Johan Cruyff dead aged 68: Barcelona and Holland legend loses battle with cancer

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Dutch soccer great Johan Cruyff dies at age 68

RAF CASERT, Associated Press

MIKE CORDER, Associated Press

Johan Cruyff, a soccer star who brought a smile to the face of anyone who watched him play, died Thursday, aged 68.

Family spokeswoman Carole Thate told The Associated Press that Cruyff died in Barcelona after a five-month battle with lung cancer.

Ranked alongside such global stars as Pele, Diego Maradona, Franz Beckenbauer and Lionel Messi, Cruyff was one of the best footballers of all time.

He learned his trade at Ajax Amsterdam before joining the great Barcelona, and played 48 times for the Netherlands, scoring 33 goals.

Cruyff was more famous for his silky skills than soccer statistics and was the embodiment of "Total Football," a soccer philosophy that embraced high speed skills and the ability to turn defense into attack in a flash.

"Another legend has left us today," said Messi, the Argentina and Barcelona forward.

The Netherlands-France friendly on Friday in Amsterdam will be halted in the 14th minute for a minute's silence in honor of Cruyff, who made the No. 14 shirt his own during his glittering career in the Netherlands team.

Obsessed by football to the end and ever the positive thinker, Cruyff said his recovery was going well. "I have the feeling that I am 2-0 up in the first half. The game is not over yet. Still I know that in the end, I will win."

Football lost a revolutionary, who embodiment of the Dutch brand of "Total Football," a man who stood up for the cold commercial rights of players and one who proved positive attacking football was a winning combination in Europe after years of defensive domination.

In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said "through him, the world knew the Netherlands."

France great Michel Platini, the former head of European soccer, said, "Johan was my childhood hero, my idol and my friend."

Cruyff won the European Cup three times with Ajax as a player and once with Barcelona as a coach. He was European player of the year three times and, in 1999, was named Europe's best player of the 20th century.

Though a World Cup title eluded him, he was the pivotal figure on the 1974 Netherlands team that electrified the sport with its "Total Football" tactics, with players constantly interchanging roles. The tactics influenced the game worldwide, bringing fresh life to a sport that became stuck in a defensive mindset.

"Football has lost a man who did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history," said former England striker Gary Lineker, who played under Cruyff at Barcelona.

Cruyff smoked cigarettes most of his life and finally quit after undergoing an emergency heart bypass operation in 1991. After more heart trouble in 1997, he vowed never to coach again, though he remained an outspoken football critic and analyst.

On the field, Cruyff's wiry frame housed surprising athletic talent, unpredictable bursts of speed and agility and precise ball-control that allowed him to trick opponents, ghosting around them with ease. His genius lay in his instinctive feel for seeing how a move would develop before it actually began.

"Speed and insight are often confused," he said. "When I start running before everybody else, I appear faster." That speed and anticipation also gave him an unmatched grace under duress.

"A symbol of elegant play. An inspiration," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.

He scored 392 times in 520 games over a 19-year playing career.

But his influence reached far beyond creating goals, thanks to his qualities as a leader, thinker and speaker. With a brash Amsterdam accent, he put across his views about soccer and everything surrounding the game with irresistible force.

His comments became oft-quoted classics: "Every disadvantage has its advantage."

As a coach he had 242 victories in 387 matches, with 75 draws and 70 losses.

Cruyff was heavily involved in tactics from the start of his career. Along with Rinus Michels, his coach at Ajax and Barcelona, he helped develop Total Football.

Under the strategy, players pass the ball frequently to seek advantage, and switch positions seamlessly to adjust to the flow of play. Latin American admirers referred to the orange-clad Dutch national team as "The Clockwork Orange."

Cruyff was the personification of a total footballer, playing deep or shallow as the moment required, as deadly from the wings as from his assigned position in the center. He was among the first to see defenders as part of the attack.

With Cruyff on the field, Ajax won the European Cup for three consecutive years from 1971-73 before he moved to Barcelona midseason in 1973 and led the middle-of-the-table team to its first national title in a decade.

That season was crowned with a 5-0 away win at archrival Real Madrid, so sweet the Catalans still sometimes refer to Cruyff as "El Salvador," the savior.

The transfer fee paid by Barcelona was a world record and is seen as a milestone in the commercialization of sport. He was also one of the first soccer players to take on corporate sponsorships.

Even if it is common now for major players to enjoy a golden twilight in the United States, Cruyff did so almost 40 years ago, when at 32, he joined the Los Angeles Aztecs.

British sports writer Dave Miller, who once called Cruyff "Pythagorus in boots" for his ability to calculate the geometry of players in motion, wrote that "few have been able to exact, both physically and mentally, such mesmeric control on a match from one penalty area to another."

Many fans who watched Cruyff play as children can still replicate some of his moves, including the "Cruyff turn," a technique he used for passing defenders by faking toward them, then flicking the ball behind his own other leg in the opposite direction and darting after it.

Cruyff's pronouncements on the game skirted the line between profundity and nonsense.

Criticizing overly defensive play, he once said: "Italians can't beat you, though you can lose to them."

Other much quoted lines were: "You can't score if you don't shoot," and "Before I make a mistake, I don't make it."

Cruyff launched a tradition of great forwards coming out of the Netherlands that included Marco Van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Dennis Bergkamp. Yet defenders like national team player Ronald Koeman were just as much inspired by him.

"He meant almost everything to me," Koeman said.

He had a wife Danny, daughters Chantal and Susila, and a son Jordi, who also played soccer professionally.

"He was our most famous Dutchman around the globe," Prime Minister Rutte said.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-25

[Jonathan Fairfield]

[TheCruncher]

An icon indeed, bat as you see even them are not immune against cancer.

Rest in peace Johan, you were one of a kind in your profession.

[Chicog]

One I enjoyed watching.

RIP

[Jimbo]

Rip Johan. Easily the best European football player of the last century.

[Bredbury Blue]

Special player: love the bit at 1:50

https://youtu.be/YU-k-Ots3iY

[Chicog]

Rip Johan. Easily the best European football player of the last century.

I'd have to give Bestie the edge. Narrowly.

[Chicog]

[Chicog]

Rip Johan. Easily the best European football player of the last century.

I'd have to give Bestie the edge. Narrowly.

Actually you decide.

[Bredbury Blue]

Watching the videos, I can only think of Best, Cruyff and Messi who really attack / dribble past players like that with such regular success...lovely to watch isn't.

[mauGR1]

I have a vivid memory of watching "74 final of the world cup, Holland was the greatest team of the tournament, and Cruyff the shining light, but they lost against the tough Germans.

One of the greatest, never to be forgotten.

[Bredbury Blue]

...Maradona

[fvw53]

The death caused by lung cancer of one the greatest soccer players of the last century should make the smokers thinking ...Cruyff abandoned chain smoking more than 20 years ago.

[Dmaxdan]

One of the all time top five players for sure, and from what I understand a true gentleman too. R.I.P.

[mrbojangles]

Rip Johan. Easily the best European football player of the last century.

I'd have to give Bestie the edge. Narrowly.

Actually you decide.

Difficult one but either way he was great.

R.I.P

[Bredbury Blue]

The Guardian Fiver has some good stuff on cruyff.

JOHAN CRUYFF (1947-2016)

Johan Cruyff, who has died aged 68 of cancer, once said his qualities as a footballer were undetectable by a computer. It was surely true that a computer might have recorded his playing stats the goals, the assists, the distances covered but would have been incapable of assessing the wonderment generated by his technique and vision, from the late 1960s to the mid-80s, first with Ajax and later with Barcelona and his national team, Holland.With his anticipation and acceleration, Cruyff seemed to own the entire field of play. Only nominally a centre-forward, he was both orchestrator and predator, at one moment collecting a rolled ball from his keeper to start a move one arm pointing as he barked orders to his team-mates and the next materialising at the other end in front of goal for the coup de grace. For opponents it was like trying to pin down air. Without Cruyff, said Rinus Michels, his mentor and manager at Ajax, at Barcelona and with the Dutch international side, I have no team.The goals he scored were ones of which no other player was capable from twisted, one-legged, neck-high karate kicks, and from impossible angles made possible by the way he could shoot with all sides of both feet, the laces, the inside and the outside. No showreel of his talents would be complete, either, without the Cruyff Turn, the trademark feint with the dropped shoulder and 180-degree swivel that broke the will of the Sweden defender Jan Olsson in the 1974 World Cup. He was at the heart of a revolution with his football, said Eric Cantona. If he wanted, he could be the best player in any position on the pitch.Cruyff led Ajax to three consecutive European Cups from 1971 to 1973 and, a year later, was the linchpin for Holland as they were beaten 2-1 in the final of the World Cup by West Germany. As a player Cruyff scored 392 times in 520 games over a 19-year career but his influence reached far beyond creating goals, thanks to his qualities as a leader, thinker and speaker. As a coach he had 242 victories in 387 matches, with 75 draws and 70 defeats, and created Barcelonas Dream Team of the early 1990s, which included Romario, Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup, Ronald Koeman and Pep Guardiola. They won four consecutive La Liga titles and, in 1992, the clubs first European Cup. Cruyff painted the chapel, Guardiola said, and Barcelona coaches since merely restore and improve it.Ajax today issued a short statement: The greatest Ajax player of all time had suffered with lung cancer since October last year. Ajax share in this great loss and wish the families much strength. The initial reaction from Barcelona was succinct. Before the grand tributes that will follow, the club tweeted simply: We will always love you, Johan. Rest in peace.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/mar/24/you-play-football-with-your-head-and-your-legs-are-there-to-help-you-johan-cruyff-in-quotes

My favourites:

Look, the thing about [Filippo] Inzaghi is he cant actually play football at all. Hes just always in the right position.

Italians cant win the game against you, but you can lose the game against the Italians.

[katana]

Still remember the Cruff turn from back in 1974. Can't have been so funny for Jan Olsson at the time, the defender outwitted by the manoeuvre and immortalised for ever in the clip.

[jaapfries]

Many years ago, while watching yet anther brilliant performance by Johan, my mother mad the comment "His spoken Dutch is not very accurate, however he knows how to play soccer like nobody else" . . . . . she was so right; Johan Cruyf IS the best Soccer-Player ever, - and he shall NEVER be forgotten ! R.I.P. Hero !

[phitsanulokjohn]

Fantastic balanced player.Messi of the 70's.

RIP Johan.

[teacherpaul]

Please don't mention that cheat Maradona in the same sentence as Cruyff. Show some respect!

[vogie]

Saw him play for Barcelona at Elland Road (Leeds Utd) in 1975 in the european cup, Leeds won that day and went on to Barcelona to squeeze a draw.

[bark]

...Maradona

If you say his name, you should say " Hands Down, the best player "

[does]

I saw him play live once and it confirmed what I had seen on TV - he was inimitable. He could pass three of four players who would seem hypnotised by him, as if they were admiring his skills rather than doing their jobs stopping him.

I think you can't compare him to Pele and Messi. He was a more complete player, scored with his left, his right, the outside of his boots, headers, unrivaled anticipate of the flow of an attach, the works. Moreover, he reinvented the game and had a much bigger influence on his teammates than the other greats.

R.I.P. Johan

[Jedsada3]

A star is gone!

RIP Johan and thank you for the nice moments you gave us.

[OJAS]

Sad news.

[StevieH]

wonderful artist of a footballer and a hell of a manager as well.

this is a lovely documentary about him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnDqTGfuK8

[benalibina]

I saw him play live once and it confirmed what I had seen on TV - he was inimitable. He could pass three of four players who would seem hypnotised by him, as if they were admiring his skills rather than doing their jobs stopping him.

I think you can't compare him to Pele and Messi. He was a more complete player, scored with his left, his right, the outside of his boots, headers, unrivaled anticipate of the flow of an attach, the works. Moreover, he reinvented the game and had a much bigger influence on his teammates than the other greats.

R.I.P. Johan

Best comment so far regarding why he was one the best players the world has ever seen, IMHO.

What many people do not know as well that after his career he set up the Johan Cruyff foundation which enabled many sporters to study while pursuing their careers. Also under his name he made it possible that many small soccerfields where set up in areas where many poor people lived. This in order for the youngsters

to be able to play football. In contrast to many other well known topquality players, Maradonna/Best..to name a few, he never lost the plot, behaved normal and hence the reason why his demise is really a big loss for our

country and the attention his dead gets of the world press now.

The documentary in the post above shows as well how he has made a big impact on the lives of many

Catalans from 1973 onwards. This at the time while Spain was ruled by dictator Franco.

A true great footballplayer/manager and person has left us while battling that evil disease called cancer.

RIP.

[Chicog]

...Maradona

Drug taking cheat.

Next?

[StevieH]

...Maradona

Drug taking cheat.

Next?

best footballer ever until messi. imagine how good he could have been without the gak. utter genius.

[Macclad]

Truly one of the all time greats......a marvellous player to watch....RIP.