Article by John Manenti
The edition ofthe Soccer World Cup which takes place in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July 1974 goes down in history as the one marked by the bitter rivalry between the two captains of the country organizing the event and Holland, namely Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff respectively – who, not surprisingly, share the award of the prestigious Award of “Ballon d’Or”, won by the “flying tulip in 1071 and 1973 and by the standard bearer of Bayern Munich in 1972 – in a journey concluded with the Final at the “Olympic Stadium” in Munich between the two national teams …
It is on that occasion that the myth of the “Clockwork Orange”, appellation stuck to the eleven coached by Rinus Michels who on German soil put into practice a completely different way of playing than what we had seen up to then, made of high pressing, shortening of distances, systematic offside and overlapssuch as to throw all the opponents into confusion, given that in the six matches played before the Final, the Netherlands obtained 5 wins and only one draw for 0-0 against Sweden, all seasoned with 14 goals scored and just one conceded, however, a completely irrelevant Krol own goal in the 4-1 success against Bulgaria.
The path of the landlords is much more complicated who, apart from the 0-1 defeat against the “cousins” of East Germany – however useful to avoid meeting the Netherlands in the second group stage – do not give that impression of superiority certified by the “score” of 11 goals in favor and 3 against, as well as by the narrow 1-0 victory over Poland which guarantees them qualification for the final act where, in a sort of replica at an exact distance of 20 years, when Germany had the best in comeback from 0-2 to 3-2 on the very favorite Hungary (the “Gold team” …) by Puskas & Co., once again the prediction is reversed and the Germans, who went behind after just 60” of play, turn the situation in their favor until the final 2-1 …
But if Helmut Schon’s eleven is nothing more than the conclusion – unlike what happened in 1954 with the “Miracle of Bern” – of a winning cycle that had seen the “National team” defeat 2-4 after extra time by England in the disputed Final of the World Cup in England ’66 and suffer a somewhat similar situation four years later in Mexico, where Valcareggi’s Italy won 4-3 after extra time in the semifinalin addition to having won the European title in 1972, Holland appears for the first time at the highest level of international football, given that until then they could count only on two fleeting appearances in the editions of Italy ’34 and France ’38 of the Rimet Cup, in both cases eliminated in the first round 2-3 from Switzerland and 0-3 from Czechoslovakia respectively.
Therefore, 40 years have passed since the world debut of the “Orange” when they reappear on the main stage of planetary football, but strengthened by a “Revolutionwhich had already paid hefty dividends at Club level, given that for 5 consecutive seasons a Dutch team had reached the European Cup Final and, after an Ajax still under construction had had to suffer the greater experience of Milan being defeated 1-4 in 1969, in the following four years the Trophy takes the road to the Netherlandsfirst thanks to Feyenoord – which eliminated the Rossoneri holders on its way – and then by Ajax of the various Cruijff, Neeskens, Suurbier, Hulshoff, Haan and Krol, which prevailed for three consecutive tournaments.
It is therefore not surprising if these statements are also replicated at the level of the national team, whose backbone is made up of 6 members of the Amsterdam Club – instead of a Hulshoff forced to withdraw from the Rassegna due to injury, there is the striker Johnny Rep, with only 5 appearances to his credit – even if, in reality, Captain Cruijff moved to Barcelona in autumn 1973, with whom he played his first match at the end of October, scoring twice in the 4-0 home win over Granada, a match played less than one month after the last, decisive match against Belgium for qualification for the first edition of the FIFA Cup the following yeargiven that the previous Rimet Cup was definitively won by Brazil with the affirmation at the World Cup in Mexico ’70 …
Yes, Belgium-Holland, or the two “historic rivals” of the BENELUX (with Luxembourg playing the role of the “poor relative” …) which, to date, have met 129 times, with the “tulips” to have prevailed on 57 occasions against the 41 of the “Red Devils” and 31 drawsbut until the end of the 60s of the twentieth century it was the Belgium that obtains the qualification to the Final Phases both of the World Cup of Switzerland ’54 and in 1970 in Mexicoso that he represents an opponent to be reckoned with when the draw for Germany places the two nations in Group 3 of the European zone together with Norway and Iceland who, at the time, were little more than “buffer teams”.
In this period the Gironi calendar was not as well defined as it is today, so much so that the formation coached by Raymond Goethals plays three matches before the Netherlands takes the fieldall concluded with easy affirmations (double 4-0 against Iceland and 2-0 in Norway …) which guarantee the head of the provisional classification with full points, if it weren’t just the debut “orange” against Norway turns into an authentic massacre (9-0 with a hat-trick by Neeskens and a brace by Cruijff …) to anticipate the challenge of 19 November 1972 in Antwerpwhich could already be decisive for the purposes of qualification …
The Belgians have already understood that, taking for granted the victories of both teams against the other two opponents, the direct confrontations will decide and, since the “impact force” Dutch is definitely superior, two draws or one victory for each side would not be sufficient, in which case the “goal difference” and, in any case, everything is postponed, given that at the “Tawny Owl Stadium” the match ends on a 0-0 starting point.
The rest of the program continues “second script” with Holland maramalding the unfortunate Icelanders (5-0 and 8-1 with Cruijff scoring 4 goals …), so as to reach Belgium at 7 in the standings but with an impressive advantage (+21 compared to +10) in terms of goal difference, when they are still missing to be disputed Norway-Netherlands on 12 September 1973, Belgium-Norway on 31 October and the “showdown” scheduled for November 18 at the “Olympic Stadiumin Amsterdam…
Losing even a single point can be decisive and the Netherlands prove it on their own skin, as, after having taken the lead at the start with Cruijff and perhaps hoping to repeat the “rout” of the first leg match, must vice versa pay for the desire for redemption of the landlords compared to the humiliation suffered 10 months earlier, so much so that Hestad equalized the score with less than a quarter of an hour to gotackling Hulshoff just inside the area to then also win the contract with outgoing goalkeeper van Beveren, with the latter claiming a foul not detected by the match director, for a result that would oblige the “orange” to absolutely have to win in the final match if Belgium were right of the Scandinavians in the following match …
Definitely Hulshoff, gone”too soft” in facing Hestad, has something to make up for and the only way to fix it is to score the final 2-1 goal just 3′ from the final whistletaking advantage of a loose ball in the area following the development of a free kick taken by Cruijff, so as to drive away the nightmares that would have materialized, given that Belgium does its duty by settling the Norwegians with the most classic of scores, i.e. a 2- 0, however, resulting from two penalty kicks.
So here we come to the “race without appeal” which takes place Sunday 18 November 1973 at an unusual time of 13:30 and with the direction of the match entrusted to the Soviet referee Pavel Kazakov with the two teams having clear what they have to do, i.e. even a draw is enough for the hosts, while Belgium must only and exclusively win, but the importance of the stakes means that the first half reduces to a sterile Dutch offensive superiority, careful not to reveal themselves so as not to suffer the opponent’s goal, with the only action of a certain importance consisting of a volley from Neeskens just wide …
In the second half, a Netherlands without van Hanegem injured, tried to increase the pressure coming close to the lead with a header from Rep following a cross from the left by Cruijff which forces the Belgian goalkeeper Piot to make a prodigious interventionbut in the meantime the minutes pass and the result does not unlock, just as the tension rises, on the pitch and in the stands …
We are in the closing stages and Haan commits a foul on substitute De Sanghere just beyond the right side of his own penalty area and the related serve instructs the Belgian Captain Paul van Himst, who gives the ball a trajectory with a right winger effect that makes it rain on the opposite side where Jan Verheyen arrives at full speed who impacts the ball from the right plate to deposit the same in the back of the unattended net, given that Schrijvers had let the ball pass …
The Belgian exultation lasts the space of a moment, as the referee immediately signals the offside position of the Belgian player by trusting his line collaboratoralthough the images do not guarantee the validity of such a decision, since at the moment of Van Himst’s kick, the Dutch defense, as usual lined up in line, between a step forward at the same time to put the opposing attackers offside …
It’s a matter of a moment, will it have moved in time or not …?? We reiterate that from the television images, albeit not aligned with the position of the players, many doubts arise in this regard, only that, as it is customary to say in these cases, “History is not made with ifs and buts …”.
And perhaps it was even better this way, otherwise we would not have been able to attend the show staged by the “Clockwork Orange” in the Tournament on German soil, unless the “Football Gods” did not want to punish Michels’ line-up on the occasion of the Final which appeared to many as “bewitched” …