By Ken Pendleton
CORVALLIS, OR (Aug. 18, 2005) USSoccerplayers -History is said to be the polemic of the victor and thus it almost invariably justifies the actions of the winners and condemns those taken by the losers. What's more, it makes what unfolded seem almost inevitable.
Diego Maradona may have been heartbroken and bitter when Cesar Luis Menotti dropped him from Argentina's 1978 World Cup squad, but, in retrospect, even Maradona concedes that "Menotti didn't make a mistake because he won the World Cup. You can't criticize that."
The Dutch, on the other hand, were destined to lose. After all, the final was played in Argentina, at the Estadio Monumental, an unparalleled, oppressive cauldron of noise and confetti. The Argentineans had effectively chosen the official, replacing the Israeli Abraham Klein, who didn't seem at all intimidated while officiating their opening round loss against Italy, with Sergio Gonella, a presumably more sympathetic Italian. And, most importantly, the Dutch were missing several key players, including Johan Cruyff, their undisputed leader and the best attacker in the world.
The Dutch still had several world-class players. Ruud Krol was a complete sweeper, the kind we don't have anymore. He could read the game superbly, mark when necessary, switch between defense and midfield, and initiate attacks with a variety of passes. Rob Rensenbrink was a fully diagonal left-winger, equally comfortable out wide of moving into an inside channel. Aarie Haan, a defender in the '74 World Cup, was now a midfielder, who scored two vital goals from more than 30 yards out against West Germany and Italy. And Johan Neeskens was the consummate all-around midfielder, perfect for playing what was called Total Football.
In sum, even without Cruyff, the Dutch were still an amazingly versatile team, who could, as Italian forward Paolo Rossi noted, "change positions as easily as they'd take a cup of coffee." Still, without Cruyff, the galvanic figure, the straw that stirred the drink, the Dutch were not close to being the team that had been so unlucky to lose to West Germany in the '74 final.
Argentina was also missing several key figures, mainly because Menotti was reluctant to call players back from Europe. He did, however, make an exception for Valencia-based Mario Kempes, an attacking midfielder noted for his slalom-like forays and his lethal left foot.
Kempes, in fact, was the key to Menotti's revolutionary plan.
Although Argentina were thought to have as much talent as any other country, they declined to participate in the first two World Cups after World War II because President Juan Peron feared the political consequences of footballing failure. They did finally enter in 1958 - assuming that they were all but assured of being World Champions - but by then many of their best players, such as Alfredo Di Stefano (the player Cruyff said he most tried to emulate), were playing in Europe and they were tactically behind the times.
The result was elimination in the first round after a 6-1 drubbing by Czechoslovakia. Accused of being tactically naïve, they responded by ushering in 15 years of cynical, often violent soccer. Menotti hoped to reverse history. He wanted to emphasize the traditional Argentinean virtues: dribbling, quick, short passing, and attack. He prepared his team "with the will to be efficient (yes, because you compete to win), but it has to be from an aesthetic point of view and linked to the sentiments of the people."
Menotti, an avowed leftist, also wanted to strike a blow against the brutal, right wing dictatorship of General Videla. He ordered his players "to look at the people in the stands. We are not going to look at the stage-box of the authorities." And felt that his aesthetic approach would offer "a new point of departure for doing together something different... in the pleasure of playing honest football"
Much of what Menotti wished to express did in fact come to pass. Argentina did win by playing to their traditional virtues. Every player save their centerback Galvan was given license to attack and Kempes scored two goals and set up a third with his wonderful slaloms. But history is not so simple. Argentina did so many unsavory things to win and they were still only inches away from losing.
First of all, Argentina probably should not even have been in the final. Given the way this World Cup was structured, with teams divided into groups of four, Argentina needed to beat Peru by four goals to qualify ahead of Brazil for the final. Although the Peruvians had been competitive in every match, this time they collapsed and lost by six goals. Maybe Peru was just overwhelmed by the pressure, but many, including the Brazilian manager Claudio Coutinho suggested that the result was corrupt; "This game will go down in history as the game of shame."
Be that as it may, Argentina's conduct on the day of the final was, to say the least, very unsporting. First of all, the tournament officials did not just transport the Dutch to the stadium. Instead, according to Krol, "the bus stopped in a village and people were banging on the windows, really banging and shouting.... We couldn't go backwards or forwards.... For twenty minutes we stood in the village like this and some players were really frightened." Maybe because they were wondering what might happen on the drive back if they won the match.
At 2:50pm, both teams were supposed to take the field, but the Argentineans waited five additional minutes and left the Dutch to deal with the military police and the howling crowd. The referee, Signor Gonella, did nothing. When they finally entered, their captain Daniel Passarella demanded that Dutch winger Rene Van der Kerkhof be replaced because he was wearing a small protective cast on his right arm, the same cast he had been wearing since he was injured in the first match. This time Gonella demanded that Dutch modify the cast, which they duly pretended to do.
Needless to say, this set a nasty tone for the match. The Dutch committed two harsh fouls within the first couple of minutes and twice the Argentineans broke up promising attacks with blatant handballs. Despite the fact that Gonella did not dispense any yellow cards, the match did not entirely degenerate. The Dutch, employing their expansive passing style, had three great opportunities. Johnny Rep headed just wide after being left unmarked on a corner and the Argentinean keeper Ubaldo Fillol made two stunning saves to deny Rep and Rensenbrink.
As for the Argentineans, their sweeper Passarella kept on popping up in the Dutch area, unmarked, causing all manner of problems, but it was their ability to hunt in packs that produced the only goal of the half. In the 38th minute, a four-man exchange culminated in Leopoldo Luque laying the ball off for Kempes, who picked it up just outside the box and rolled it past the Dutch keeper, Jan Jongbloed.
In the second half, Passarella withdrew into his own half and allowed the Dutch to seize the initiative. Their centerback Brandts pushed forward into attack and they brought on a Dirk Nanninga, a lanky striker, so that they could play more directly. It paid off with just under ten minutes left to play. Haan beat the ubiquitous offside trap by playing the ball out wide to Rene Van der Kerkhof, who beat the left back Alberto Tarantini before crossing to Nanninga. Fillol had to respect the possibility that van der Kerkhof might shoot and as a consequence was completely stranded when Nanninga headed the ball inside of the back post.
The Dutch withdrew Brandts from the attack, but they still had the momentum. In injury time, Krol suddenly played a glorious 50-yard pass to Rensenbrink on the back post. He managed to redirect it past Fillol first time with his left foot, only to see in glance off the near post. Little did we know that this was as close as the Dutch would get to winning the World Cup.
Somehow-and there are many who question just how-the Argentineans found new energy come extra time. Again it was Kempes' mazy runs that made all the difference. There was nothing complex about the game winning goal. Passarella played a free kick Daniel Bertoni, who laid the ball off to Kempes just outside the area. This time he dribbled three Dutch defenders. Jongbloed saved his first shot, but Kempes bundled the ball over the line. And then, just to fully settle matters, he beat a few more defenders with a run from about 35 yards out and played a clumsy, pin ball-like one-two with Bertoni, allowing the latter to stab the ball home.
To this day, Menotti has downplays the gamesmanship and maintains that the way that Argentina won the World Cup vindicated his faith in emphasizing their best virtues. As for the Dutch, Rensenbrink sometimes feels "it would have been better for me to miss completely. Then people wouldn't ask about it." Unfortunately for Rensenbrink, the great moments rarely work that way.
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