THE BEAUTIFUL GAME - 09:18 am, Wed 14th Jul 2010
World Cups age you. Like a clock that ticks once every four years, we can remember the first time we became aware of the World Cup and the defining moments in each one since. Maradona’s hand of God, Gazza’s tears, Frank Riikard spitting in Rudi Voller’s face, the French triumph of 98, Zidane’s head butt of 2006.
The first World Cup I remember was Germany 1974. Billy Bremner holding the game up against Zaire, anxious to hold on to a 2-0 lead and bank the (then) two points for a win. But whatever the domestic concerns, the main memory of that tournament was the wonderful Dutch team of Cruyff, Neeskins and the rest.
Built on the brilliant Ajax team of the time which had won the European Cup three times in the early 1970s, this group of players played with such skill and joy it has stayed with me forever. Total Football they called it. Every player in attack. Every player in defence.
And at the heart of it all, the magnificent Cruyff. Passing, movement and skill like I had never seen. It was like a different sport. And they captured the hearts of every neutral.
Despite it all they lost in the final but of course, you can never write off the Germans…
For a Scottish lad of 13, 1978 will be remembered for ridiculous hype before the competition then coming down to earth with a bump by getting beat against Peru, drawing with Iran and then the magical moment provided by Archie Gemmill scoring what most people agree was the best goal in the history of the national team. But again the bigger story of the tournament was the Dutch team, and again they lost, this time to Argentina, in the final.
And so fast forward to Sunday night. What of this World Cup? African teams on the whole did poorly though Ghana’s denial by hand ball of a place in the semi final was heartbreaking. It seemed for a time that “old Europe” was fading, that the crown would pass back to South America. England, France and Italy all came home early. Yet in the end the last two standing are the Netherlands and Spain, the creators of Total Football and the team who perhaps today more than any other embody the beauty of passing football.
Simon Kuper, author of “Football: Against the Enemy” and consistently the best commentator throughout this World Cup, has traced the genealogy of this passing culture through Cruyff, Louis Van Gaal and the clubs of Ajax and Barcelona. A Dutch philosophy adopted by the Catalan club who have won the Champions League twice in the past four years. And watching Barcelona in the first 20 minutes of the Barcelona Arsenal quarter final at the Emirates stadium was the best display of passing and movement I have seen in years. Football has a mesmerising flow of pass and move, pass and move.
And so on Sunday evening, when I sit down to watch I will admire both teams. But as I said, World Cups age you and for those childhood memories of Total Football, for lighting up the childhood of people around my age, for Cruyff’s team and for all the joy it gave, in the end for me on Sunday it will be Hup Holland Hup.
