With the European soccer cup in full swing, some memories pop up about the famous – or should I say: infamous – World soccer cup final of 1974. Ever since WW II there has been some animosity between the Dutch and the Germans. It’s the same kind of animosity that exists between the British and the French (although their history goes farther back then ours).
Back in ’74 the Dutch soccer-team definitely was the underdog of the tournament. We never got far and usually we stranded way before the semi- or quarterfinals. But that year it was different. We had the best teams in years (most notably we had Johan Cruyf, the Dutch soccer player who is as famous as the Brazilian Pele was in his days). We managed to make it into the semi-finals in which we defeated the Brazilians (the number 1 favorite for the world title).
We had a complete new system/concept in playing, which was dubbed “total soccer” that also involved a new rule that we used to our benefit regarding “off site”.
Anyway: the final was a thriller of epic proportions: Netherlands vs Germany. Even though I was only 7 years old at that time, even I still remember the outcome of the match.
After just 3 minutes we got a penalty against the Germans and scored. So it was 1:0 for us. We played liked lions but in the second half the Germans managed to get a penalty as well: 1:1. And, in the last minutes of the game they got another goal and we lost 1:2.
We all felt like the Germans had stolen out title! The Dutch team played at a constant pace from the start of the tournament and had proved that the system and the players were a perfect match. Our coach, Rinus Michels aka ‘The General’ aka ‘The Sphinx’ had turned a bunch of players into a machine that ran perfectly.
All in all it was a trauma the Dutch would never loose and even 30 years later there are hordes of people that still remember the ordeal.
It wasn’t until the European Soccer Cup of ’88 that we regained a bit of our self-esteem by becoming the European Soccer Champions.
If only we could become the World Champions!