RIP:Johan Neeskens

[mike412]

Most of you probably are too young to remember Johan Neeskens, one of the MF players who made Holland’s “Clockwork Orange” the best soccer team in the world throughout the 1970s.

I believe the Dutch only lost three international matches in six years during that period. Unfortunately, two were World Cup finals. More unfortunately, the Dutch had to play the 1974 final against Germany in Munich (lost 2-1) and the 1978 final in Buenos Aires against Argentina (lost in extra time).

While Johan Cruyff was the indisputable star of the Clockwork Orange and the player I most admired, Neeskens was my favorite player. He was a born scorer who played primarily as a central midfielder for the good of the team.

In the three years Cruyff and Neeskens played together at Ajax, the won three European Cups.
A year after Cruyff left Ajax for Barcelona (after famously refusing a transfer to Real Madrid because he said he would not play for “Franco’s team;” that is Spanish dictator Generalissimo Franco and not Franco Harris), Neeskens joined him as a Blaugrana player. The team didn’t have great success while they were there as the supporting cast was not very good, but Neeskens was superb. I used to drive from Santa Monica down to Tijuana one or two weekends a month to watch Barca back then because all of their matches were shown live on Mexican TV.

I read today that Neeskens was listed as #64 on FIFA’s list of the all time best 100 players in the world (published in 2017). He certainly would be on the list of my 25 favorite players. If there is a soccer pitch in Heaven, you can bet he is already on it with Cruyff, Maradona, Pele, Best and the other greats.

 

[vantheman1976]

Most of you probably are too young to remember Johan Neeskens, one of the MF players who made Holland’s “Clockwork Orange” the best soccer team in the world throughout the 1970s.

I believe the Dutch only lost three international matches in six years during that period. Unfortunately, two were World Cup finals. More unfortunately, the Dutch had to play the 1974 final against Germany in Munich (lost 2-1) and the 1978 final in Buenos Aires against Argentina (lost in extra time).

While Johan Cruyff was the indisputable star of the Clockwork Orange and the player I most admired, Neeskens was my favorite player. He was a born scorer who played primarily as a central midfielder for the good of the team.

In the three years Cruyff and Neeskens played together at Ajax, the won three European Cups.
A year after Cruyff left Ajax for Barcelona (after famously refusing a transfer to Real Madrid because he said he would not play for “Franco’s team;” that is Spanish dictator Generalissimo Franco and not Franco Harris), Neeskens joined him as a Blaugrana player. The team didn’t have great success while they were there as the supporting cast was not very good, but Neeskens was superb. I used to drive from Santa Monica down to Tijuana one or two weekends a month to watch Barca back then because all of their matches were shown live on Mexican TV.

I read today that Neeskens was listed as #64 on FIFA’s list of the all time best 100 players in the world (published in 2017). He certainly would be on the list of my 25 favorite players. If there is a soccer pitch in Heaven, you can bet he is already on it with Cruyff, Maradona, Pele, Best and the other greats.

Love reading a post that teaches me something about a sport I haven't followed very closely.....and a history lesson to boot!

 

[pitt90seven]

Most of you probably are too young to remember Johan Neeskens, one of the MF players who made Holland’s “Clockwork Orange” the best soccer team in the world throughout the 1970s.

I believe the Dutch only lost three international matches in six years during that period. Unfortunately, two were World Cup finals. More unfortunately, the Dutch had to play the 1974 final against Germany in Munich (lost 2-1) and the 1978 final in Buenos Aires against Argentina (lost in extra time).

While Johan Cruyff was the indisputable star of the Clockwork Orange and the player I most admired, Neeskens was my favorite player. He was a born scorer who played primarily as a central midfielder for the good of the team.

In the three years Cruyff and Neeskens played together at Ajax, the won three European Cups.
A year after Cruyff left Ajax for Barcelona (after famously refusing a transfer to Real Madrid because he said he would not play for “Franco’s team;” that is Spanish dictator Generalissimo Franco and not Franco Harris), Neeskens joined him as a Blaugrana player. The team didn’t have great success while they were there as the supporting cast was not very good, but Neeskens was superb. I used to drive from Santa Monica down to Tijuana one or two weekends a month to watch Barca back then because all of their matches were shown live on Mexican TV.

I read today that Neeskens was listed as #64 on FIFA’s list of the all time best 100 players in the world (published in 2017). He certainly would be on the list of my 25 favorite players. If there is a soccer pitch in Heaven, you can bet he is already on it with Cruyff, Maradona, Pele, Best and the other greats.

curious where you watched soccer in the park 70's? somebody have a satellite dish? i don't think the WC was show on regular tv but could be wrong.

 

[mike412]

curious where you watched soccer in the park 70's? somebody have a satellite dish? i don't think the WC was show on regular tv but could be wrong.

I went to law school in Washington DC and played pickup soccer on the Washington Mall. A number of employees at the BBC also played there. A couple of them invited me to watch the 1974 World Cup at the BBC. They had the feed from Europe and we watched either in the control room or a room they would send the feed to on a TV there. I saw the Dutch play in a group game and after that went to every one of their matches at the BBC. They also would get the feeds from a few British Premier League (I think it was called something else then) matches every week after the international break was over. Mainly Man U, Arsenal and the other top teams of that era. Some of the top teams then are not even in the Premier League now. I became such a regular there that the weekend security guards knew me by name.

When I moved to LA in 1975, as I said above, I learned that La Liga was shown in some sports bars in Tijuana. It’s a 2 hour drive depending on traffic, but I went there once or twice a month depending on the matchups that week. They always had the Barca matches on. I was surprised at how much support Barca had there until a bartender told me that in Tijuana everyone had two favorite teams: their local team and Barca. They loved Barca because it was the anti-establishment, anti-Real Madrid team.

I went much less frequently after Cruyff retired. Some years I only went for El Clasico. It was many years later that Premier League and La Liga games were available on DirecTV. But, there were at least 3 Irish/British sports bars in Santa Monica which had big dishes and wall-to-wall matches on weekends since those dishes first became available. Now they have DirecTV and other feeds. Huge number of ex-Brits and others on the Westside of LA. There was just a story in the Sunday LA Times on the best sports bars in LA to watch soccer and 4 of them are in Santa Monica.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

I went to law school in Washington DC and played pickup soccer on the Washington Mall. A number of employees at the BBC also played there. A couple of them invited me to watch the 1974 World Cup at the BBC. They had the feed from Europe and we watched either in the control room or a room they would send the feed to on a TV there. I saw the Dutch play in a group game and after that went to every one of their matches at the BBC. They also would get the feeds from a few British Premier League (I think it was called something else then) matches every week after the international break was over. Mainly Man U, Arsenal and the other top teams of that era. Some of the top teams then are not even in the Premier League now. I became such a regular there that the weekend security guards knew me by name.

When I moved to LA in 1975, as I said above, I learned that La Liga was shown in some sports bars in Tijuana. It’s a 2 hour drive depending on traffic, but I went there once or twice a month depending on the matchups that week. They always had the Barca matches on. I was surprised at how much support Barca had there until a bartender told me that in Tijuana everyone had two favorite teams: their local team and Barca. They loved Barca because it was the anti-establishment, anti-Real Madrid team.

I went much less frequently after Cruyff retired. Some years I only went for El Clasico. It was many years later that Premier League and La Liga games were available on DirecTV. But, there were at least 3 Irish/British sports bars in Santa Monica which had big dishes and wall-to-wall matches on weekends since those dishes first became available. Now they have DirecTV and other feeds. Huge number of ex-Brits and others on the Westside of LA. There was just a story in the Sunday LA Times on the best sports bars in LA to watch soccer and 4 of them are in Santa Monica.

Awesome stuff.

 

[Fk_Pitt]

Btw Mike, last week I was in SoCal for a week. Had a nice time. Did some things in and around Santa Monica. But honestly my favorite thing I did was visit the Reagan Library. I was based in Anaheim for much of my trip and I’m being apolitical here as my uncle, who is your age and very much like you politically, said that the Nixon library is incredible, beautiful, and very much worth doing. But I just didn’t have a strong desire to do it. Then I figured that if I drove to the Reagan Library, I’d see likely a much better library and I’d get to see more of the area along the way. And boy was I glad I did. My wife and I had breakfast along the coast in Malibu and then drove through the Santa Monica Mountains to get to the Simi Valley and the library. The library was awesome as I enjoyed the replica Oval Office and going inside the actual Air Force One of Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton(?). Not to mention seeing a section of the Berlin Wall, Ron and Nancy’s resting place looking out over the mountains and toward the ocean, and all the other history there.

But I’m glad I did it because I loved that area. Driving through those mountains was gorgeous. I couldn’t live in LA because of the traffic. My brother does and he’s used to it…but I couldn’t imagine doing it myself. But in or around Simi Valley? I think I could live there.

 

[mike412]

I agree with you. I think the adjacent valleys of Conejo and Santa Rosa are even nicer. In fact, from there all the way up past Santa Barbara is absolutely beautiful if you carve out Oxnard. I would have loved to have lived in the Santa Barbara area because I think it is extraordinarily beautiful and I love the town. But, it was just too far from work. We had one attorney in our office who lived in Moorpark, not far from the Reagan Library, and he had a 90 minute commute on a good day and 2 plus hours on a bad traffic day.

 

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