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| Image from FIFATV. |
If you're a soccer/football fan and haven't checked out FIFATV on YouTube, then you're missing out.
You can find full matches, match highlights, success stories, and individual player profiles like the one below on Johan Cruyff.
Cruyff is hands down the most celebrated Dutch player ever and one of the best attacking players to grace the pitch. His vision and technique were second to none.
He was the star of the Ajax and Dutch teams of the 1970's and their free-flowing "total football." He dominated the 1974 World Cup finals, where he introduced the world to his famous "Cruyff turn," a move still taught and used around the world today. Unfortunately, Holland lost to hosts West Germany in the final. After disagreements with the Dutch FA (KNVB), he pulled out of the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina, where the Dutch again lost to the hosts in the final. Cruyff is often considered the best player to never win a World Cup.
Most of his club career was spent at Ajax and Barcelona. After hanging up his boots, he went on to manage both of these teams and is credited with reinventing the game at Barcelona.
Johan Cruyff is arguably the most influential footballing mind ever. Both Ajax and Barcelona have modeled their youth academies after his coaching philosophy. He has influenced so many great managers and players including Arrigo Sacchi, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Pep Guardiola. He is often credited with Ajax's success in the 1990's and Spanish football greatness from 2008 to 2012.
Sadly, he passed away at the age of 68 on March 24, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. Although he is gone, his ideas live on through the Johan Cruyff Institute, the TOVO Academy, and in almost every football match you watch :-)
There is no doubt he has left a lasting legacy.