FOOTY FAIR

Throwback Thursdays: Ajax Introduce the World to Total Football

2016-06-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

Exactly forty-five years ago today, Amsterdam powerhouse Ajax won the first of their eventual three straight European Cups by defeating Panathinaikos 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in London.

For Ajax it was their second trip to the final, following a 4-1 defeat to AC Milan in 1969.

Throughout much of their history Ajax had a tradition of playing exciting attacking football, but it would be after the appointment of former player Rinus Michels as manager in 1965 that the club would forge the identity that the Dutch giants are known for today.

Building upon Ajax's existing ethos for playing a passing game and adapting the ideas of Gusztáv Sebes, who had managed a flexible and exhilarating Hungarian national side in the 1950's, Michels implemented a system that would come to be coined "Total Football".

Although his side played in a basic 4-3-3 formation, the Ajax players were well drilled in picking up positions left vacated by a teammate making a run. The team shape and the spacing between players was never lost, as players rotated across the pitch.

In order to play this system, the player needed to be exceptionally fit and possess great spatial awareness, so they could easily pickup where they should move and where they should not in relation to their teammates and opponents.

Their opponents in the final were Athens side Panathinaikos, who are still the only Greek club to make it to the final of the European Cup.

Thanks to high scoring forward Antonis Antoniadis and under the watchful eye of manager Ferenc Puskás, the legendary former Hungarian striker, the Greek side had reached the final with impressive aggregate wins over Everton and Red Star Belgrade.

After taking a 5th-minute lead through Dick van Dijk it was Ajax's defense, rather than their much lauded attack, that came to the fore as they completely negated their opponents forwards.

Antoniadis struggled to get into the game, and the gig was up in the 87th minute when Arie Haan added a second for Ajax.

Despite Michels departure for Barcelona following this victory, over the next two seasons the Amsterdam club would go on to win two more European Cups, making it three in succession.

Football's Greatest Sides - Part 2 of 5: Ajax (1971 to 1973)

2016-03-27T09:25:00.000-04:00

As tributes were paid this week to Johan Cruyff, following his passing at age 68, reference was made to him being a 'total footballer' and the heart of a fantastic Ajax side, but perhaps few fans of the modern game know what he and that team have meant to the way football is now played.

Ajax of the early 1970's might not be the greatest team ever, but it's hard to argue that they aren't the most influential.

Prior to 1954, the Netherlands had been a minnow of European football with a national side that rarely won and a disorganized amateur league structure. But in 1954, professionalism came to Dutch football and with that came the impetus to improve the way the game was played by both clubs and country.

At the forefront of the Dutch football revolution was Ajax, who had a tradition for attractive passing football going all the way back to the First World War when they were under the helm of forward thinking English manager Jack Reynolds.

Reynolds set the club up so that all levels, from the first team all the way down to the youth sides. It's a tradition that Ajax has continued over a hundred years later. The revolutionary coach from Manchester would be associated with the Amsterdam club for 27 years and lead them to 8 League Championships.

Rinus Michels, a former pupil of Reynolds, had carved out a twelve year playing career for Ajax between 1946 and 1958 scoring 122 goals, but it was his appointment as manager in 1965 that would change the course of the club's history.

Bringing along youngsters such as Johan Neeskens and Johan Cruyff, Michels transformed a relegation threatened club into league champions within a year.

Building upon Ajax's existing ethos for playing a passing game and adapting the ideas of Gusztáv Sebes, who had managed a flexible and exhilarating Hungarian national side in the 1950's, Michels implemented a system that would come to be coined "Total Football".

Although his side played in a basic 4-3-3 formation, the Ajax players were well drilled in picking up positions left vacated by a teammate making a run. The team shape and the spacing between players was never lost, as players rotated across the pitch.

This required players that were tactical adept and very flexible. Of course the physical demands on the players was also high as they moved around the pitch plugging gaps and making intelligent runs.

The role of Ajax's star forward Cruyff was also key to this system, as he would roam across the front line or back into midfield causing damage all over the pitch. Spaces he left open in his side's structure though were quickly filled by a teammate.

Spatial awareness, in terms of where players should move and where they should not in relation to their teammates and their opponents was critical to this system.

The impact of Michel's new system saw an Ajax reach the European Cup Final in 1969 where they would get turned over 4-1 by AC Milan, but the experience of playing in such a match would stand them in good stead.

In 1971, Ajax defeated Panathinaikos 2-0 at Wembley to capture their first European title and cap a run that even survived the departure of Michels to Barcelona following this victory.

Under the less demanding, but more even more attack minded, Stefan Kovacs, Ajax accumulated a staggering 46-0-0 record at home in domestic football during 1971-1972 and 1972-1973, while also scooping up two more European Cups in those seasons with a 2-0 victory over Inter in 1972 and a 1-0 win over Juventus the following year.

This era of Ajax dominance would come to an end in 1973 with the departure of Cruyff to Barcelona.

Cruyff and Michels, reunited at club and country level, were able to bring their Total Football style over to the Dutch national side, as they strode to the World Cup Final in 1974.

Although there have been modifications down through the years, this style of play was at the heart of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who some consider the best club side ever. What former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson called their "carousel of passing" was only possible by controlling space and always giving each other passing options.

Whenever this side lost the ball, which was rare to begin with, they were setup to quickly win it back. Modern day Barcelona, still owe much to Michels and Cruyff and the ideas they put into practice over four decades ago.

5 Iconic National Teams That Ultimately Failed

2016-01-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's been said that history only remembers the winners, but in football that's not always the case as some teams have captured our imaginations, and then lived long in our memories with their brilliant play despite ultimately falling short of winning the World Cup.

The following are five iconic sides that ultimately failed, but have never been forgotten:

Hungary 1954

Ferenc Puskas and Hungary's Mighty Magyars had gone undefeated for four years coming into the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland and were heavy favourites to lift the Jules Rimet Trophy. Hungary, playing an early form of total football, had smashed England 6-3 at Wembley a year earlier and surprised no one by romping to the World Cup Final in Bern. Their opponents were a West Germany side who, like the country they hailed from, were still recovering from the devastation of World War 2.

When Puskas and Zoltan Czibor put Hungary up 2-0 within eight minutes everything seemed to be going according to the script, but within two minutes West Germany got back into it. Max Morlock slide home the German's first on 10 minutes, before Helmut Rahn equalized in the 18th minute. After that the Hungarian's pressed and pressed, but despite laying siege to the German goal they could not force themselves back in front. With six minutes to go, Rahn struck again to complete a remarkable comeback and consign one of the finest team's the football world had seen to a 3-2 defeat.

Netherlands 1974

Unless you support Germany, if you mention the 1974 World Cup to most football fans of a certain age they'll almost certainly wax lyrically about the wonderful Dutch side of Johan Cruyff that swept to the final playing their glorious total football that summer.

Managed by Rinus Michels, the Netherlands played a fluid brand of football with players interchanging positions and Cruyff conducting things using a style that had seen Ajax win three straight European Cups in the early 1970's. Facing the host West German side in the final the Netherlands were the slight favourites, but as they had in 1954 the German's spoiled the party overcoming a Johan Neeskens penalty in the second minute with goals by Paul Breitner in the 25th minute and a second by poacher supreme Gerd Muller in the 43rd minute. Despite chances for both sides in the second half, West Germany claimed their second World Cup hanging on for a 2-1 victory in Munich.

Brazil 1982

Arguably the last Brazilian side to play in the thrilling samba style of old, the Selecao's 1982 vintage featured a chain smoking doctor named Socrates, the brilliant Zico and a terrific group of individuals who played like they'd just strolled in from the beach. Some of the goals this team scored are among the best World Cup stunners you'll ever see on YouTube.

Sweeping aside New Zealand, Scotland and the Soviet Union in the opening group stage, Brazil then downed their old rivals Argentina 3-1 in their first second round group match and seemed prime to match the achievements of the great Brazilian sides of the past. Unfortunately, the cavalier play of manager Tele Santana's side proved to be their undoing against the eventual world champions Italy when some disastrous defending gifted Paolo Rossi a hattrick in a 3-2 win for the Azzurri in the final second round group match. Thanks to exited in one of the finest World Cup matches ever played and their inspired attacking brilliance throughout, this Brazilian side is considered by many to be the best team that didn't win a World Cup.

Denmark 1986

For a country of only five million people, Denmark has produced a good number of wonderful footballers, several of which made up their 1986 World Cup squad. Nicknamed the Danish Dynamite, the 1986 squad combined brute force and smooth technique unlike any side the country has produced since, even the European Championship winners of 1992. Under German manager Sepp Piontek, the Danes might have been the most prepared team for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico having gone through intense altitude training and bruising training sessions prior to the tournament.

With the talented Preben Elkjær Larsen leading the line, a 21-year old phenomenon in Michael Laudrup providing the creativity and the dynamic Frank Arnesen and Soren Lerby applying the drive from midfield, Denmark became one of the neutrals favourites in Mexico. Sailing through, what looked like on paper, a tough first round group, the Danes dispatched Scotland 1-0, hammered Uruguay 6-1 and then beat the eventual finalists West Germany 2-0. But in the second round the unbelievable happened. After going up 1-0 against Spain, and pressing their advantage, a calamitous mistake by Jesper Olsen allowed the Spanish to equalize through Emilio Butragueño. In the second half as Denmark pushed forward, some might say recklessly, they were caught on the counter attack four more times as Butragueño added three more goals to his name and Andoni Goikoetxea fired in a penalty to complete a shock 5-1 win for Spain.

Denmark, a tournament favourite who had played some of the finest football of the World Cup in the first round, flew a little too close to the sun with wax wings.

Brazil 1998

Everyone of a certain age remembers the wonderful Nike advertisement of the Brazilian team of 1998 moving a ball through an airport, and it was rather representative of the football they played at that time. Although Brazil won the World Cup in 1994, and would win it again in 2002, it was the 1998 team with Ronaldo at his peak that captured the imagination.

Led by manager Mario Zagallo, who guided the legendary 1970 Brazilian side to glory, Brazil breezed through the first round with their attacking trio of Rivaldo, Bebeto and that man Ronaldo firing on all cylinders. They crushed Chile 4-1 in the Round of 16, before narrowly edging out a surprising Denmark side 3-2 in the Quarter Finals. The Semi Finals saw Brazil take the lead against a very good Dutch team through Ronaldo in the 46th minute, before Patrick Kluivert levelled the score three minutes from time. Brazil held their nerve in the shootout though and advanced to the final.

In the World Cup final against the host France, Brazil went in as the slight favourites despite the French having the home crowd advantage. Prior to the match though, Ronaldo suffered a seizure and was initially left out of the starting eleven. Despite being cleared to play, the best player on the planet at that time proved a non-factor as the South Americans wilted and were beaten 3-0.

3 Great Tactical Innovations

2015-04-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

While watching Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher's excellent post match tactical breakdown of the Manchester Derby last weekend I couldn't help but be struck by how Louis van Gaal has finally got Manchester United playing this system he had used to such effect in a few of his previous roles.

His system, which is essentially a play on the classic 4-3-3 setup, traditionally favoured by his old club Ajax, calls for compressing the space all over the pitch and for the defenders to never be 25 yards or so away from the midfield and likewise the midfield from the forwards.

This system reduces the open pockets of space around the pitch, allowing his team to reduce passing options and always be good shape to win the ball back. Alternately when Van Gaal's side receives possession they're fairly close to teammates, and when you combine this with quick and intelligent movement off the ball, as his players try to pull the defending side out of position, several passing options become available.

It's not a particularly new tactic, but it's one that takes a lot of discipline, concentration, work rate and of course players with the necessary quality to implement it.

One of the interesting things about football though is the evolution of tactics like the one's being used by Van Gaal, and the following are three innovations that drastically altered the game:

The Combination Game

In football's early years in the United Kingdom the only way supposed gentlemen played the game was by attempting to dribble right through their opponents and score. Tactics were virtually unheard of and passing was almost viewed as cowardice.

That all began to change when early club's like Sheffield FC in England and their Scottish counterparts Queens Park FC began to experiment with players encouraging each other to pass the ball off if they didn't have the option of dribbling through to goal.

An early proponent of what the newspapers of the day referred to as "The Combination Game" was the famous footballer and cricket star Charles W. Alcock who said, "Nothing succeeds better than what I may call a 'combination game'" and is credited with helping to develop what he also referred to as "a scientific way of playing" with passing and support play at his club side Wanderers.

In one of the earliest instances of passing leading to a goal being mentioned in a newspaper, Alcock put his England teammate Robert Walker through to score against Scotland in an unofficial friendly in 1870. The Scottish, for their part, embraced this new way of playing themselves and in the first recognized international between the two nations in 1872, they nearly passed their English counterparts off the pitch in a competitive encounter that ended 0-0.

The WM

In the early decades of professional football, most sides played a simple variation of a very attack focused 2-3-5 formation with five forwards bombing towards goal, three roving midfielders known as half-backs and two dedicated full-backs. Arsenal's innovative tactician Herbert Chapman changed all of that in the late 1920's when he introduced a more defensively sound 3-2-2-3 formation, that would come to be known as the "WM".

This setup required three full-backs covered by two half-back, with two inside forwards and three attackers.

Chapman's sides, besides being more defensively sound than most of their opponents, were deadly on the counter attack with the majority of their moves going through their supremely gifted inside forward Alex James.

Total Football

When you say the two words "Total Football", immediately people assume you are referring to the great Ajax sides of the early 1970's, but the idea of deep lying forwards and players rotating positions took root much earlier.

Building on ideas coaches Jimmy Hogan and Hugo Meisl worked on with great success with sides in Hungary and Austria in the 1920s and 1930s, the Hungarian manager
Gusztáv Sebes would create one of the most exhilarating sides the world had seen in the 1950's.

As manager of Hungary, Sebes set his team's up in a 4-2-4 when defending and then had them move into a 2-3-1-4 formation when on the attack, where the single player behind the four attackers was a deep lying or withdrawn centre forward. Using Nándor Hidegkuti in this withdrawn role, Hungary romped to an Olympic title in 1952 and then obliterated England 6-3 at Wembley the following year.

It was said afterwards that "Billy Wright and the England defence were like a fire brigade rushing to put out the wrong fire."

That brilliant Hungarian side would go on to narrowly lose to West Germany in the 1954 World Cup Final.

Using a similar approach to Hungary, Brazil romped to victory in the 1958 World Cup, but by the time the 1962 World Cup had come around they had morphed into a 4-3-3 setup. This gave them an extra man in midfield for defensive solidity. The middle three players would move as a unit across the pitch establishing cover and then when transitioning into attack the three forwards would split across the attacking third with the two outside forwards providing width.

With Rinus Michels' Ajax side of the early 1970's they were setup in a 4-3-3, but the difference was the players were well drilled in picking up positions left vacated by a teammate making a run. The team shape and the spacing between players was never lost, as players rotated across the pitch. This required players that were tactical adept and very flexible. Of course the physical demands on the players was also high as they moved around the pitch plugging gaps and making intelligent runs.

The role of Ajax's star forward Johan Cruyff was also key to this system, as he would roam across the front line or back into midfield causing damage all over the pitch. Spaces he left open in his side's structure were quickly filled by a teammate.

Spatial awareness, in terms of where players should move and where they should not in relation to their teammates and their opponents was critical to this system.

Ajax certainly reaped the rewards by winning three straight European Cups in the early 1970's, along achieving a staggering 46-0-0 record at home in domestic football during 1971/1972 and 1972/1973.

Cruyff and Michels were also able to bring this style over to the Dutch national side, as they strode to the World Cup Final in 1974.

Although there have been modifications down through the years, this style of play was at the heart of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who some consider the best club side ever. What former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson called their "carousel of passing" was only possible by controlling space and always giving each other passing options.

Whenever this side lost the ball, which was rare to begin with, they were setup to quickly win it back.

From Alcock to Chapman, with influence by Hogan and Meisl, input from Sebes and Michels, leading to near perfection from Guardiola, football tactics have come a long way.

(And before you ask, I purposely skipped Catenaccio, as I've watched too many grindingly dull matches as a result of this system.)

Can the Netherlands Finally Win the World Cup?

2014-07-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

With the Netherlands victory over Costa Rica in the World Cup Quarter Finals on penalty kicks, a great psychological weight may have lifted from the Dutch, frequent losers from the spot, and people are now wondering if this is the year that they can finally become champions of the world.

For a country that has produced so many fantastically gifted players over the past forty years, along with revolutionizing how football tactics and youth development is approached, it's astounding that the Dutch have never lifted the World Cup.

1905 Netherlands National Team

Playing their first international against Belgium in Antwerp in 1905, the Netherlands competed in the 1934 and 1938 World Cup Finals without a great deal of success, and would have to wait until 1974 to reach another World Cup. In the intervening years, a sea of change swept over Dutch football though.

Unlike neighbouring countries in Europe, the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) refused to allow professionalism in the Dutch leagues right up until the early 1950's. As they continually lost talented players to other domestic leagues, and subsequently banned these players from playing for the national side, the Dutch team was rightfully seen as a minnow on the world stage. With the introduction of professionalism in 1954, and the formation of the Eredivisie in 1956, the standard of play in the country began to improve. The first winners of the Eredivisie, AFC Ajax, would also have a profound effect on the direction of Dutch football.

Implementing a youth development program that would one day become the envy of Europe, Ajax would not only dominate Dutch football, but dramatically change the fortunes of the national side. With the emergence of Johan Cruyff from their youth ranks in 1964 and the hiring of coach Rinus Michels the following year, the side began to implement a system of play known as Total Football.

The concept of Total Football involved the flexible movement of players all across the pitch, moving and covering for each other to fill spaces and confuse opposition markers. This system, which was heavily influenced by the great Hungarian side of the 1950's, required players to be comfortable with taking on different roles and to have the intelligence to adapt as the teams shape could change at any time during a match.

The Ajax way of playing also emphasized quick, short passing and movement that would be adapted to good effect by not only the Dutch national side, but in later years by Barcelona and Spain. The 1970 Brazilian World Cup winning captain, Carlos Alberto, described Ajax and the Netherlands style of play as a carousel of passing and movement. After seeing his Manchester United side demolished by Barcelona at Wembley in 2011, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson also referred to Barcelona having beaten them with their "carousel of passing". This was a style of play adapted from the Dutch and the direct influence of Michels and Cruyff.

Johan Cruyff scores on Argentina in the 1974 World Cup

With Ajax providing this template for a system of play and a talented generation of players, to go along with stars from Feyenoord and PSV, the Netherlands thrilled the world in reaching the World Cup Final in 1974 in West Germany. Unfortunately after taking an early lead, the Dutch crumbled and lost 2-1 to the hosts. A Cruyff-less Netherlands side reached the final again in Argentina in 1978, but in the white hot political climate of that infamous tournament they were faced with near insurmountable odds and predictably fell to a 3-1 defeat to Argentina.

1988 European Champions

Despite Michels bowing out of management with a thrilling win in the European Champions at the helm of the Dutch side in 1988, the country of Total Football never reached another World Cup Final until 2010 in South Africa. Facing off against Spain, a nation that owes their current footballing philosophy to the "Low Country", the Netherlands betrayed their proud traditions by trying to kick the Spanish off the pitch. In a horribly disappointing final, Spain justifiably prevailed 1-0 in Extra Time and the Dutch were left pondering what could have been again.

The 2014 tournament this has seen anything but a vintage Dutch side. They lack the genius of a Johan Cruyff, the magic of a Ruud Gullit, the vision of a Dennis Bergkamp, or the lethal threat of a Marco van Basten. However, they have done what they've needed to win. Utilizing the speed and cunning of Arjen Robben, the steel of Nigel de Jong in the middle, the goal scoring threat of Robin van Persie and a solid back line, the Dutch opened their campaign by destroying Spain 5-1. Since then it has not been plain sailing, but under the crafty leadership of Louis van Gaal they have exceeded expectations and find themselves in the World Cup Semi Final against old foes Argentina.

Arjen Robben has been key to the Dutch's progress in this tournament

It certainly won't be easy to win the next two matches, but could it be that this is the year that Dutch football finally gains football's greatest prize?

We'll find out in the next week.