Died today of cancer @ 68 ... RIP to one of the great on pitch entertainers ...
Cruyff
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A legend in all sense of the word. R.I .P
I never get tired of that Cruyff turn clip that is always shown when he's playing for Holland (against Italy?). Mesmerising and effective.
We're getting slammed for that picture I posted using his quote, "Always about us" etc
And that is still in my signature.
Awesome player, one of my favourites ever. RIP.
Johan Cruyff has a very special way of looking at soccer, and an equally distinctive way of talking about it.
It was Cruyff’s vision on the field that made him one of the greatest players of all time—seeing passes that no one else could see, but also being aware of the ebb and flow of a game and knowing how to control it. So when Cruyff talks, people listen.
A Cruyff quote grabs your attention not just for its insight, but also for the supreme certainty with which he delivers it. He may seem arrogant, but that’s only because he thinks he knows everything.
The 25 quotes below, taken from throughout Cruyff’s days as a player, then coach, then pundit, offer a window into the way Cruyff sees soccer—and they just might change the way you see the game.
1. Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.
2. Someone who has juggled the ball in the air during a game, after which four defenders of the opponent get the time to run back, that’s the player people think is great. I say he has to go to a circus.
3. Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s.
4. In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
5. Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.
6. I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.
7. I’m ex-player, ex-technical director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that once again shows that everything comes to an end.
8. Players that aren’t true leaders but try to be, always bash other players after a mistake. True leaders on the pitch already assume others will make mistakes.
9. What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.
10. There’s only one moment in which you can arrive in time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late.
11. Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake.
12. When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.
13. After you’ve won something, you’re no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It’s like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there’s a little less gas inside.
14. There is only one ball, so you need to have it.
15. I’m not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works all matches must therefore end in a draw.
16. We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time.
17. If you have the ball you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don’t have the ball you must make it as small as possible.
18. Every professional golfer has a seperate coach for his drives, for approaches, for putting. In football we have one coach for 15 players. This is absurd.
19. Surviving the first round is never my aim. Ideally, I’d be in one group with Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Then I’d have lost two rivals after the first round. That’s how I think. Idealisitic.
20. Players today can only shoot with their laces. I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today’s players.
21. Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.
22. There are very few players who know what to do when they’re not marked. So sometimes you tell a player: that attacker is very good, but don’t mark him.
23. I find it terrible when talents are rejected based on computer stats. Based on the criteria at Ajax now I would have been rejected. When I was 15, I couldn’t kick a ball 15 meters with my left and maybe 20 with my right. My qualities technique and vision, are not detectable by a computer.
24. Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.
25. If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better.
It was Cruyff’s vision on the field that made him one of the greatest players of all time—seeing passes that no one else could see, but also being aware of the ebb and flow of a game and knowing how to control it. So when Cruyff talks, people listen.
A Cruyff quote grabs your attention not just for its insight, but also for the supreme certainty with which he delivers it. He may seem arrogant, but that’s only because he thinks he knows everything.
The 25 quotes below, taken from throughout Cruyff’s days as a player, then coach, then pundit, offer a window into the way Cruyff sees soccer—and they just might change the way you see the game.
1. Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.
2. Someone who has juggled the ball in the air during a game, after which four defenders of the opponent get the time to run back, that’s the player people think is great. I say he has to go to a circus.
3. Choose the best player for every position, and you’ll end up not with a strong XI, but with 11 strong 1’s.
4. In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
5. Why couldn’t you beat a richer club? I’ve never seen a bag of money score a goal.
6. I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.
7. I’m ex-player, ex-technical director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that once again shows that everything comes to an end.
8. Players that aren’t true leaders but try to be, always bash other players after a mistake. True leaders on the pitch already assume others will make mistakes.
9. What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.
10. There’s only one moment in which you can arrive in time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late.
11. Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake.
12. When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average … So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines whether you’re a good player or not.
13. After you’ve won something, you’re no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It’s like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there’s a little less gas inside.
14. There is only one ball, so you need to have it.
15. I’m not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works all matches must therefore end in a draw.
16. We must make sure their worst players get the ball the most. You’ll get it back in no time.
17. If you have the ball you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don’t have the ball you must make it as small as possible.
18. Every professional golfer has a seperate coach for his drives, for approaches, for putting. In football we have one coach for 15 players. This is absurd.
19. Surviving the first round is never my aim. Ideally, I’d be in one group with Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Then I’d have lost two rivals after the first round. That’s how I think. Idealisitic.
20. Players today can only shoot with their laces. I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today’s players.
21. Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.
22. There are very few players who know what to do when they’re not marked. So sometimes you tell a player: that attacker is very good, but don’t mark him.
23. I find it terrible when talents are rejected based on computer stats. Based on the criteria at Ajax now I would have been rejected. When I was 15, I couldn’t kick a ball 15 meters with my left and maybe 20 with my right. My qualities technique and vision, are not detectable by a computer.
24. Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is.
25. If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better.
Cruijff did some top class trolling right at the end of his career. He wasn't given a new contract by Ajax so he took up a one year contract offer from Feyenoord who despite not being that good at the time were still Ajax's biggest traditional rivals. He transformed them to the point that they won the title and he won Eredivisie player of the year in his first season with them. Then he retired.
Unusually-shaped pelvis, which, if you look closely at the famous footage, enabled him to do that turn, so low and so quickly with such great balance, in a style that no imitator came close to emulating (as with most famous individual pieces of technique, the peculiarity of the originator's physique is usually overlooked, whether it's exceptional bow-legs or whatever).
Cruyff was so special because he was a great individual who was also practically a team choreographer. You don't really see other great stars who control the whole team, but he did. Sad he didn't play in the 78 World Cup - for ridiculous reasons - because he would have won it.
Cruyff was so special because he was a great individual who was also practically a team choreographer. You don't really see other great stars who control the whole team, but he did. Sad he didn't play in the 78 World Cup - for ridiculous reasons - because he would have won it.
Have there been any other players of similar(ish) stature who also became successful managers?
Beckenbauer managed Germany in World Cup 1990, Zagallo was a pretty decent footballer too.
Fair points both. I guess I'd still be tempted to give Cruyff the edge because it was he who laid the foundations for the Barca we see today.
The King did OK.
The 1974 WC was the first WC I watched (on TV). I was 10 years old at the time. A football fanatic boy, and watching Holland led by the majestic Cruyff was a life changing experience for me.
He was a brilliant footballer with amazing skills and vision, but as noted by others, he was also the maestro - the orchestra conductor. He controlled the game and was everywhere on the pitch.
That tournament was a summit encounter of two great footballers, two leaders of their respective sides - Cruyff v. Beckenbauer.
I desperately wanted Holland to win, but West Germany lifted the trophy.
I will never forget that tournament and I will never forget the great Johann Cruyff.
He was a brilliant footballer with amazing skills and vision, but as noted by others, he was also the maestro - the orchestra conductor. He controlled the game and was everywhere on the pitch.
That tournament was a summit encounter of two great footballers, two leaders of their respective sides - Cruyff v. Beckenbauer.
I desperately wanted Holland to win, but West Germany lifted the trophy.
I will never forget that tournament and I will never forget the great Johann Cruyff.
I heard that buffoon Alan Brazil this morning giving a masterclass in how a butterfly brain is ill-suited to giving a decent tribute. First of all he recalled Cruyff playing against Celtic, which of course triggered a lengthy digression on who played for Celtic that day. Then, presumably after the producer shouted 'Get back to Cruyff, you drunken idiot!' - he tried again by mentioning the 74 final, only to go on to say, 'What a team those Germans were!' and once again digressed about Beckenbauer. On and on the digressions went until the daft twat felt he'd done the job to perfection. Incredible stuff, Brian.
Elsewhere, a nice idea for a lasting tribute:
The Dutch Football Association [KNVB] has announced that they will rename the Amsterdam Arena after Cruyff in tribute to the former Feyenoord, Ajax and Barcelona star, who also proved himself as a successful coach once he hung up his boots.
Speaking after the tragic news of Cruyff’s passing was revealed on his official website by his family, the KNVB president, Michael van Praag, said: "I can't wait for the moment when we rename our stadium the Johan Cruyff Arena. It's the best tribute we can pay him."
Elsewhere, a nice idea for a lasting tribute:
The Dutch Football Association [KNVB] has announced that they will rename the Amsterdam Arena after Cruyff in tribute to the former Feyenoord, Ajax and Barcelona star, who also proved himself as a successful coach once he hung up his boots.
Speaking after the tragic news of Cruyff’s passing was revealed on his official website by his family, the KNVB president, Michael van Praag, said: "I can't wait for the moment when we rename our stadium the Johan Cruyff Arena. It's the best tribute we can pay him."
This is superb. Exactly 14 minutes (to match his shirt) of pure genius. You don't even have to turn the music off.
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