Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal.
|
| the picture of Cruyff with his quote (http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-johan-cruyff- (dna webdesk)) |
Biography about Johan CruyffBirth- 25th of April, 1947
Death- 24th of March, 2016
Nationality- Dutch
Occupation- Football(soccer) Player (1964-1984), Football coach (1985-2013)
Club teams as a footballer- Ajax, Barcelona, Los Angeles Aztecs, Washington Diplomats, Levante, Feyenoord.
Club teams as a coach- Ajax, Barcelona, Catalonia.
ChildhoodHe was born in East Amsterdam, 25th of April, 1947. He was very poor, but he played street football with his friends and his older brother. From the skill he learned in Street football, he joined the youth team of Ajax when he was 10. When he was 15, He was a physically inferior kid. However, in the games, he scored 74 goals in a season. In the youth tournament in Netherlands, He led the team to the first place.
Other Fact
His father died when he was 12 and he got very shocked mentally, but his mother remarried with janitor in Ajax and it made his feeling much better because he has a close relationship with the janitor.
He joined Ajax and became a professional footballer when he was 16. His first goal was against GVAV, but Ajax lost by 1-3. In the second season of his career, he scored 16 goals in 19 games and his team won Eredivisie, the Dutch football league. His achievements are amazing that Ajax won the league 6 times and won KNVB cup 4 times, he himself won the prize of top scorer 2 times during his career in Ajax. Ajax entered the UEFA champions cup in 1966. They won 1st game and 2nd game was against Liverpool FC. Liverpool was one of the strongest team at that time. However, Cruyff destroyed the defense and won the first game by 5-1. The second game was away, so the Liverpool coach said they will win by 7-0, but Cruyff scored 2 goals and tied by 2-2. Because of his goals, Ajax moved on to the quarter final. They lost in Quarter final, but the victory of Liverpool made football more famous in Netherlands and Ajax and Cruyff became known in the Europe. After this achievement, Ajax kept entering in the UEFA champions cup and on the season 1970-71, Ajax won the final against Panathinikos FC and this was the first Dutch football team to win UEFA champions cup. Also, on that season, Cruyff won the first Ballon d'Or which is the prize for the most valuable footballer on the year. On the next season, Ajax changed the coach and it made him play more freely and it strengthened the team. Ajax won the UEFA again by Cruyff scoring 2 goals in the final against Internazionale Milano. Ajax won the Cup again and they achieved 3 victory while Cruyff was there. Also he won Ballon d'Or after the 3rd victory.
After the amendment of foreign players provisions in Spain, he negotiated with F.C. Barcelona for transformation. However, because Ajax was relying on him, negotiation got lengthened. He wanted to go Barcelona for more high salary, so he said he will quit footballer if Ajax don't agree, and he will do court battle. Also, he boycotted the game and these actions made the relationship in Ajax bad, so finally Ajax allowed him to go Barcelona.
Barcelona and retirementHe transferred to Barcelona F.C. on 1973, and the transfer fee was 6 million Gilder, which was at that time, the highest fee in the world. His position was central forward which is the position to score goals. In his first game, he scored 2 goals against Granada F.C. Spain was in the era of dictatorship, but because of his fantastic performance in football, the Spanish citizens magnified Barcelona as a savior that they changed the politic system to democracy. In his career in Barcelona was brilliant and made a lot of achievement. After season of 1983~1984, he retired his career as a footballer.
Why he is my heroThere are 2 big reasons that he is my hero.
The first reason is his style of football. He was very skillful player that he invented the most famous trick that a lot of player use and I personally use a lot in my dribbling, which is called "Cruyff Turn". It is very simple tricks, but it made me think that he is in the different dimension. I am trying to imitate his tricks a lot in the game, but still I cannot copy his movements.
The second reason is his personality. People says his personality is horrible because of his attitude to teammates and I used to agree with them. However, when I saw his play, it showed me how he is passionate about football and having fun, but also he is very serious and strict about him especially in football game and try to do the best play he can to go beyond what he can.
The third biggest reason is his number and position. When I was in Japan, I was playing in local football team and at that time, I didn't know about Johan Cruyff. However, my position was central forward and my uniform number was 14 which is exactly same as Johan Cruyff. I was so surprised when I knew about him and it made me feel strange, but happy. These are why he is my hero.
Page created on 5/7/2016 12:00:00 AM
Last edited 5/7/2016 12:00:00 AM
