Majestic Series: Johan Cruyff - Impact

Personally, my all-time favorite football player, the number 1 character that had a great impact on football; technically and playing-wise. An Ajax legend #14 (the number not being used there anymore as respect to his former carrier), won 3 Champions Leagues with Ajax out of 4! He was part of the total football project offered by Rinus Micheles - Cruyff's manager at that time. He reached the world cup final of 1974 with the Netherlands but, unfortunately, he lost the final against Beckenbaur's fellows (Germany NT). He played with Barcelona, and wasn't bad at all; he beat Real Madrid 5-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu in 17 February 1974, scoring an ultimate goal after dribbling 3 Madrid defensive players brilliantly. Years later, he became Barcelona's coach and he was able to construct Barca's dream team which included Guardiola, Koeman, Romario, Laudrup..etc And so Barcelona won it's first Champions league in its history in 1992. Plus, he was able to beat Real Madrid 5-0 again but as a coach this time. Besides, Cruyff was able to construct a very successful La Masia (Barcelona's academy) which built todays legends like Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Pique, Fabregas, Busquetes, Bojan, Pedro, Valdes, Thiago...and it's still working! Guardiola now is Barca's coach, and is using many of his former manager Cruyff's tactics (like 4-4-2 strategy and playing with a triangular attack). So, if you ask me, Cruyff is #1 World class player; better than Messi, Pele, Maradona..etc but he's yet ...

See Also : Soccer Strategies