Oranje 1974: Wim Rijsbergen

Wim Rijsbergen was a debutant in Feyenoord 1. A young bloke, who came to the big smoke from PEC Zwolle,

Rijsbergen didn’t have any ambitions to become an Oranje starter. Barry Hulshoff was the designated center back, PSV’s Pleun Strik could play in that position and of course one Aad Mansveld or one Rinus Israel were also in front of Rijsbergen in the hierarchy. Wim Rijsbergen made his debut in Oranje in the last friendly (against Romania) right before the WC.

“I went to Germany with the idea of getting a nice tan on the bench,” Rijsbergen would later say. ” I sincerely hoped to maybe get some minutes of glory, you know… Nothing more… I had set my sights on the EC1976. I wanted to be a starter then and Germany for me was a warm up.”

It would go a tad differently. Wim Rijsbergen started on June 15 against Uruguay and would play until the finals against West Germany. “My advantage was that Feyenoord had played a top season that year. We won the title and the EUFA Cup. Cor van der Hart was Michels’ assistant at the WC and he was Feyenoord scout as well. He knew me well. He convinced Michels to take me along.”

Rijsbergen: “I think the total football concept was also in my benefit. Michels wanted a libero who would engage on midfield whenever possible. So he needed a focused man marker with speed. I was young and totally convinced of my strengths and weaknesses. I’d never try to take on an opponent. I played simple. Always. With Mansveld or Drost in the team, you’d need someone like me to cover for them. When Israel and Hulshof got injured, Michels knew he needed to fix the problem. When all the afore mentioned players seemed unavailable, Michels – without a doubt helped by Cruyff – picked Haan for the libero role and needed three strong and tough defenders to compensate. I was one of those butchers, haha… Krol and Suurbier were so-called securities and both were experienced. So Michels took the gamble with me.”

Although Rijsbergen became one of the stars, he’d never talk to Michels and Michels would never talk to him. “When we passed ways, he’d say “hello” or “bye”. That’s all. He was very simple in his approach. He’d tell me during tactical sessions: “Wim, you take care of striker so and so…”. That was it. He had the power to see which types would fit well together. I knew my limitations. Krol and Suurbier would power down the channels, because Jansen, Nees and myself would take over their spots. I would never do anything silly on the pitch. Michels also knew when to allow for some relaxation. He was a hard taskmaster, but sometimes he’d allow us to party till late and he would be there to drink a beer or to belt out some typical Amsterdam/Jordaan song…”

The hierarchy in the group was clear. “Michels was the general, but Cruyff was the leader. Michels wouldn’t say much, he’d observe. Cruyff did the talking and Van Hanegem was the sergeant. The drill sergeant, you know. He’d have a go at you when you screwed up. At training, he made grown players cry. I sometimes got so fed up with that and asked him many a time: you don’t like me, do you? And he’d always smile and say: I yell at you because I like you! If I don’t yell at you, then you’re in trouble. I give you my energy and therefore I have faith in you.”

“We didn’t have much trouble in the group stages. We played our football against Uruguay, Sweden and Bulgaria and we were never tested. Sweden was a tough customer, but only in defense. I can’t remember breaking a sweat against them. We were surprised, really, when we sailed through the group. I don’t think we realized then how good we were. These days, you can see any nation play any game on tv if you want. Back then, I’d never seen Uruguay play other than on the WC’s before.
Argentina wasn’t hard either. They were tough in the duels, but as a football team, they were an easy opponent. We knew we had to raise our game a bit against Brazil. They weren’t as good as in 1970 but their base skills are so good… The only problem with them was: they sometimes forgot to score and kill off the game and they weren’t good losers, haha… They won so many games, that when we put them under pressure, they responded weirdly. But, I can see that game in my mind’s eye and it was not an easy game.”

It was a battle, really. Johan Neeskens even lost his conscience for awhile after receiving a hit in the head my Mario Marinho and Pereira was red carded for a horrible challenge on the same Neeskens. “Neeskens’ jersey was red with blood. We played in white and it looked really dramatic. It was a tough game. We needed a draw to reach the finals, and when we were 1-0 up, Michels said: attack is the best defense. So every ball they had, we needed to win back as soon as possible. You know how Johan thinks… If we have the ball, they can’t score… So Nees was running like a bull all the time, having a go at them. They certainly punished him and hurt him but Nees wasn’t that sweet himself, hahahaa… Brazil couldn’t win with football so they used other means, but our skill won from their force.”

The finals then… West Germany. Neeskens scores in the first minute. “I think Nees should have missed that. That early goal was the problem for us. I could sense a hesitation in the team. Some players wanted to defend the 1-0, others wanted to go for the kill. Van Hanegem, Cruyff, Rep, Neeskens, they wanted to humiliate the Germans, but Jansen, Krol, myself and Rensenbrink wanted to pace the game and play possession. Rensenbrink wasn’t fit at all. Look back and you’ll see we played with ten men only. Later I heard that Robbie just signed a deal with Puma and that he’d get an enormous amount if he’d play the finals. He told Michels he was recovered from the knock he received against Brazil. I don’t hold it against him and no one does. Every player wants to play that game – it’s a bloody WC finals! – and sometimes the adrenaline helps you to put an injury to rest. Temporarily.
I also heard later that Piet Keizer was furious that Michels brought Van der Kerkhof for Rensenbrink… But I don’t know, I was replaced with an injury myself… At the time, you feel this is the highpoint of your career, but since we lost I can only say it was the low end for me…”

At the WC2006, Wim Rijsbergen was Leo Beenhakker’s assistant for Trinidad and Tobago. “That was cool to experience. It was fun to hang out with Beckenbauer again. We played together in New York and had a good relationship there, but we lost contact.”

Rijsbergen played for Bastia, New York Cosmos, Helmond Sport and FC Utrecht after leaving Feyenoord.

As a coach, he worked for Ajax (youth), FC Groningen, Volendam and several international clubs. He is now retired.