Van Hanegem: Mastermind

July 11th, 2011 | by: Jan |

Willem van Hanegem and Ove Kindvall vs Celtic in 1970s European Cup final.

Johan Cruyff was the visionary renaissance man in the 1974 team. Neeskens the 300 / Gladiator like Warrior. Rep the Golden Boy scoring the goals. Rensenbrink the elusive snakeman. But Van Hanegem was the brains behind it all. The playmaker. The Dreh-und-Angel punkt.

Nowadays, we know De Kromme as the barking, not biting, elusive football analist or disappointingly performing football coach.

But whenever he enters De Kuip – like last week when Feyenoord played his team FC Utrecht – he is being cheered and applauded passionately. Willem van Hanegem (68 years old) is the hero of the man of the street.

Willem made his mark at Feyenoord in the 1960s and 1970s. In those days, Holland had two football phenomenons… Jopie from Amsterdam (Cruyff) and Willem from Rotterdam (born in Zeeland). Willem was tall, slow, well-built and had those remarkable crooked legs. An anti-hero, it seemed. But he would become the football here of many a generation, in Rotterdam and in Amsterdam.

Willem van Hanegem led Feyenoord to two European cups. The EC1 against Celtic in 1970 with the likes of Ove Kindvall, Rinus Israel and Franz Hasil. And the EC3 in 1974 against Tottenham Hotspur. A firm header in 1970 against AC Milan in the semis and the Beckham-banana free-kick on White Hart Lane. A London newspaper tagged Willem “the Mastermind”.

“Willem van Hanegem demonstrates that magic exists…”

The player Van Hanegem played 298 games for Feyenoord and 42 times for Oranje. That number should have been higher, but in 1978 his former coach Ernst Happel told De Kromme he wouldn’t be a starter in his Oranje at the WC1978. Willem decided to pull out of the tournament, not capable of taking a seat on the bench. The whole nation watched an interview with Willem and Kees Jansma (current Oranje press-chef) in which Willem burst out in tears…

Willem played 41 European games for Feyenoord and scored 18 times. Pretty prolific for a midfielder.

Amsterdam born film maker and fan De Putter: “They say some players have the ball tied to their feet with a leash? Well, Willem’s leash was the longest. When he played, you felt he always had the ball. He was everywhere. And if he didn’t have the ball, it was him who had just set up the attack or he would be the one repossessing the ball. He seemed slow and maybe he was, but he thought fast and knew where the ball would come. So by thinking quicker than others, he could compensate his lack of speed.”

“Nowadays, players have specialities. Van Nistelrooy is the finisher. Van Persie has the free kick. Robben can take on players. Van Bommel guards the balance and repossesses. Vennegoor is the header-specialist. Willem was able to do all this and more. A pass over 40 meters, right on the collar. Scoring goals. Making the play. Sliding-tackles. You name it. The number of goals he made as a midfielder is out of this world.”

The whole nation is filled with 40+ers who name Willem as their idol, more so than JC. And his results as coach (of Feyenoord) were not too shabby either: winning the title and a couple of national cups. And his moods and aloofness is admired more so than merely accepted.

De Putter: “He is charismatic and genuine. He never had media coaching, like all contemporary coaches and players. Willem is the real deal. His only problem is, his heart is too big.”

Cruyff vs Van Hanegem

Netherlands World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 76 comments.

Read the rest of the comments

By Jad | July 14th, 2011 at 9:15 am

@bobtoh,
Elia is in hamburg and now he is happy specially after the departure of previous dutch coach(Mr. Armen)
I think this season he will do good.

By Srinjoy | July 14th, 2011 at 10:14 am

Sneijder SIGNS for MAN UNITED for 40 million Euros..one dutch legend replaces another at the red end of Manchester

Posted from Bosnia And Herzegovina

By Srinjoy | July 14th, 2011 at 10:22 am

Ajax coach Maarten Stekelenburg is desperately seeking a replacement for the retired Vonk and has trialed goalkeepers from Cameroon, France and Scotland recently, but has not yet decided on a target.

Posted from Bosnia And Herzegovina

By OranjeAussie | July 14th, 2011 at 10:35 am

@srinjoy… Where’s the official confirmation.. I’m looking everywhere??

Posted from Australia

By Wissam | July 14th, 2011 at 11:13 am

nothing is confirmed about Sneijder… Man U apparently agreed 35.2 MM Eurs for him

Posted from United States

By OranjeAussie | July 14th, 2011 at 11:24 am

@Wissam… That’s what I heard and the salary would be $190,000 a week. I heard inter want to secure a replacement first and Pastore is said to be it…

@Srinjoy can you please stop posting rumours as done deals.., it’s becoming a regular occurrence.

Posted from Australia

By Paul | July 14th, 2011 at 12:15 pm

Goal.com paying respect!

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2011/07/14/2574502/tough-acts-to-follow-wesley-sneijder-the-top-10-dutchmen-to-have-

By Paul | July 14th, 2011 at 12:22 pm

Crazy that they forgot to list Van Persie…Hasselbank over RVP..idk…

By Jad | July 14th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

As per the daily mirror.

the deal is 35 million British pounds and Sneijder salary 190,000 british pounds/week

Tomorrow may be it will be in the news…

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/What-The-Papers-Say/2011/Jul/Papers-sneijder-deal-done.aspx

By Finnster01 | July 14th, 2011 at 1:29 pm

Man U now on BBC denying that they are interested in Sneijder.

Who is telling the truth?

By Jad | July 14th, 2011 at 2:02 pm

by tomorrow evening it will be clear

By Orangeismycolor (Miguel) | July 14th, 2011 at 2:37 pm

It seems like they are only rumours but I bet they are interested…I hope they get Sneijder!.

By Wissam | July 14th, 2011 at 2:57 pm

I was watching some Oranje games from the mid 90s with Bergkamp and Kluivert & co. I can think of really a couple of things:

1. The current team is much more discplined… they were not flashy during the world cup but their backline was rarely exposed! In 1996 the ajax golden generation at their prime got destroyed by England 4-1 and it was the heroics of Kluivert really that saved the team from total embarresement during that euro tournament.

2. I would change 4 players from the current lineup (that is worldcup lineup)… Davids would replace DeJong, Overmars would replace Kuyt, Kluivert would replace RvP and Mathajsen would be replaced by Jaap Stam. Can you imagine this line up!

—– Steks —–
-Weil-Heitinga-Stam-Gio-
—vBommel–Davids—
Robben–Sneijder–Overmars
—- Kluivert —-

Key Subs would be: VDS, F DeBoer, Seedorf, Kuyt, Cocu, Bergkamp, v Nistelrooy

Posted from United States

By ferenc | July 14th, 2011 at 3:05 pm

i still cannot see the reason why someone would go to live in manchester instead of milan. it’s not london,not edinburgh,it’s manchester. the city is boring,the climate is awful… some journalists argue that because his wife works in los angeles. wtf???? i mean i love singapore and bali and for being closer to these places should i go and live in baku for ex?
the sport side: are manu really better than inter? probably,but the gap is not that huge. does he fit better to the epl than the serie a? i don’t know,last year he was brilliant in inter counter-attack style. in madrid he had 2 different seasons. the main question: what will bring his possible departure to oranje? epl players usually are more tired at the end of the season because they don’t have winter break,and it might be a problem for the ec 2012.
i don’t like inter,so i’m not biaised,just ask some questions about the transfer.

Posted from Hungary

By Finnster01 | July 14th, 2011 at 4:01 pm

@Ference: Agree. Manchester is about as bland and boring as it gets. Makes even Liverpool look like Las Vegas.

Never understood why Ronaldo always comes out and say nice things about the city. No wonder Tevez is homesick. Other than getting drunk, I really can’t think of anything else to do in Manchester.

By eric | July 14th, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Van Marwijk chimed in on Sneijder’s proposed move to Man Utd. BTW, found this on ESPN Soccernet. I trust the boss’ assessment, although I am a bit concerned about his fitness level at the end of the season (leading up to the Euro 12), the fact that M.U is involved in many competitions and tend to go deeper in all those cups.

********************

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk believes Sneijder would benefit from a move to Old Trafford.

“A transfer to Manchester United would only make Wesley a better player,” he said in The Sun. “He has already played for top teams like Real Madrid and Inter Milan but United would be another step forward for him – not only because of their football and their way of thinking, but also because it would be a new challenge for him. That is often very inspiring for players and gives them new energy.

“It would also be advantageous for the Dutch national team. Manchester United’s game is closer in style to ours than that of Inter. With us, Wesley has a long time on the ball. He is involved at all times and is dangerous with his passing and shots on goal. In Italy, he plays deeper and must compete against five or six defenders.

“The way we play allows Wesley to make his mark on the game and it would be the same if he played for United. I think he would fit in well there.”

By Orangeismycolor (Miguel) | July 14th, 2011 at 5:16 pm

@Wissam: The 1996 team had the Hiddink vs Davids row that’s why we lost 4-0 against England.

We had that team in 2004 but Advocaat didn’t know how to mix them together!.

—————-Edwin——————

–Reizeiger–Stam–Heitinga–Gio——–

————Cocu—-Davids————–

—Robben—–Sneijder—-Overmars——

————-Nistelrooy—————–

Sneijder should have player as starter but Advocaat got scared because he was too young.

SUBS: Kluivert, Seedorf, Meyde, Makaay, Hooijdonk, Bouma, etc…WHAT A TEAM!!!. Bommel was injured for that EC.

By Andrew | July 14th, 2011 at 5:18 pm

@Wissam,

Interesting. I think, though, you have to throw out Euro ‘96; they were torn up by infighting. I actually have it differently in my mind; there are only a few players from 2010 that would break into the 96-98 team. I wouldn’t play Heitinga ahead of Frank De Boer (though, Heitinga seems to be getting better by the moment); nor can I imagine playing Weil ahead of Reizinger. (I remember a quote from Van Gaal that Reiz. was the first guy he wrote down on the sheet.) And as good as Wesley is, Bergkamp has to play on any team, any time. But the current generation isn’t done yet…might be better to compare the groups five years or so from now; Weil and Heitinga still haven’t hit their peak, so we’ll see. Good comment. I enjoyed thinking it through.

By Orangeismycolor (Miguel) | July 14th, 2011 at 5:18 pm

*I meant Sneijder should have played…

By Orangeismycolor (Miguel) | July 14th, 2011 at 5:29 pm

Yes Andrew you are right Fran ahead of Heitinga! and of course Bergkamp above anyone although he had already retired.

By Steve | July 14th, 2011 at 5:44 pm

Sir Alex weighs in:
http://www.soccernews.com/fergie-denies-sneijder-bid/76604/

so… that’s that for now, I guess

Posted from Canada

By ferenc | July 14th, 2011 at 5:53 pm

Andrew: i totally agree with you. the 98-2000 team played 442 and not 4231,and this is a big difference. i definitely prefer the 98-2000 team with no doubt,from the current crop only sneijder,robben,kuyt,van bommel and stekelenburg would be in my 16-men squad.

Posted from Hungary

By Andrew | July 14th, 2011 at 6:15 pm

@Ferenc,

With the caveat, “for now.” This generation isn’t done. For example, Stamm and F. De Boer didn’t really hit their peak as world class defenders until they were in their late 20’s/30’s (as with many defenders); lets see where Heitinga and Weil end up—both are still on the upward trnd of their careers (though Weil might be better served moving from Ajax—he steps up a level with the nat’l team); Wesley could go to an even higher level at Man U. (an assumption, I know), and Oranje still has another gear to show on the international level with VDV playing in the holding MF position…the 98-2000 group was brilliant and a joy to watch, but this group’s full story has yet to be written, so lets just see…

By ruudking | July 14th, 2011 at 11:52 pm

IS Heitinga a goode DC?I don’t think so.He was stupid in WC,EC.The oranje had to use him because we have no good DC.

By Finnster01 | July 14th, 2011 at 11:59 pm

Heitinga didn’t get enough playing time at his club after coming back from his injury. Lets see what next season brings. I think he is a decent CB.

Comments are closed