Holland '74 When the Dutch National Team qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, it marked their first appearance at the tournament since 1938. Throughout the Post World War Two era, Dutch soccer was l a r g e l y an unambitious, amateur affair. That s t a r t e d t o change dramatically when two Dutch clubs; Feyernoord and Ajax made big waves in European club competitions in the early 70’s. After narrowly qualifying for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany thanks to a goalless draw against arch rival Belgium, Hollands would go on to produce one of the most legendary tournament performances of all time. This campaign is still talked about, discussed, and analyzed today, despite the fact that they failed at the last hurdle and lost in a final they prob a b l y could and should have won.

A j a x A m s t e r d a m and their playing style was already famous throughout , but the 1974 W o r l d C u p introduced the concept o f T o t a l Football to a world w i d e a u d i e n c e . The DNA of that Total F o o t b a ll came into full b l o o m w i t h b o t h Ajax and the Dutch National Team in the first half of the 1970’s , w i t h their star player and FIFA coach of the Century R i n u s M Ichels leading the charge. This DNA still lives on through many different coaches, p l a y ers, and clubs today.

Let’s take a look at how Holland and Total Football rocked the world in the summer of 1974 What the heck is "Total Football”?

'Total Football was, among other things, a conceptual revolution based on the idea that the size of any football field was flexible and could be altered by a team playing on it. In possession, Ajax.... and later the Dutch national team, aimed to make the pitch as large as possible, spreading play to the wings and seeing every run and movement as a way to increase and exploit the available space. When they lost the ball, the same thinking and techniques were used to destroy the space of their opponents.'

--David Winner. Soccer writer

“Total Football means that a player in attack can play in defense. Everything starts simply. The defender must first think defensively, but he must also think offensively. For an attacker it is the other way around.”

“The team is stronger when they play from their normal positions, so when the positions change it is only temporary and you switch back as quickly as possible. It never lasts long. But total Football is not fantasy. It is real because the whole team thinks offensively: We must attack, we must attack! But the quality of the attack is not so good when the attackers are defenders. It is good, but not so good. And the attackers aren’t (the best) defenders.’

“Constant adjustment was vital to keep only one player in each position at any time. It was "coming out, going in, coming out, going in..." You make space. You come in to space. And if the ball doesn't come, you leave this place and another player will come into it.”

“People couldn't see that sometimes we just did things automatically. It comes from playing a long time together. Soccer is best when it's instinctive, when it comes from the heart. You talk about things afterwards, but in the game you just play. Our way of playing… we just grew into it. We didn't realize the ball was going that fast, or that we were changing positions so much. We knew exactly what to do because we'd known and played with each other for five years. We could always adapt and fill in for each other.”

--. Ajax & Holland defender.

Missed the '74 WC due to injury.

“When I saw Suurbier (the left back) going forward, I knew I had to go back. I didn't have to be told. And after two years, everybody knew what to do. When Cruyff went to the left, I knew I had to move to the far post.”

--Sjaak Swaart, Ajax left winger

But Totaal Voetball was not just about attacking. Coach demanded an intense pressing scheme that smothered opposing players and allowed them no time on the ball. This pressing scheme was just as important for the Dutch as their fluidity and creativity with the ball

“Michels saw the need for a team capable of switching between attack and defense on-the-fly, while attempting to reclaim possession as fast as possible through space reduction and direct pressure on the opponent with the ball and secondary pressure on any nearby passing options while cutting off passing lanes. The result was more than just a display of defensive dictation; it saw the emergence of fluid triangular passing patterns moving forward after possession was regained – often in the opponent’s defensive third. Such a pressing display demands players who are technically proficient and versatile while being tactically brilliant. In short, to play for Rinus Michels one had to be a total footballer: fit, smart, tough and versatile.” --Jon Townsend, These Football Times

“Boom! Boom! Rinus Michels always said from the start of the game ‘this is how we play’. Boom! ….. That's not a system, it's an attitude. Every player knows what he must do... very aggressive. We went for the goal. First we make three goals and then, yes, we make some nice combinations, something you wouldn't normally do. We were all winners. We weren't trying to be artists. People remember the team wrong.”

--Sjaak Swaart

Here is an amazing video showing how extreme the Dutch Pressing could be during the 1974 World Cup. Some of these sequences look almost comical now, but at the time no opponents had ever had to face such an overwhelming combination of hard tackling, pressure around the ball, and aggressive offside traps, and they did not know how to handle it

“Soccer is like war, and whoever behaves too properly is lost.” – Rinus Michels

This toughness and aggressive in defending is something that sometimes gets forgotten amid the celebration for the whirl of attacking play that would become dubbed “Clockwork Orange”, But it was a real factor in their success.

Johan Neeskens, the skillful but combative who played for Michels with Ajax, Barcelona, , and the Dutch National Team embodied this spirit. A former Irish International who competed against Neeskens and his New York Cosmos for years in the North American Soccer League once said to me; “Neeskens? I hated that guy! A world class player, but he could have been a world class lumberjack too, for all the times he chopped me down over the years….”

This mindset could even take on a cynical turn, as in the game against Bulgaria in the first group stage of the 1974 World Cup, according to , a midfielder for Ajax but employed as a centerback for the National Team:

"Before the game we drew up a list of our players who would hit (their playmaker, Bonev) with hard tackles early on. Neeskens first, Van Hanagem second, then Suurbier, I think, Wim Janssen maybe,,, I forget what order it was, I think I was number five. But we never

Holland’s Pleasantries towards Bulgarian needed number five. After four captain and playmaker Hristo Bonev did tackles, Bonev didn't want the not survive the opening whistle ball any more. He didn't give us any problems."

The Squad The 1974 World Cup Squad featured 7 players from Ajax (if you count Johan Cruyff, who had grown up at the club before transferring to FC Barcelona), But players from other clubs also played key roles in the World Cup campaign, including several of the seven players selected from Ajax’s rival Feyernoord Rotterdam, from Belgium’s Anderlecht, and goalkeeper from FC Amsterdam.

Unlike what we commonly see today in modern soccer, Coach Rinus Michels made no attempt to rotate or rest the players in his squad. Only 12 different players (designated in orange) started a match over the course of their seven games in the tournament, and in two of those matches Michels didn’t bother to make any substitutions at all.

Epic Players

Epic Hairstyles & Sideburns

The complete list of all the players who appeared in the 1974 World Cup

2 Arie Haan 12 3 Wim Van Hanegem 13 5 Rinus Israel 14 Johan Cruyff 6 Win Jansen 15 Rob Rensenbrink 7 16 8 Jan Jongbloed 17 9 20 10 Renee Van De Kerkhof

Squad Snapshots

The Coach – Rinus Michels

The manager of the team was Rinus Michels, who had been the architect of the Total Football scheme that set the foundation for Ajax’s early success before moving on to coach FC Barcelona. He only took over the team just before the start of the tournament.

A harsh taskmaster who also apparently like to party, Michels would eventually win Euro 88 for Holland and was voted FIFA Coach of the Century in 1999

The Icon – Johan Cruyff

Considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, Johan Cryuff possessed incredible technique, agility, acceleration, and a nose for goal, but what set him apart from the other great players of his era was his creativity and tactical genius.

Strong willed, opinionated, and often argumentative, Cryuff was nevertheless the undisputed heart and driving force behind the 1974 Dutch World Cup Team.

The Surprise Addition – Jan Jongbloed

Jan Jongbloed was not the best Dutch goalkeeper in 1974, but Michels considered him as the best goalkeeper for his Total Football system because of the goalkeeper’s ability to leave his goal and even the penalty box in order to snuff out any breakdowns in Holland’s aggressive high line and offside trap. Despite being a surprise starter for the team, Jongbloed was definitely no slouch, and is second place for all-time appearances in the

Getting the Dutch National

Team to play the Ajax system

“The Ajax-trained players knew inside out the doctrine of permanent attack, "pressing" inside the opponent's half and constantly switching positions. The stars and Rensenbrink had only three weeks in which to get to grips with these ideas during the hard pre-tournament training.... That they adapted so smoothly is a testament to their footballing intelligence.”

--David Winner in Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

“The number of tough natural defenders produced in the is small. When Barry Hulshoff was injured for the 1974 World Cup, Rinus Michels made an untested central defense out of Arie Haan, a midfielder who had never played in defense before, and the uncapped Wim Rijsbergen."

--David Winner

"Everyone had to go into the system. Coach Michels had his strong hand and his strong training. It was very hard but we had the feeling, even when we were tired and although we played very badly at the beginning, that we could do something. Two weeks before the tournament we lost a friendly match 2-0 to a second division German side. But Michels had only one thing on his mind: the first match of the World Cup. Everything was fixed on that."

--Ruud Krol, Ajax & Holland defender

“Tactics didn't interest me. I had to learn a lot quickly. Physically, it was difficult to come back to defend. Mentally, it was not difficult. With my club team, I had the freedom to operate as more of an old- fashioned inside forward than a winger. In the national team this was Cruyff's main domain, so I played on the wing. I never argued with Cruyff about this. For me it was no problem. We had success in every game.”

--Rob Rensenbrink Anderlecht & Holland Attacker

“Anyone who says that the only important thing is to play beautiful soccer, they are crazy. Yes, we liked to play too, but our character was to win 200 percent. With so many great players in one team, you make art. You don't mean to, but you do.” --Johnny Rep, Ajax & Holland right winger

Here is a great 30 minute documentary that tells the story of Holland’s 1974 World Cup Campaign through game footage and interviews with the players.

Watch this to get a better idea of what Total Football was about and what it really looked like in action

The Games The format for the 1974 World Cup is was quite different than what we are used to today. Only 16 team qualified for the tournament, These 16 teams were placed in round robin 4 groups of 4 teams, with the winner and runners up of each group advancing to another round robin involving 2 groups of 4 teams. The winners of each group met in the final.

I’m not going to give you the scores or recaps of the games, because I think it would be more fun for you to watch them yourselves (or at least look up the histories online) to find out what happened. But here are the seven matches that were played:

First Group Stage The cup run that almost wasn’t Holland v Uruguay Lost in the fanfare of Holland’s brilliant soccer and their amazing display in the 1974 World Cup is the fact that they almost failed to qualify, and were only saved by a linesman’s Holland v mistake in the final minutes of qualifying.

Sweden Holland and Belgium were fighting neck in neck in a qualifying group that included Norway and Iceland. Holland and Belgium faced each other in the last game of the group, Holland v tied on points but with Holland having the advantage of a Bulgaria vastly superior goal difference. Belgium needed a win to qualify, and Holland would go through with just a draw

Second Group Stage And just like their earlier meeting in Belgium, this game was winding down to a 0-0 finish when Belgium scored off of a Holland v set piece in the 89th minute. To the relief of the Dutch and the frustration of Belgium, the goal was ruled offside. Subsequent replays show that it was Holland v the wrong call. But in an era with no VAR, The Dutch were able to qualify, and the rest was history. East Germany

Holland v All these and many more classic full-length games can Brazil be accessed at Footballia.net by creating a free account.

Final Holland v

West Germany

Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

The Dutch team of 1974 is probably the second best team to ever lose a World Cup Final. The best team to ever lose a World Cup Final was “Magnificent Magyar” Hungarian team of 1954. What did those games have in common? It was the West Germans who spoiled the party both times! Not that those German teams were undeserving winners by any means. The very talented German Team of 1974 who were reigning European Champions playing at home and featured all-time legends of the game like , Gerd Müller, and . But still, the hard running, ruthless precision, and winning mentality of the Germans could never quite capture the imagination of the world the way that the Dutch’s “Clockwork Orange” team did.

“German dads point across the border at the Dutch kids and say ‘This is how you play!’, and Dutch dads point across the border at the German kids and say ‘This is how you win!’ “

--Klaus Pabst, Youth Director at 1. FC Köln

For better or worse, Holland’s 1974 World Cup campaign would establish two enduring stereotypes for Dutch soccer culture: First, as a nation that produces an abundance of talented & creative players. And Second, as a nation that values style over results and has a tendency to self-destruct whenever they are on the verge of greatness. Comments from the Dutch players reflecting on the final tend to bear that out, with Cryuff’s observations in particular combining a mixture of justifiable pride with more than a dash of sour grapes.

'We wanted to make fun of the Germans. We didn't think about it, but we did, passing the ball around and around. We forget to score the second goal. When you see the film of the game, you can see the Germans got more and more angry. It was our fault. It would have been much better if West Germany had scored in the first minute.'

--Johnny Rep

“I didn't mind winning 1-0, as long as we humiliated them”

--Wim Van Hanagem. The Feyernoord & Holland midfielder hated the Germans because most of his family had been killed in WWII

“I don't go through life cursing the fact that I didn't win a world cup. I played in a fantastic team that gave millions of people watching a great time. That's what soccer is all about. The Dutch team of the seventies was fantastic to watch. People say that to me every day. They talk about us in awe. There is no better medal than to be acclaimed for your style.”

--Johan Cruyff

The Aftermath and Legacy

Total Football did not start with Rinus Michels and his Ajax and Dutch teams. His predecessors at Ajax, and Jack Reynolds had gotten the ball rolling earlier on, and those ideas were built in pert on the ideas of other great teams of the past, like Austria’s of the ‘30’s, River Plate’s La Maquina side of the 40’s, The Magnificent Magyars of and even (I’m not kidding!) the Burnley sides of the ‘50’s. But thanks to the expanding reach of television in the 1970's, Michels' 1974 Dutch team did help put Total Football on the map and introduce it to a worldwide audience, who could now see it for themselves instead of just hearing the stories.

The Dutch, without Cryuff or Michels, would return to the World Cup finals in 1978, losing to the host nation again… this time 3-2 to Argentina in overtime. Holland and Rinus Michels would eventually get their elusive international trophy, as the future FIFA Coach of the Century returned to the helm to lead the Dutch to the 1988 European Championship. But ultimate World Cup glory still eludes them, despite another trip to the final in 2010, where they lost to Spain, who had succeeded them as the National Team disciples of Total Football.

The direct descendants of Holland’s Legacy of ’74 Total Football also live on. Michel’s chief collaborator and protégé Johan Cruyff made the rare progression from genius player to genius coach, ingraining the ideas and values of Total Football into the DNA of FC Barcelona to produce and lead his own great teams, and also to create the culture and foundation from which his protégé, , could create and lead one of the best club teams of all time.

And still the ball rolls on…..

Holland ’74 Activity

1. Access and watch the full game Netherlands vs Argentina 1974 World Cup on Footballia.net

2. Determine the playing formation of the Dutch team and put the players into their positions in the box below. Here are the players, presented in numerical order

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

3. Did trying to create a lineup and put players into positions pose any problems? If so, what were they?

4. Compare your lineup to your friend’s lineups. What are the biggest agreements and disagreements?

5. Which side is playing short passes? Which side is playing the long ball?

6. Which side is the more aggressive? Hint: Which side is committing the most fouls?

7. On average, how many passes would you say Argentina strings together before losing the ball?

8. In which zone are the Argentinians losing the ball most often... Defense, midfield, or attacking zone?

9. Regarding the answers to the last two questions, what tactics applied by the Dutch make this happen?

10. What do you think of Rinus Michel’s idea that soccer players “can’t behave too properly”? Where do you think the boundaries should be drawn between aggression and fair play? Should that line be different for youth players than for professional players?

11. Which Dutch player seems to have the most freedom to move around? Why do you think that is?

12. What are the benefits of the Dutch style of constantly shifting & switching positions?

13. What are the risks? What can go wrong?

14. What kind of skills and training do you think you need to play Total Football? Do you think it’s possible for youth teams to play this style

Bibliography and Resources:

Books: Brilliant Orange -The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football. By David Winner

Teambuilding. By Minus Michels

Articles: RInus Michels And The Total Football Rebellion. By Jon Townsend https://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/01/28/rinus-michels-and-the-total-football- rebellion/

FIFA World Cup Germany. Official FIFA Archive https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/germany1974/

Videos Full Game Films www.footballia.net

Netherlands of 1974- Hunting of the ball https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfqTy2bJzmU

Football's Greatest International Teams .. Netherlands 1974 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Df0FpXBdaw