netherlands won 2-0, in Dortmund, with goals from Neeskens and Cruyff and guaranteed a place in the final. As fate would have it, Germany, the hosts, were world champions.
In 1978, in Argentina, the Netherlands were no longer the brilliant team they had been four years earlier. Coach Rinus Michels had been replaced by Ernst Happel. Neeskens was still on the team, but Cruyff did not go to South America. The version always presented is that he was not at the World Cup as a sign of protest against the Argentine dictatorship. But, in 2010, the former star said that, on the eve of his trip to the World Cup, his home in Barcelona was invaded by an armed kidnapper. Cruyff then began to fear that his wife and children would be alone during the World Cup and decided not to defend the “clockwork orange”.
Cruyff made his mark at Ajax and Barcelona. Already as coach of the Catalan team, the former athlete made a revolution, by implementing solid foundations for a new style of play, in addition to investing as much as possible in training star players. To learn more about the story of this idol who died ten years ago, it is worth reading “Johan Cruyff 14, the autobiography” (Editora Grande Area).
*This text does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Jovem Pan.
