Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff

File:JohannCruijff.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Hendrik Johannes Cruijff
Position(s)	Playmaker
Team information
Current team	Retired

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff () - often spelled Cruyff outside the Netherlands; see IJ (digraph)); born April 25, 1947 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager/coach and former player. A brilliant and tempestuous star and widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time; he was named a record number three times European Footballer of the Year (1971, 1973, 1974) and he was a silky exponent of the football philosophy known as Total Football, developed by [Rinus Michels]].

Cruijff was also highly successful as manager of Ajax and FC Barcelona; he still remains as an influential advisor to Barça and Ajax. In 1999, he was voted European player of the Century election held by the IFFHS ahead of Franz Beckenbauer and was voted second in IFFHS' World Player of the Century election behind Pelé.

Style of Play

If Holland were the team that gave the world Total Football, then Johan Cruijff was the Total Footballer. Cruijff was one of a number of youngsters who emerged with Ajax of Amsterdam in the late Sixties and came to dominate European and world football in the early Seventies.

Cruijff was the most outstanding of them all and was widely seen as the natural successor to Pelé as the world's greatest player. As a player, Cruijff was known for his technical ability: his mesmeric ball skill, speed and acceleration, the ability to change direction at will and his tactical insights make him one of the most gifted footballers of all time.

Strictly speaking, Cruijff played centre forward in this system. But he would drop deep to confuse his markers or suddenly move to the wing with devastating effect. No one had seen a centre forward like that before.

He also perfected a move called the "Cruijff Turn". To do this move, Cruijff would look to pass or cross the ball. However, instead of kicking it, he would drag the ball behind his planted foot with the inside of his other foot and turn through 180 degrees and accelerate away outside a bemused defender..

But his greatest quality was vision, based on an acute sense of his team-mates' positions as an attack unfolded.

The sports writer David Miller believed Cruijff superior to any previous player in his ability to extract the most from others. He dubbed him "Pythagoras in boots" for the complexity and precision of his angled passes and wrote: "Few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such mesmeric control on a match from one penalty area to another."

His teammates adapted themselves flexibly around his movements regularly switching positions, so that the tactical roles in the team were always filled, although not always by the same person.

Total Football received widespread attention during the 1972 European Cup final against Internazionale, in which Cruijff scored twice for Ajax [1]; in that game Inter's Gabriele Oriali had the job to mark him in all the game he lost him only 2 times and that meant 2 goals for Ajax. This victory prompted Dutch newspapers to announce the demise of the Italian style of defensive football in the face of Total Football. Soccer: The Ultimate Encyclopaedia says: "Single-handed, Cruijff not only pulled Internazionale of Italy apart in the 1972 European Cup Final, but scored both goals in Ajax's 2-0 win. In that 1971-72 season, Cruijff had been the top scorer in the European Cup competition and he was also the leading marksman in Holland with 25 League goals. That season Ajax, under Cruijff, also won the Dutch League Title, the Dutch FA Cup, the World Club Championship, thrashing the South American Champions Independiente 4-1 on aggregate, and the first European Super Cup with a 6-3 aggregate victory over Glasgow Rangers - beating Rangers home and away.

Career

Professional

Cruijff played successively for Ajax, FC Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante UD and Feyenoord.

At the pinnacle of his professional playing career, he won the European Cup three times (consecutive titles from 1971-1973 with Ajax), which earned the club the right to keep the trophy. He also won the Ballon d'Or (European Player of the Year) three times (1971, 1973 - 4).

File:1984 Feyenoord Kampioen Cruijff.jpg

Cruijff celebrating the 1984 Eredivisie title with Feyenoord Rotterdam.

At the age of 32 he signed a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He had previously been rumoured to be joining the New York Cosmos but the deal did not materialise. He did however play in a couple of exhibition games for the Cosmos. He stayed at the Aztecs for one season, finishing as the NASL's Most Valuable player of 1979 in his first season. The following season he moved to the capital to play for the Washington Diplomats, he played the whole 1980 campaign for Washington, leaving soon after the start of the '81 season.

International

As a Dutch international he played 48 matches, in which he scored 33 goals. In his second Dutch national team match, a friendly against Czechoslovakia, Cruijff was the first Dutch international ever to receive a red card, and be sent off. He received a one-year suspension from the Dutch KNVB.

Cruijff led the Netherlands to a runners-up medal in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and was voted the player of the tournament. Thanks to his team's mastery of Total Football, they coasted into the final, knocking out Argentina (4-0), East Germany (2-0) and Brazil (2-0) along the way. Cruijff himself scored twice against Argentina in one of his team's most dominating performances, then he scored the second goal against Brazil to knock out the defending champions. Accusations of Cruijff's 'aloofness' were not rebuffed by his habit of wearing a shirt with only two stripes along the sleeves, as opposed to Adidas' usual design feature of three, worn by all the other Dutch players, this could though have been due to contractual obligations as he was personally sponsored by Puma.

The Netherlands faced hosts West Germany in the final. Cruijff kicked off and the ball was passed around the Oranje thirteen times before returning to Cruijff, who then went on a rush that eluded Berti Vogts and ended when he was fouled by Uli Hoeness inside the box. Teammate Neeskens scored from the spot kick to give the Netherlands a 1-0 lead, and the Germans had not even touched the ball. The first ever penalty in a World Cup final. His frustration boiled over at half time and he became the first player to ever receive a yellow card at half time from referee Jack Taylor. Only during the latter half of the final was his playmaking influence stifled by the effective marking of Berti Vogts, while Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness and Wolfgang Overath dominated the midfield, enabling West Germany to win 2-1. [2]

Cruijff retired from international football in October 1977, despite helping his national team qualify for the upcoming World Cup. He refused to participate in the tournament finals in Argentina because it had suffered a military coup only two years earlier and he refused to play in a country where torture and murder were continuing to be perpetrated by the junta.[3] The Netherlands emerged runners-up again that year and many believe that the outcome could have been different had Cruijff played.

As a manager

After retiring from the game, Johan Cruijff followed in the footsteps of his mentor Rinus Michels. He lacked formal coaching qualifications, but he caught the eyes of brass when he came down from the stands during a Dutch league game and started handing out unsolicited advice to Ajax coach Leo Beenhakker instructing him to bring on Frank Rijkaard. The baffled Beenhakker let Cruijff take over control and Ajax, who were down 3-1 to FC Twente at that moment, ended up winning the game 5-3.

Cruijff would go on to manage two football clubs, Ajax and Barcelona. He coached a young Ajax to victory in the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1987.

Cruijff returned to Barcelona as manager in 1988, assembling the so-called Dream Team. He introduced players like Josep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Beguiristain, Goikoetxea, Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov. This team won La Liga four times between 1991 and 1994 and beat Sampdoria in both the 1989 European Cup Winners' Cup final and the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley. They also won a Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Super Cup in 1992 and three Supercopa de España. With 11 trophies, Cruijff has been the club's most successful manager to date as well as being the club's longest serving manager. However, in his final two seasons, he failed to win any trophies and fell out with Josep Lluís Nuñez. This resulted in his departure and he vowed never to coach again.

While at Barcelona, he was in negotiations with the KNVB to manage the national team for the 1994 World Cup, but talks broke off at the last minute.[4]

His open support helped candidate Joan Laporta to victory in FC Barcelona's latest presidential elections. He continues to be an adviser for him, although he holds no official post at FC Barcelona right now, sparking controversy about his real role and influence.

Miscellany

Cruijff used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day prior to undergoing double heart bypass surgery in 1991 while he was the coach of FC Barcelona, after which he gave up smoking and began chain-sucking Chupa Chups lollipops instead. He also led the anti-smoking campaign developed by the Health Department of the Catalan government.

In November 2003, Cruijff invoked legal proceedings against the publisher Tirion Uitgevers, over its photo book Johan Cruijff de Ajacied, which used photographs by Guus de Jong. Cruijff was working on another book, also using De Jong's photographs, and claimed unsuccessfully that Tirion's book violated his trademark and portrait rights.

In 2004 he ended sixth place in the election of De Grootste Nederlander (The Greatest Dutchman).

The Dutch Supercup is named after him: Johan Cruijff-schaal.

On 22 July 2006, Cruijff made a surprise return to the football field, in the opening match of the new Emirates Stadium, a testimonial match for Arsenal and Dutch international player Dennis Bergkamp. Cruijff, Marco van Basten, and Bergkamp are often considered by critics and fans to be the three greatest Dutch players of their respective generations.

Cruijff is revered at Nou Camp as 'El Salvador' (The Saviour) for his successful career as player and coach. He quickly won over the Barça fans when he told the European press he chose Barça over Real Madrid because he could not play for a club associated with Franco. He further endeared himself when he chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son.

His son, Jordi Cruyff, has played for teams such as FC Barcelona (while his father was manager), Manchester United and Alaves. Interestingly, the younger Cruyff sports "Jordi" on his shirt to distinguish himself from his famous father (this also reflects the common Spanish practice of referring to players by given names alone or by nicknames).

Cruijff won the European Cup as a player and coach, one of the few to do so. His son Jordi was a Manchester United player when they won the Champions League in 1998-99, but despite featuring in some of the early matches, he had been out on loan during their final run-in to the historic treble.

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Netherlands by the Royal Netherlands Football Association as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [5]

On May 22 2006, Cruijff was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to football by Laureus in their annual World Sports Awards. [6]

Cruijff also received a lifetime achievement award from the KNVB in August 2006 [7] [8]

Number 14

Johan Cruijff was unusual and unique when it came to wearing his shirt number, normally the no.10 will be associated with the main attacker or play maker. However, Cruijff became famous wearing the number 14 jersey. Cruijff wore the number 14 shirt for the first time on 30 October 1970 in the match versus PSV Eindhoven. He made his comeback as a sub after a groin injury and the shirt he was wearing before (no.9) was already in use by Gerrie Mühren. Ajax won the match 1-0 and Cruijff would play in the first team the next match. Although it was very uncommon in these days to not play with numbers 1 to 11 for the starters of a game Cruijff kept playing with the number 14, which became inseparable since, even with the Dutch National team.[9]

In fact; there has even been a documentary on Johan titled Nummer 14 Johan Cruijff [10] and in his native Holland there is a magazine by Voetbal International titled "Nummer 14" [11]

Famous Goals

Cruijff was known to score many goals, but two goals will always be remembered.

The 'Phantom' Goal - Scored against Atlético Madrid during Cruijff's tenure at FC Barcelona, in which Cruijff leaps into the air and kicks the ball past the Madrid goalkeeper, the goal was featured in the documentary En un momento dado in which fans of Cruijff 'attempted' to recreate that moment, the goal has been dubbed 'Le but d'Imposible de Cruyff' (The Imposible goal of Cruijff). [12]

The Penalty incident - Scored against Helmond Sport in 1982 playing for Ajax, Cruijff puts the ball down as if it is a routine penalty kick, instead Cruijff nudges the ball to his Ajax teammate Jesper Olsen who in return passes it back to Cruijff who simply taps the ball into the empty net, as the bemused Helmond goalkeeper looks on. [13] This goal was famously attempted by Arsenal team mates Robert Pires and Thierry Henry, who both failed miserably against Manchester City in 2005, still Cruijff defended Henry and Pires for attempting [14]

Quotes

By Cruijff himself

During his career Cruijff also became a national phenomenon on account of his comments. His expressions are considered as phrases of such simple, stark logic that it either qualifies as sheer brilliance or ultimate cheesiness. It has become cult in the Netherlands, where his form of speech was dubbed "Cruijffiaans" (eng: Cruyffian). His influence on the Spanish language has been subject of the documentary En un momento dado released in 2004. Some examples:

• "Football is simple, but the most difficult thing is to play simple football."
• "You are as valuable as the time you are on TV"
• "Italians can't beat us, but we certainly can lose against them." (Italianen kunnen niet van ons winnen, maar we kunnen wel van ze verliezen.)
• "Without the ball, you can't win." (Zonder de bal kun je niet winnen.)
• On the Teamgeist football for the 2006 FIFA World Cup: "A ball is an essential part of the game." (Een bal is een essentieel onderdeel van het spel.)
• "Speed is often confused with insight. If I start running earlier than the others, I appear to be faster." (Snelheid wordt vaak verward met inzicht. Als ik eerder ga lopen dan de rest, lijk ik sneller.)
• "Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake." (Voordat ik een fout maak, maak ik die fout niet.)
• "Every disadvantage has its advantage." (Elk nadeel heb z'n voordeel.)
• "To win you have to score one more goal than your opponent." (Om te winnen moet je 1 doelpunt meer scoren dan je tegenstander.)
• "I'm not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it worked, it would always be a draw." (Ik geloof niet. In Spanje slaan alle 22 spelers een kruisje voordat ze het veld opkomen, als het werkt, zal het dus altijd een gelijkspel worden.)
• "Coincidence is logical." (Toeval is logisch.)
• "And if you score, then it's in." (En als je scoort, dan zit ie erin.)
• On Italian striker Filippo Inzaghi: "Look, actually he can't play football at all. He's just always in the right position." (Kijk, eigenlijk kan ie helemaal niet voetballen. Hij staat alleen altijd op de goeie plek.)
• On moving from Ajax Amsterdam to Barcelona: "I don't want to be a thief of my own wallet." (Ik wil geen dief van mijn eigen portemonnee zijn.)
• "You never see a Dutchman excel in a sport like weightlifting. It's apparently not in our nature to lift weights. We're just too lazy. But we did sail every sea and we excel in hockey, football and volleyball. Being just a little bit smarter helps. Dutch people have the edge there." (Je ziet nooit een Hollander die uitblinkt in krachtsporten. Het zit kennelijk niet in onze mentaliteit om te gaan gewichtheffen. Dat kunnen we niet opbrengen. Je ziet wel dat we alle zeeën bevaren hebben. En in hockey, volleybal en voetbal staan we bovenaan. Dus: waar ligt het gaatje en hoe kom je er? Iets slimmer zijn dan een ander. Hollanders hebben een streepje voor.)
• "Extremes, I don't like them. Every extreme is crazy [lit. 'something crazy']." (Uitersten, daar hou ik niet van. Elk uiterste is iets waanzinnigs.)
• "People say that life is like a stream. They are right. When I last tried to spit into the wind, I spat in my own face." (Het leven is een stroom zeggen de mensen. Dat klopt. Toen ik laatst tegen de wind in wou spuwen, spoog ik mezelf in het gezicht.)
• "When I drive a car, I keep one hand on the wheel. The other is reserved for different tasks." (Wanneer ik in een auto rijd, hou ik één hand op het stuur, de andere is gereserveerd voor andere taken)
• "Often something in life is probably necessary." (Vaak heeft iets in het leven waarschijnlijk een noodzaak)
• "When I come home after a sport analysis and my wife asks, 'What did you say?' I'll reply, 'I have absolutely no idea whatsoever.'" (Als ik thuiskom van een televisieanalyse, vraagt mijn vrouw: Wat heb je gezegd? Dan zeg ik: Al sla je me dood)
• "Orange is a happy colour." (Oranje is een blije kleur)
• "If it isn't going well, then it isn't going well" (Als het niet goed gaat, dan gaat het niet goed)
• "Dancing is more fun on one foot. Give them a football and voila!" (Dansen is leuker op één voet. Geef ze een voetbal en een voila!)
• "The cleverest do math, the next-best write books. Dancers are the cleverest with their feet, next are footballers." (De slimsten doen aan wiskunde, die daarna schrijven boeken. Dansers zijn het slimst met voeten, daarna komen de voetballers.)
• "I never wear trousers to church. I don't have anything to hide from God." (Ik draag nooit een broek als ik naar de kerk ga. Ik heb niks te verbergen voor God.)
• "Little by little you have to teach the United States that this is the best game in the world."
• "If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better."
• "It's better to fail with your own vision rather than following another man's vision."

About Cruijff

• "He was the better player, but I won the World Cup" — Franz Beckenbauer
• On being asked who is the greatest player ever... "Pelé was the best, but after him comes Johan. He is the best player Europe ever produced" — Franz Beckenbauer
• "He is the best player I have ever seen." — Ron Atkinson [15]
• ESPN Interviewer to Mario Kempes:"I'm assuming Maradona was the greatest player you've ever played with?" Answer: "Maradona was absolutely the best player I have ever played with - but Johan Cruijff was the best player I ever played against" — Mario Kempes [16]
• "I think along with Johan Cruijff, Pelé is the best player I have ever played against, and with Diego Maradona, the best players I have ever seen." — Alan Ball [17]
• "Johan Cruijff was my idol. He is the best player I have seen in my lifetime" — Michel Platini
• "I loved the Dutch in the '70s, they excited me and Cruijff was the best. He was my childhood hero; I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall. He was a creator. He was at the heart of a revolution with his football. Ajax changed football and he was the leader of it all. If he wanted he could be the best player in any position on the pitch." — Éric Cantona [18]
• "For a football player it is the ultimate to have full control of the ball whilst at full speed. Such a player was Cruijff." — Giacinto Facchetti

External links

• Official website
• Cruijff Classics — Cruijff's official shoe brand
• UEFA.com - Netherlands' Golden Player
• Cruijff's trademark turn short video
• Johan Cruijff - A career highlight video on Cruijff.
• Johan Cruijff - dribbling compilation
• Johan Cruijff vs. Real Madrid, 1974