FIFA World Cup 2010 Final: From Total football to Anti-football
Holland, who are renowned for their total football style, ditched their history of playing attractive football and adopted violent tactics against Spain, in the final match of the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The Dutch legend Johann Cruyff, who perfected the total football style with the Dutch squad of 1974 FIFA World Cup stated before the final match had taken place that the Spanish were favorites to win the match.
However, even the great man himself had struggled to foresee the tactics that his national side adopted in order to overcome the Spanish in the pen-ultimate match of the tournament. The present Dutch side had been much maligned for their style of play before the final had been played. The previous Netherlands sides were much easier on the eye when they were playing football.
Despite such an appealing style, Dutch had failed to win anything. Van Marwijk’s side deployed a strategy which was totally opposite to the one that their predecessors had promoted but failed to defeat Spain nonetheless.
Cruyff said after the game that last Thursday people from his native country, Holland asked him that can the national team play the same way as Mourinho’s Inter did and knock out Spain just like Inter eliminated Barca? He told El-Periodico which is a Spanish based newspaper that, he had answered these questions in negative because he was sure that the Dutch would never renounce their attractive style.
He explained his view and stated that he thought that the Modern Dutch team was devoid of legends of the past but they still had their own unique style. After the match, Cruyff conceded that he was wrong and that it was almost as if all of the eleven players in the Dutch side didn’t want the ball.
He also went onto say that the Dutch played very dirty. He said that Holland should have been down to nine men immediately because of the dangerous tackles they put in. The 1974 World Cup finalist said that he had been wrong in his statements and that the Dutch had taken the ugly path to the title.
Johann further added that the Holland’s style on the night was ugly, vulgar, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style. He said that it might have troubled Spain and maybe the Dutch had derived satisfaction from that but in the end they lost. In the end he said that the Dutch played anti-football.
Cruyff also criticized Howard Webb’s refereeing of the game. He said that the World Cup final needs great refereeing and that above everything else, a referee should be daring. He also said that in most cases it is not suitable to talk about the referees but also added that in this case it was impossible to do so.
The former Dutch national team captain said that, a human can make mistakes but no one has a right to create their own sense of justice. Cruyff also stated that Howard Webb had created a personalized application of rules.
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