Dutch Football: The unbearable Lightness of Being Oranje ...

Hippies in orange revolutionize football with ease
How and why did this miracle happen, and who were the protagonists of this sudden run to the first world class out of the misty clouds of the European football province? The success of course has many names and reasons. The most important ones were the talents of Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens and the football instincts of legendary “Bondscoach” Rinus Michels, who also created the Dutch colony at FC Barcelona and the famous philosophy of supporting and developing youth education in the now exemplary model of the Ajax football schools. The style of this unforgettable Dutch team of the 1970’s can be described as following: provocative lightness and ease. It was also a mixture of an exceptionally talented generation of players in combination with their godfather Michels, but also some kind of awakening spirit, as if the Dutch suddenly found a formula for the re-invention of the game. The defenders didn’t play like classical destroyers, but more like strikers. The midfielders combined with self confidence and offensive euphoria. The strikers, above all Johan Cruyff, found a mixture between efficiency and artistry, so that it was not only beautiful to watch, when the Dutch scored, but also resulting in one victory after another. If there wouldn’t have been the Germans in the 1974 final in Munich to stop this Hippie flush of Dutch imagination, Oranje would have celebrated their first World Cup deservedly as the best team in the world. The same generation also reached the finals in 1978. Again it was the host nation, which stopped the Dutch dream, when Argentina defeated the arguably best team of the tournament. But then again, perhaps it is one of Holland’s football myths, that lightness doesn’t win tournaments, but beauty stays in the memories.

A new generation of football lightness
It was again on a tournament in Germany, when a new generation of Dutch artists entered the international football stage. The spotlight shined on Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten during the European Championships 1988. And again it was Rinus Michels on the bench, who directed this magnificent show of Dutch football lightness. Ten years after Cruyff & Co, we had van Basten & Co. and the most unforgettable moment of this tournament was his fantasy goal in the final against the Soviet Union - a volley from the right angle of the box, fired with unstoppable speed into the left angle of the goal. This goal symbolizes all what Holland stands for, when it comes to football. It’s all in the lightness of the air, make the impossible happen and forget Newton and that crap about gravitational laws. But perhaps this is also the reason, why this victory was the one and only up till now in the Dutch football history. Gravitation is a reality and no one can fly around like wizards for 90 minutes. The Dutch football soul demands to be lifted up into the sky by their heroes, but during the last decade they became disappointed one time after another. Of course Holland continued to be one of the Top 10 football nations during the 1990’s, but not like the Cruyff generation and far from being some kind of Aliens with wings.