Fans under the age of 40 basically only hear Cruyff's name and do not see him.
John Cruyff, born on April 25, 1947 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, plays as a forward and center forward, has won the European Footballer of the Year, the 1974 World Cup Player of the Year, the Netherlands 20th Century Player and other honors; after retiring from retirement, he has also achieved great achievements and is one of the most legendary superstars in the world football world.
Cruyff died of lung cancer on March 24, 2016, at the age of 68.
Ajax permanently retired the No. 14 jersey
Cruyff was born on April 25, 1947, in a slum in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. At the age of 3, Cruyff's father gave his son a red and white shirt from Ajax Football Club as a birthday present. At the age of 7, Cruyff played at the De Haier football stadium, not far from home. Cruyff grew up malnourished, thin, legs as thin as two matchsticks, and sometimes played barefoot in the winter. Later, Cruyff's father died of illness, and Ajax club owner Plag extended a helping hand to his family, asking his mother to work as a handyman at Ajax Stadium to supplement the family, and Cruyff also had the opportunity to get closer to football.
At that time, an Ajax youth coach saw Cruyff playing football and recommended him to the club. On his 1st birthday, Cruyff received a letter from Ajax saying that the club had decided to recruit him into the junior team. Truth be told, this is probably the best gift Cruyff has ever received. In order to earn a winning bonus to support his family, Cruyff vowed to change his body deficiencies with hard training. Under the strict requirements and cultivation of the coaches, Cruyff's ball skills have improved by leaps and bounds, and the progress has been rapid. In his first season with the junior team, Cruyff scored 74 goals like a volcanic eruption, and his outstanding results also shocked the Dutch football world. However, in the Ajax Junior Team, Cruyff often points fingers at the older children and likes to direct how they play, which is naturally difficult to accept, except for right winger Swat, he has few friends.
In 1963, at the age of 16, Cruyff officially became a first-team player for Ajax. On 15 November 1964, Cruyff made his league debut in a 1–3 match in Groningen and scored one goal. A year later, Cruyff's physical fitness and technical level also reached a new height: 100 meters to 11 seconds, bouncing altitude of more than 90 centimeters. On 15 May 1966, he scored 33 goals in his first year of professional league playing and followed Ajax to win the Dutch League, he was able to shoot on both sides of the foot, his speed was amazing, his movements were concealed, his mind was cool, his technique was comprehensive, he was particularly good at long-range shots, dribbling and forced breakthrough shots, and soon became the core of the team. On 28 September 1966, Ajax defeated Besiktas FC 2–0 in the first leg of the first round of the European Champions League, and Cruyff made his Champions League debut. In 1968, Ajax swept Liverpool 5-1 in the European Champions League. In Ajax, the then head coach Michel instilled in him the concept of "all attack and full defense", "full attack and full defense" requires players to change positions from time to time, and only Cruyff, who clearly understands the position of each teammate, can become the backbone of the whole team, which has a huge impact on Cruyff's coaching philosophy in the future.
While playing for Ajax, Cruyff played in the number 14 shirt, which was extremely rare at the time. In fact, there is another story: on October 30, 1970, Ajax defeated the opponent PSV 1-0 in the Dutch league, teammate Mullen could not find his No. 7 shirt before the start of the game, Cruyff gave him his No. 9 shirt, grabbed a Substitute No. 14 shirt on the field, and finally Ajax won a thrilling victory. Since then, Cruyff has regarded the number 14 as a lucky number and has been wearing the number 14 shirt in Ajax ever since. In 2007, on Cruyff's 60th birthday, Ajax announced his permanent retirement of his no. 14 jersey.
In European football in the early 1970s, both Ajax and the Dutch national team became the most important and admired teams in the world. Ajax, with Cruyff at its core, has won the European Cup three times in a row and he was selected as the best european athlete in 1971, 1973 and 1974.
The man who brought The Title to Barca ran to Ajax in a fit of rage
As an adult, due to Cruyff's arrogant personality, he was generally popular in the team. Cruyff regretted his defeat during a team-based player election for captain, which led to his desire to leave the team.
On 22 August 1973, Cruyff signed Barcelona to La Liga for three years for a record transfer fee of $2 million at the time, when Barca had lost the La Liga title for 13 years. Cruyff's debut in Barcelona helped the team beat Club Brugge 6-0. In the 1973–74 season, Cruyff scored twice in his first La Liga game, scoring the opening goal for the team.
Cruyff's most memorable match was Barca's 5-0 away rivals Real Madrid. This should have been a match and evenly matched, but no one expected Barca to completely humiliate Real Madrid and create a record for the biggest loss at home to Real Madrid at that time. Cruyff not only scored two dollars in this game, but also created good scoring opportunities for his teammates many times. That season, Barca took advantage of the victory to win and regain the La Liga title after a 13-year absence.
In the 1973–74 season, Cruyff made 26 appearances for Barcelona in La Liga, scoring 16 goals, and was named Dutch Player of the Year for the second consecutive year and was named The European Footballer of the Year in 1974, becoming the first player in football to win the award three times.
By 1978, Cruyff had helped Barca win 1 league title and 1 Copa del Rey in 4 years. Cruyff's brilliant performance also laid the foundation for Ajax players in Barcelona, and since then many Ajax players have played for Babasa, such as Ronald Koeman, Kluivert and so on. On 27 May 1978, Cruyff announced his first boots hanging up in Barcelona, and the farewell match was arranged in Amsterdam, a match between Ajax and Bayern Munich. In the end, Bayern won 8-0. After the match, Cruyff was lifted on the shoulder by his teammates, who praised him as "the one who can bring the title to Barca"!
While playing for Barcelona, Cruyff proposed to then-Barca president Núñez to bring the successful experience of the Ajax academy to Barcelona. Núñez accepted Cruyff's suggestion and appointed Oriol Tot as director of the La Masia Academy.
Cruyff experienced a period of failed investment after retiring, after which he considered a comeback. At that time, after Pele, Beckenbauer, Neskens, Eusebio, Alberto and a group of superstars who had just retired or were about to retire from that era gathered in the North American Football League, and they lit up the United States, the world's last "football debut", like shooting stars, and made positive efforts to spread football technology in the United States. Cruyff also left his mark on the U.S. soccer scene, playing for the New York Cosmos, Los Angeles Aztecs, etc. from 1978 onwards, and became a teammate with his old friend Beckenbauer during his time with the Cosmos, and was awarded the Most Valuable Player Award of the North American Football League in the 1979 season, and then was loaned by Washington Diplomats to Play for Levante F.C. in the Spanish Football League in March 1981. Overall, his life in the United States was peaceful and happy. Not many people in the United States could recognize his face, and he enjoyed great freedom of life.
After three years of gold panning in the United States, Cruyff returned to the Dutch First Division and rejoined Ajax. In 1982, at the age of 35, Cruyff, although he no longer had the speed and agility he once had, he never lacked the inspiration to create classics. His first game back to Ajax was against Haarlem, where the Stadium was overcrowded on that day, with Cruyff scoring shortly after the start of the first half. He dodged two interceptions from opposing players and then dribbled the ball to the edge of the penalty area. He then sank his right shoulder and completed one of the most elegant and devastating shots, with the goalkeeper only able to watch the ball fly over his head into the goal.
In the 1983 Dutch League match against Helmont, Cruyff and teammate Olsen completed a tactical penalty that was remembered. 34 years later, in February 2016, Messi scored a "fancy penalty" with Suarez in La Liga against Celta, and the Camp Nou paid tribute to the "Godfather of Barca" in the same way.
After his return to Ajax, Cruyff made 36 appearances for the team in the Eredivisie, scoring 14 goals, helping the team win the Eredivisie title for two consecutive seasons and the Dutch Cup in 1982–83. Unfortunately, there was a crack in Cruyff's relationship with the president of the Ajax club, who believed Cruyff was old and not ready to renew his contract. Cruyff was furious and joined arch-rival Feyenoord in May 1983 and helped Feyenoord win the league title the following year. This experience also made some Ajax fans very dissatisfied.
On May 13, 1984, Cruyff announced that he would hang up his boots permanently, ending the career of a generation of masters.
The Netherlands fly the World Cup Cruyff vs. Beckbauer
On 7 September 1966, Cruyff made his debut in the 51st minute of the match in a 2–2 Draw with Hungary in the Netherlands. The Netherlands did not qualify for euro 1968 in Italy, the 1970 World Cup and the final round of Euro 1972.
In 1972, Cruyff made six appearances for the Netherlands in World Cup qualifiers, scoring seven goals and helping the Netherlands qualify for the 1974 World Cup finals in West Germany. When Cruyff led the Netherlands to the World Cup in 1974, he had just been elected European Footballer of the Year. At that time, Barca head coach and Cruyff's mentor michelle in Ajax also served as the head coach of the Dutch team, and under his leadership, the "all attack and all defense" Of the Netherlands was particularly attractive.
It is reported that at that time, Cruyff suggested to Michelle that Jonbrod be the starting goalkeeper, on the grounds that he did not always stand in the goal, which was equivalent to an additional defender, which was more convenient to play full attack and full defense, which is equivalent to the concept of "goalkeeper" today. In a way, it can be said that without Cruyff, there would be no Neuer and Buffon today.
In the group stage of the 1974 World Cup, the Netherlands faced Uruguay in the first game, and under Cruyff's leadership, the Netherlands won 2-0. In this game, the Dutch team was fully suppressed, in which Cruyff contributed an assist and also created a red card from the opponent. In the second game of the group stage against Sweden, the Dutch team continued their beautiful football, although the team did not score, 0-0 draw with Sweden, but that game left a classic moment in the history of the World Cup - Cruyff turned around. At that time, Cruyff took the ball on the left side of the road and turned his back to the opposing defender Olsen, he suddenly shook off the opponent with a right-footed slam, combining fake action, speed and flexibility perfectly, and the classic turning action was also called "Cruyff turn" by posterity. After qualifying from the group, it moved to the second stage, with the Netherlands beating Argentina 4-0. In this game, Cruyff showed the ability of the super giant to decide the game. In the 8th minute of the game, Cruyff received a pass from his teammate to reverse offside success, described by FIFA as a "wonderful ballet move", followed by the Dutch team is unstoppable, Cruyff scored another goal in the second half, staged a double, in addition to an assist. In the crucial qualifying battle, the Netherlands beat Brazil 2-0, in the game he scored the famous pad shot, and the Orange Army also relied on Cruyff's pass to reach the World Cup final!
The final of that World Cup was staged between the Netherlands and West Germany, and the showdown was also seen as a showdown between Cruyff and Beckenbauer, an unstoppable striker and an impregnable iron guard. The Dutch team had a fantastic start to the match, Cruyff burst into the penalty area after starting the ball in midfield, and Neskens stepped in from 12 yards to give the Dutch team the lead! But since then, this team has completely changed, Cruyff was frozen by a man named Vogts, that is, the later German coach plus Beckbauer, and finally the tragic script was left to the dashing Cruyff, and the Dutch team was reversed 1-2, regrettably missing the Hercules Cup. Although the Dutch team ultimately did not win the championship, Cruyff's excellent skills make the world remember this tall, thin, flowing style, and beautiful face of the long-haired teenager.
Cruyff's only World Cup in 1974 was his only time, and he played seven games and scored three goals, making him the best player of the World Cup.
On 16 June 1976, the Netherlands lost 3–1 in the semi-finals of the European Cup to Czechoslovakia. In this match, the Oranges' Neskens and Van Hanehen were sent off with red cards, resulting in the team being eventually eliminated, and Cruyff once again missed the Final of the European Championship. On 26 October 1977, the Netherlands defeated Belgium 1–0 in the European qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup, which was Cruyff's final match for the Dutch national team. Later, due to conflicts within the Football Association, Cruyff announced his retirement from the national team and took off the orange No. 14 shirt forever.
Cruyff came from a humble background, and his talent was destined to be born for miracles, and his football road was a long and thorny journey, through many tribulations, but destined to be brilliant.
The concept of "all attack, all defense" empowers many of Barca's disciples to inherit the mantle
In 1986, Cruyff took up the coaching whip of Ajax, and because he did not obtain a coaching qualification, Cruyff could only direct the game as the club's technical director. During this time, he promoted the 17-year-old Bergkamp from Ajax Youth to the first team to compete in the first team, leading the team to win the European Cup Winners' Cup, and he was also named the world's best coach in 1987 by the British football magazine World Football. A year later, Cruyff received an A-level coaching certificate, and his Ajax affair came to an end. Because, at that time, he received an invitation from another old club, Barcelona.
Cruyff began coaching Barcelona in May 1988, when Barca had poor results, were distraught, heavily indebted and had low attendance. But Cruyff's adjustment ushered in an era of greatness and great inspirational value for those who came after.
The first thing Cruyff did when he came to Barca was to gather the coaches of all the youth teams and convey to them his instructions: all echelons must adopt the 433 formation and establish the football concept of "possession, passing, technology". In terms of material selection, the traditional mode of "looking at speed, looking at body, and looking at physical fitness" in the past is completely abandoned, and there is only one principle: children's human-ball combination ability, imagination and creativity when playing football.
"The attack is initiated by the goalkeeper, while the defense is started by the striker." This sentence highly interprets the soul of Cruyff's all-attack and all-defense system, and The La Masia youth training can be said to be the concentrated embodiment of the essence of Cruyff's entire football career.
In 1989, Cruyff introduced Danish midfielder Michel Laudrup and Dutch defender Ronald Koeman. On 5 April 1990, Barcelona won the title with a 2–0 victory over Real Madrid in the final of the Copa del Rey. In 1990, Cruyff brought in Bulgarian striker Christo Stoichkov and promoted 19-year-old midfielder Pep Guardiola from barcelona youth to the first team. Since 1991, Cruyff has led Barcelona to la Liga for four consecutive seasons and led the team to win the first Champions League title in club history in 1992, when Barca was known as the "Dream Team". Coaching Barca for 8 years, Cruyff injected the word "continuity" into the soul of FC Barcelona, "all attack and full defense" slowly evolved with the progress of the times, and then Guardiola evolved it into a short-pass Tiki-Taka style of play, and a batch of La Masia youth players stepped onto the green field, and they all have the gene of attacking and defending in their bones.
In the 1994–95 season, Barca's squad changed blood and did not win a single title, Romario was penalized 23 days after his late return to the team, and Stoicico also had a conflict with Cruyff after winning the 1995 European Footballer of the Year, leaving the team in the summer transfer window. Subsequently, Cruyff brought in Portuguese winger Luis Figo, but Barca continued to miss out on the title. At the end of the season, Cruyff left his post over a conflict with then-FC Barcelona president Núñez.
The creative and exciting pursuit of football remains in Cruyff's philosophy of football, which sets him in stark contrast to coaches who believe that winning is the most important thing regardless of whether the game is played well or badly. Pragmatism is often synonymous with ugly victories, and Cruyff has never been blamed for such a thing. Without Cruyff, there would be no Spanish national team and Barcelona with Xavi and Iniesta, Bayern Munich under Guardiola, and even AC Milan in the late 1980s, all of which impressed people with champions.
On 3 November 2009, Cruyff returned to football after a gap of 13 years and signed a coaching contract with Spain's Catalan United for zero remuneration. On 3 January 2013, Catalonia United drew 1–1 with the Nigerian national team, and after the match, Cruyff officially stepped down as head coach of catalonia United.
Cruyff was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2015. Cruyff died of lung cancer on March 24, 2016, at the age of 68.
In 2017, FC Barcelona built a mini-stadium on the outskirts of Barcelona and named it "Cruyff Stadium", and in the same year, Ajax renamed the home Stadium Amsterdam "Cruyff Stadium".
Cruyff's disciples are spread from the Holy Land of Palestine to every corner of the South Pacific, and they have also brought Cruyff's transformation of the sport and his football philosophy to the world, including Abelardo, Oscar Garcia, Stoichkov, Laudrup, Eusebio, Valverde, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Guardiola, Koeman, etc., as well as Cruyff's son, former Chongqing and Shenzhen coaches of the Chinese Super League.
Cruyff's achievements as a player are comparable to Pele's; as a coach, his football philosophy is revolutionary and has become the norm of modern football, and his model of training young players has been borrowed by the world.
Cruyff rarely uses metaphors, but once he said, "In a sense, I may be immortal." ”