The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “icon” as “A person or thing regarded as a representative symbol or as worthy of veneration". As far as football is concerned, the definition requires an addition: the name of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff.
Hendrik Johannes Cruyff was both a football player and a coach sui generis. He sculpted the game the way he wanted it – playing at Ajax Amsterdam, FC Barcelona and Holland and coaching, notably, in the Dutch capital and Catalonia.
Few matched Cruyff – not German stalwart defender Franz Beckenbauer in the 1970’s, not Sampdoria and Serbian coach Vujadin Boškov. Neither did the analysts after the number 14 had retired.
His legacy, so often a hackneyed term, is palpable.
Europe’s first football star
Cruyff caressed the ball. He demonstrated a virtuosity that had hitherto been unseen in Europe: skill, swagger, dribbles, curves and passing – but all executed with an overarching intelligence, both a chess master and geometry teacher at the same time. He became Europe’s first continental football star.
He was part-founder, part-exponent of Totaalvoetbal, or Total Football. Barcelona’s Tiki-Taka game and Spain’s spanless passing have become the new normal in contemporary football, but they have simply taken the basic tenets of Total Football to an updated extreme. Rinus Michels was Total Football’s godfather, but it was Cruyff who lubricated its implementation and turned into a fervent disciple of its dogma: players have individual traits and positions, but they must be dynamic within the system – defenders attack and attackers defend.
It was a tactical revolution, departing from all of football’s previous mainstream ideas: England played the 4-4-2 formation, the Italians obsessed about defence and Brazilians mused about individual expression and artistry. Both Michels and Cruyff reshaped and reinvented the global game. They fine-tuned and perfected: 4-3-3 in a flexible space.
Cruyff failed to win football’s ultimate prize as the Netherlands and Total Football succumbed to fierce rivals and neighbours West Germany 2-1 in the 1974 World Cup final. But as a coach, he attained perfection at FC Barcelona. He preferred style and values over results, yet his players interchanged roles frequently, pressed the opponents high upfield and moved with an enchanting, almost beguiling, fluidity.
It was football that dumbfounded the opposition. At Wembley, Barcelona’s “Dream Team”, with Ronald Koeman, Pep Guardiola, Michel Laudrup and Hristo Stoickov, edged Sampdoria Genua 1-0 in extra time in the European Cup final, the precursor of the UEFA Champions League, in 1992. Barcelona were not vintage, but demonstrated backbone and Cruyff’s latent competitiveness. Beauty had to encompass victory.
A legion of admirers
“Winning is an important thing, but to have your own style, to have people copy you, to admire you, that is the greatest gift,” said Cruyff. He was football’s ultimate philosopher, coaxing Guardiola and influencing Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger and Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, among others.
Legendary Italian coach Arrigo Sacchi developed his tactical ideas and concepts after watching Cruyff first play for and then manage Ajax. “I studied football from everywhere and every era, but the Dutch were the missing link,” noted Sacchi.
Cruyff philosophised and ideated constantly about football. As a pundit, his remarks were often acerbic and spiky, sometimes arrogant, but in general profound and reflective of the many fallibilities of today’s game and its cast of, increasingly, circus-like actors.
In February, Cruyff had sounded almost buoyant in his battle against an army of cancer cells determined to march on and pounce on the tiniest of openings in his defence. “I am 2-0 up in the first half of a match that has not finished yet,” said Cruyff. “But I am sure I will end up winning.”
His illness was an unevenly poised and ugly match – one the Dutchman ultimately failed to win. On Thursday, Cruyff, aged 68, passed away in his beloved Barcelona surrounded by his family after a brief battle with lung cancer.
