The Dutch team at the 1974 World Cup

Prior to 1974 the Dutch had only been to two World Cups 1930 and 1934 and were knocked out in the first round at both.

It's incredible the improvement in Dutch
football from the 60's to the 70's.
 
Orange County said:
Arie Hann more for the 1978 world cup goal against Italy.
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I've got a nice story about Arie Haan. And to be fair Billy McNeill shows up well here.

A guy I worked with was at a dinner and McNeill was one of the after match speakers.

So he told the story of how he'd gotten his EC medal made into some sort of necklace for his wife.

So they're away on holiday and with McNeill's contacts and I suppose standing in the game, he was invited onto a day's cruise on a millionaire's yacht. So McNeill's wife gets into conversation with another woman and she notices McNeill's wife's necklace.

Other woman - I like your necklace.

Mrs mcneill - Do you know that is? That's a European Cup medal.

Other woman - I know, I've got three.

The other woman was Mrs Haan.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
That would have been 1969.

I've never heard that transfer rumour about Rensenbrink, mind you.

A strange thing, the DWS, goalie, Jongblod, played in goals for Holland in the 74 WC final, I'm sure.

Rensenbrink played in the WC final in 78.
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I'm sure Rensenbrink hit the post in the last minute of normal time in the 78 final
with the score at 1-1. The Argies scoring
twice in extra time to win the cup.
 
Essex Ranger said:
Are you sure? Cruyff played for Ajax against Rangers in 1973.
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Yes.
Wasn't it for the European Super Cup?
We won the old, and now defunct, Cup Winners Cup, and they won the old European Cup.
We played Ajax at home. Think we lost 1-3. With Doddie scoring for us, and Cruyff waltzing round DJ to score a superb solo second.
This Ajax team were immense.They literally toyed with us.

Or did I dream this??
Maybe not.

 
That 1974 Dutch team third in my all-time great sides.
The 1970 Brazilians being number one and the 1978 Argentinians being number two.
 
Laudrup11Cooper said:
Many of them.
That is why there were so formidable.
Rinus Michels - "Total Football"

"Certain members of the 1974 team have been interviewed since the Final, and some of them have discussed their “hatred” for the Germans, talking about how much they wanted to embarrass Germany. It all heralded back to the Second World War.
Willem van Hanegem was a example of this attitude. The majority of his family was killed in World War Two. He later said: “I don’t like Germans. Every time I played against German players, I had a problem because of the war.” It was this negative feeling towards Germany following the Holocaust, and following the deaths and persecution Holland suffered from the Nazis in World War Two, that led to this desire amongst certain members of the team to embarrass Germany. What’s strange is that many members of the team weren’t even born when the war ended in 1945. This anti-German feeling, however, remained in Dutch culture and formed part of the players’ psyche."

thesefootballtimes.co

Holland 1974: the greatest failures in history

When Holland lost the 1974 World Cup final they become perhaps the greatest side to never lift the trophy. We look back at a style-defining Totaalvoetbal masterclass from the Dutch.
thesefootballtimes.co thesefootballtimes.co
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Some of van Hanegem's family were killed by the Germans and then I think others were killed by the RAF/USAF bombing the German supplies at Rotterdam port. He absolutely hated the Germans with a passion due to it.
 
Coisty09 said:
That 1974 Dutch team third in my all-time great sides.
The 1970 Brazilians being number one and the 1978 Argentinians being number two.
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Just my opinion, the 78 Argies were, dirty, cheating scum.

For the record, I also believe Kempes scored the goal of the tournament in the fixed game v Peru. The way he played a one-two, captured the ball at chest/ head height and slipped the ball past the goalie was sublime.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
What happened, did they bring a David Murjink in as chairman and it all went south?
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They merged their professional side into FC Amsterdam with BlauWit and another club and it never worked out long term. But the amateur side has kept going. Ajax and Feyenoord still have amateur sides playing in the lower leagues as well.

Ajax's team is often called Ajax Zaterdag, literally Ajax Saturday, because the amateur leagues are split between teams that play on Saturday and Sunday.

Twente are a professional merged club as well and the two teams that merged into them still retain amateur status as separate clubs. In Denmark its the same situation with FC Copenhagen and in Germany it's the same with Augsburg.
 
Blaew said:
Some of van Hanegem's family were killed by the Germans and then I think others were killed by the RAF/USAF bombing the German supplies at Rotterdam port. He absolutely hated the Germans with a passion due to it.
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He wasn't the only one.
Unless you were there, I have been told. The atrocities the Nazi's did, whilst occupying western Europe, has never, ever been forgotten by many Dutch people. Never will.
I remember this ugly topic reared it's head by the media, when the Dutch contingent under Advocaat, played along side Big Jorg.They tried damn hard to create a wedge!
Thankfully it didn't interfere with our winning side at that time.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
He most definetely played for Feyenoord in the 80s.

He played for Ajax in the 70s as you say, moved to Barcelona in 74 or 75? for a then world record fee, I think, of £900,000.

Where he went after that I don't know? But he went to Feyenoord.
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He went back to Ajax after playing in the USA before finishing at Feyenoord IIRC. Could be wrong here but I think he played with Van Basten at Ajax before teaming up with Gullit at Feyenoord.
 
Laudrup11Cooper said:
He wasn't the only one.
Unless you were there, I have been told. The atrocities the Nazi's did, whilst occupying western Europe, has never, ever been forgotten by many Dutch people. Never will.
I remember this ugly topic reared it's head by the media, when the Dutch contingent under Advocaat, played along side Big Jorg.They tried damn hard to create a wedge!
Thankfully it didn't interfere with our winning side at that time.
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govan86 said:
He went back to Ajax after playing in the USA before finishing at Feyenoord IIRC. Could be wrong here but I think he played with Van Basten at Ajax before teaming up with Gullit at Feyenoord.
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There's some grainy, vague memory of him scoring a goal or being involved in one for either of these teams in a game when they clinched the title.

I know this sounds mad, but maybe taking a penalty and instead of shooting he just passed it a couple of feet and another player ran in and stuck it in the net.
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
There's some grainy, vague memory of him scoring a goal or being involved in one for either of these teams in a game when they clinched the title.

I know this sounds mad, but maybe taking a penalty and instead of shooting he just passed it a couple of feet and another player ran in and stuck it in the net.
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Rep?
Interesting. Will try and check that out.
Appreciate the heads up!
Will have to brush up on my dutch though.
My wife is from that neck of the woods, so I may have to enlist her help with this.
tbc
 
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wee bud's pit boots said:
I've got a nice story about Arie Haan. And to be fair Billy McNeill shows up well here.

A guy I worked with was at a dinner and McNeill was one of the after match speakers.

So he told the story of how he'd gotten his EC medal made into some sort of necklace for his wife.

So they're away on holiday and with McNeill's contacts and I suppose standing in the game, he was invited onto a day's cruise on a millionaire's yacht. So McNeill's wife gets into conversation with another woman and she notices McNeill's wife's necklace.

Other woman - I like your necklace.

Mrs mcneill - Do you know that is? That's a European Cup medal.

Other woman - I know, I've got three.

The other woman was Mrs Haan.
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Great story.
Oh dear.
 
First they were shown to the world. Chech out how narrow a band they played for the offside trap. Totally clamped the Uruguayans:-
 
jim_baxter1960 said:
First they were shown to the world. Chech out how narrow a band they played for the offside trap. Totally clamped the Uruguayans:-
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There's a famous incident when we played Ajax at Ibrox in 73, when DJ, playing as a centre half, chipped the ball over their defence and ran onto the ball himself and nearly scored a goal that we'd still be talking about today.
 
jim_baxter1960 said:
First they were shown to the world. Chech out how narrow a band they played for the offside trap. Totally clamped the Uruguayans:-
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The Dutch were for me, like again like the OG's on here, the equivalent of the Bjorn Borg's of football.Nothing flustered them.Ice cool, in the way they played, and their manner of the pitch as well.
The Scandanvian temperament for me in genera,l is something to be admired.
Ice cool blood running through the veins.

The Dutch at this time '74 were just 'poetry in motion' for me.
In my mind the best team ever, '74 squad, not to win a World Cup.
Brazilian '82, a very close second.
 
Laudrup11Cooper said:
The Dutch were for me, like again like the OG's on here, the equivalent of the Bjorn Borg's of football.Nothing flustered them.Ice cool, in the way they played, and their manner of the pitch as well.
The Scandanvian temperament for me in genera,l is something to be admired.
Ice cool blood running through the veins.

The Dutch at this time '74 were just 'poetry in motion' for me.
In my mind the best team ever, '74 squad, not to win a World Cup.
Brazilian '82, a very close second.
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I get the laid back/Borg examples. But they also have always had tempraments bubbling under the surface.

Cryuff himself, possibly the nearest to Borg in mentality refusing to participate in the 78 WC.

It was the poster Southside Shug, who once famously said, the Dutch would argue over who was getting the next go at the spliff.
 
You know I get this 100%.
I married a dutch lady, and so inherited a dutch family. They are the salt of the earth, but see life were differently.

I use to say, they see things very black and white. Little color to cloud their judgment.
Very controlled emotionally, but can be passionate on many things.
Can be bombastic, which can be interpreted as arrogant, but focused, and very pragmatic as the day is long.
I tell her I think they are descended from Vulcans!!
Her response back, I couldn't even print.
 
Tommy48 said:
My favourite international team of all time. They all seemed to be tall and slim with the jerseys outside their shorts and boy could they play.
Cryuff is out and out my favourite non Scottish player and as some one has said possibly the most influential European if not World football player.
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No Cryuff, no Messi, no Pep, no Man City, no present incarnation of Arsenal.
 
Mr. Coal Fire Man said:
I was 9 in 1974 the Dutch team in Germany and the Ajax team of the same period is my first memory of football beyond these shores. Those names are imprinted in my brain football at it’s best.
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I was also 9 in 1974 and strangely enough also became a big fan of SLF
 
Shakey72 said:
The irony is they were very close to not qualifying, as they needed a late goal in their final qualifier against Belgium.
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Not quite. Belgium had a very late valid goal chopped off in Amsterdam and the resultant 0-0 saw the Dutch through. Their qualifying campaign was a pale representation of what turned up in '74. They were not rated as finalists.
 
jim_baxter1960 said:
Not quite. Belgium had a very late valid goal chopped off in Amsterdam and the resultant 0-0 saw the Dutch through. Their qualifying campaign was a pale representation of what turned up in '74. They were not rated as finalists.
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I stand corrected. I recalled hearing a podcast a few years ago about how fortunate The Netherlands were against Belgium. I forgot how
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
There's some grainy, vague memory of him scoring a goal or being involved in one for either of these teams in a game when they clinched the title.

I know this sounds mad, but maybe taking a penalty and instead of shooting he just passed it a couple of feet and another player ran in and stuck it in the net.
Click to expand...
I think he passed the ball forward from a penalty and Jesper Oleson ex Man U scored from the pass. Although the old memory isn’t just what it was!
 
stein and johnston said:
As a youngster growing up I was in complete awe of that Dutch team.
Remember going to see Rangers v Ajax in the Super Cup and seeing Cruyff in that famous Ajax strip..Probably up there with the best opposition player I’ve seen playing at Ibrox.
The only time I wasn’t disappointed when we lost. :D
I can’t remember how many of that Dutch team played for Ajax, but I would assume quite a few.?
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I think we all were.
For me, it was liking watching 10 George Best's in one team.
My footballing idol. Along with Coop, Lauders, Pele, and Johan.
The Dutch team had the looks.
Style, and grace!
Enjoy!
 
wee bud's pit boots said:
Just my opinion, the 78 Argies were, dirty, cheating scum.

For the record, I also believe Kempes scored the goal of the tournament in the fixed game v Peru. The way he played a one-two, captured the ball at chest/ head height and slipped the ball past the goalie was sublime.
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It was a great goal, but better than the goal by Archie Gemmill against the Dutch?
 
RWB-Since1963 said:
I'm guessing that wasn't your view back in 1974.
If so, apologies, but what couldn't you take to regarding him 50 years ago ?.
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Was tongue in cheek about his later managerial role. 1974 was a bit too early for me as I was only 8, 1978 I’d started to pay a bit more attention to the game in general.
 
Laudrup11Cooper said:
Yes.
Wasn't it for the European Super Cup?
We won the old, and now defunct, Cup Winners Cup, and they won the old European Cup.
We played Ajax at home. Think we lost 1-3. With Doddie scoring for us, and Cruyff waltzing round DJ to score a superb solo second.
This Ajax team were immense.They literally toyed with us.

Or did I dream this??
Maybe not.

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Thanks for posting that. I was at that game too and remember it like it was yesterday. When Cryuff stopped and turned big Tom kept on running. Peter McCloy had no chance with Cryff's shot! Brilliant.
 
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