Neeskens speaks

Johan Neeskens, Johan 2 aka De Nees aka El Torro, has reached the finals of a World Cup twice (’74 and ’78) and the semi finals once (as assistent coach to Hiddink with Oranje in ’98). Now, he seconds Hiddink again for the Socceroos.

“Being here in Germany, lots of memories of ’74 come back to me. Most Germans remember our team and want to talk to me about it. It’s funny, most of my fanmail was from Germany, and even now… sometimes I have 30 to 40 people – Germans – waiting for me, with old pictures, to sign. I don’t mind, it’s recognition, so I gladly oblige.
Some people seem to think we lost the ’74 finals because we partied too hard. That’s nonsense. Obviously, we did have a night off every now and then, you just have too have one. You can get little irritations otherwise. But we worked extremely hard in those days. I remember asking Michels later, when I did the trainers’ course, about that. I said: if we’d train like we did in ’74 now, we’d flunk. Michels said, in his own style: listen mate, I had to invent it all by myself. There was no reference material, nothing.”

“The match against Brazil in ’74 was the best, I reckon. They were the reigning world champs, but they didn’t have a good team anymore, in ’74. We pressured them big time, and they didn’t like it and tried to kick at everything that moved. Pereira really challenged me, I had blood everywhere. But he’s a nice chap, I met him often since. But then he was over the top. But so were we. It was a tough match, Krol, Jansen, Suurbier, van Hanegem, myself, we all knew how to irritate opponents. Cruyff didn’t? You’re joking! Cruyff was a tough player, elbows here and there. I swear, football back then was much meaner than now. If we’d had all those cameras back then, we’d ended the match with 6 against 6!”

“Yes, I sing the Aussie anthem. Of course. That’s the feeling I have for the country and the people. They like it… Guus Hiddink is much too straightforward to do that. I even did it when we played Holland.”

“I would’ve liked to go further with Australia. I really connect with these chaps. When I assisted Hiddink with Oranje, I sometimes thought they were training to lame. Not with the Aussie blokes. I’d say to Guus: I’ll play along. And I’d start tackling on the edge. Most players would complain and whine. The Aussies can handle that. I like that in a team. I’d share duties with Graham Arnold, but the Australian Federation wanted more time. And then Guus came with his Russian adventure and offered me a job and not long after Barcelona came around.”

“Rijkaard called and wanted to know if I signed already for Australia or Russia. I share a history with Frank. Oranje in 2000, we did the trainers-course together, we think alike about football. And Barcelona is my club. More so than Ajax. I played 5 years for Barca, and I was the first foreigner elected player of the year in Spain. Even Cruyff never got that honour. I was so proud. Frank and I resolved it within 48 hours.”

“I looked forward to telling my son Christiaan, who lives in Barcelona, that I would become assistent trainer of Barca. He’s a big fan. I have a sort of museum in my Swiss home. My kids love that. I have 85 shirts hanging there, exchanged with opponents. The Sammer shirt (Dynamo Dresden) is my favorite. It’s wool, pretty heavy when it’s wet.”

“I never thought I’d become a trainer. But it really grabbed me and now I can’t think of doing anything else. Michels was my biggest influence, and Happel. Happel was weird. He hardly ever spoke to you. I was injured in Argentina and Happel totally neglected me. Then, before the Italy match, he came up to me and said: “I want you to play”. Today, coaches talk more with players. Players have a tougher task now. Pressure is higher, space is more limited, the physical aspect is heavier. It’s more complex from a tactical perspective. I am not from the It-all-used-to-be-better-school.”

“Not a lot of people know this, but in Argentina ’78, we actually had to flee from the country. You see, after we lost the finals, our security was suddenly gone. Our bus was attacked, pretty scary, and we couldn’t go to the Farewell dinner. In the middle of the night, Happel told us to pack our bags and we made for the airport. We stayed the night in the departure hall, because it was safer than being in our hotel. You can’t imagine that happening now…”

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