The time Johan Cruyff SHOULD'VE become Netherlands manager
14Johan Cruyff helped create Total Football and put the Netherlands on the footballing map.
First, his club side: Ajax, took Feyenoord’s ball of a 1970 European Cup title and ran with it, wining the following three European Cup crowns.
Then, as part of the Dutch national team, Cruyff dazzled but fell to West Germany in the 1974 World Cup final.
Cruyff wouldn’t take to the field for the Dutch’s 1978 World Cup failure against Argentina, also in the final, but he would be successful in the Netherlands again.
In his first managerial job he won the KNVB Cup in 1986 and in 1987, the latter as part of a double with the Cup Winners’ Cup.
The second of his former clubs Barcelona then came calling.
Cruyff would go onto build the Dream Team at the Nou Camp, winning four La Liga titles in a row, a Copa del Rey in 1990 and the club’s first European Cup.
Cruyff tore up the Barcelona blueprint and changed the culture. For example, Pep Guardiola and Ronald Koeman—two players who starred in the 1992 European Cup final have since gone onto coach Barcelona themselves.
To varying successes, to say the very least.
Cruyff’s dominance in Spain had come to a screeching halt in the summer of 1994, they had lost the Champions League final to Fabio Capello’s A.C. Milan in embarrassing circumstances.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands job had become available after Dick Advocaat had steered the nation to a World Cup quarter final, only to lose to eventual winners Brazil.
The Dutch had only tasted international glory once, at the 1988 European Championships under the stewardship of Cruyff’s mentor: Rinus Michels.
They have since appeared at just one final: the 2010 World Cup, against Spain which ended in a losing effort in Johannesburg.
#Cruyff #Netherlands #FIFAWorldCup
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Voice: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Illustrations: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Words: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
Edit: Jake Doyle (@jakedoyle93)
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