My Joga Bonito World Cup--Part II

The other source of the beautiful game, one which seems more relevant to the 2010 World Cup, dates to the late 60s. At that time the Dutch soccer team Ajax under manager Rinus Michels created what it called total football or in the Dutchese totaalvoetbal. In brief, because I have limited understanding here, the essential tactical innovation of total football is player interchangeability. While players fill nominal positions on the field—defender, midfielder, and forward—they are selected and trained to seamlessly replace each other as they move out of position. On a totaalvoetbal team only the goalkeeper has a fixed position.

Reading the comments of Ajax players of the day, the emphasis is not on trading places for its own sake; rather it’s on creating and using space on the pitch. Interchangeability was simply the key to exploiting the space.

Players in this system must possess exceptional technical skills and field vision. So it was serendipitous that Ajax promoted an unusually gifted 18-year old player to its senior team in 1964. His name was Johan Cruyff (he of the eponymous Cruyff Turn) and he was born to play totallvoetbal.

In Cruyff's first season Ajax finished 13th in the Eridivisie, the Dutch premier league, one position above relegation. The following season Rinus Michel joined Ajax as manager and brought total football with him.

Cruyff’s extraordinary skills and Michel’s totaalvoetbal meshed completely. Whether it was the system or the quality of the players Michels selected to fit the system, or most likely both, Ajax quickly became the dominant team in Europe. In 1965-66 Ajax won its league championship. The next year Ajax won the league title and the KNVB Cup (Dutch equivalent of English FA Cup). Then it was off to the races, with Ajax winning among other titles the UEFA Champions League in 1971, 1972, and 1973.

[As tactical innovations goes, the success of total football is reminiscent of the introduction of the T formation offense by George Halas in the late 1930s, leading to the Chicago Bears 73-0 destruction of the Washington Redskins in the NFL Championshp of 1940.]

With Ajax’s success it wasn’t long before Michels, Cruyff, and totaalvoetbal migrated to the Dutch national team. In 1974 Cruyff and company reached the World Cup finals without losing a match, scoring 14 goals against one conceded. Playing home team Germany in the finals the Dutch took the lead 80 seconds into the match, kicking off and passing the ball thirteen times before Cruyff carried the ball into the box and was fouled.  The Dutch scored on the subsequent PK.

As serious soccer fans know (this is a test) the Germans prevailed 2-1 in this World Cup final and the Dutch are still looking for redemption. Reading accounts of this match, I cannot help think it was the high-water mark of Dutch totaalvoetbal.

While creation and exploitation of space was the focus of totaalvoetbal, the game as played by the Dutch was a thing of soccer beauty.  The team displayed fluid player movement, precision passing, and fearless attacking—in short, everything that defines the beautiful game. The Dutch team earned the nickname Clockwork Orange. What is ironic is that totaalvoetbal wasn’t created to be beautiful; it was created to be effective (are you listening Brazil?).

Andres Iniesta (in Barcelona Uniform) at 147 lbs 5' 7"
the World Cup 2010 Finals Man of the Match and
 Quintessential Player of the Beautiful Game

Both Michels and Cruff eventually moved to FC Barcelona, Cruyff as a player and, later, a highly successful manager. Here they planted the totaalvoetbal seed, where it found fertile soil, and spread to the Spanish national team. The Spanish team that defeated the Dutch 1-0 in the World Cup 2010 can trace its playing roots directly to the Dutch team of 1974.

So in wonderful World Cupian irony, the beautiful game that the Brazilian Dunga eschewed wins the World Cup; and the Dutch team of 1974 is redeemed by the Spanish team of 2010.

Long live the beautiful game.