ImageGetty Imagescame from a team that won absolutely
nothing at all.
Yes, the Netherlands were beaten by
hosts West Germany in the 1974 World Cup
final. But they played some of the most
magical football in history, influencing
coaching forever. Without Michels, there
would have been no Cruyff, Van Gaal nor
Guardiola.
A former Ajax striker who had scored five
times on his debut as a teenager, Michels
became manager of the club in 1965, at
a low point in their history. They had won the
Dutch title just three times in their previous
25 campaigns, and were scrapping to even
survive in the top flight after a 9-4 defeat to
rivals Feyenoord. The club needed new ideas.
“I needed to change the team spirit, and
change the team tactically,” said Michels. Ball
work was prioritised, as was squad discipline.
The very next season, spearheaded by the
emerging Cruyff, Ajax romped to the league
title with ease.
In 1966-67 came the sign that something
really special was happening: facing Liverpool
in the European Cup, they overwhelmed Bill
Shankly’s side, racing into a 4-0 lead before
half-time. Two seasons later they reached
the final, where they were beaten by Milan.
In 1971, though, Ajax were ready to succeed.
Having already won four domestic
titles, Michels switched from 4-2-4 to a
far more flexible 4-3-3, edging closer to
what would become known as Total Football.At Wembley, Ajax defeated Panathinaikos
2-0 to become European champions for
the first time. Such was the tactical
system that Michels had instilled, they’d
win the European Cup twice more in the
next two seasons, even after he had
departed for Barcelona.
By 1973, Cruyff had followed his mentor to
the Camp Nou and soon scored in a fabled
5-0 triumph at the Bernabeu – Michels had
used the forward in an unusual withdrawn
role, creating space for the Catalans’ midfield
to terrorise Real Madrid with runs from deep.
That season, Barcelona were champions of
La Liga for the first time in 14 years.
Michels became Netherlands boss just
three months before the start of the 1974
World Cup – the Oranje’s first major
tournament since 1938 after decades of
miserable results. He quickly got to work on
his tactical plan, which had two simple aims:
create as much space as possible when in
possession, and deny opponents space or
time when they had the ball. A staggeringly
fierce pressing system – often featuring six
or seven players charging at the ball – was
combined with a ruthless offside trap.
Players required high levels of intelligence
and the awareness to interchange positions
fluidly. Michels’ system only worked if every
player, no matter how talented, was
disciplined enough to buy into it completely.
Luckily, their manager had the aura required
to instil such discipline – Totaalvoetbal was
about to be born.
On their way to the final, the Netherlands
scored 14 times and conceded only once,
thrashing Argentina 4-0 before that famous
victory over Brazil. “The only team I’ve seen
that did things differently was Holland at the
1974 World Cup,” Carlos Alberto once said.
“Since then, everything looks more or less
the same to me.”
Michels wouldn’t quite lead the
Netherlands to their first major trophy that
year, however: they were thwarted by a
controversial penalty in the final. But he’d
succeed in 1988, coming back for the Euros- again in West Germany.
Beaten by the Soviet Union in their opening
game – in their first tournament appearance
for eight years – the Netherlands recovered
to oust the German hosts in the semi-finals,
then got their revenge over the USSR in the
final. Marco van Basten, star of the entire
show (see FFT 312), would later describe
Michels as ‘the father of Dutch football’.
“There is nobody who taught me as much
as him,” revealed Cruyff, after Michels
passed away in 2005. “What Michels
brought was the importance of organisation
on the field. He was instrumental in my
development, and he always gave me the
right advice at the right time. From when I
was 18, he made me think about tactics.”
Cruyff’s mentor made everyone in world
football think about tactics, in a way they
had never thought about the subject before.
In 1999, FIFA handed out an award for the
greatest coach of the 20th century. It went
to Rinus Michels.
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