- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.2% | 24.65 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.07% | 24.795 | $ | |
SCS | -0.34% | 12.926 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
NGG | -0.97% | 65.86 | $ | |
BCC | 0.61% | 139.755 | $ | |
RIO | 0.11% | 69.78 | $ | |
VOD | 0.41% | 9.7 | $ | |
JRI | -0.23% | 13.25 | $ | |
GSK | 0.21% | 38.9 | $ | |
RELX | -0.5% | 46.06 | $ | |
BCE | -0.19% | 33.645 | $ | |
BTI | 0.08% | 35.32 | $ | |
AZN | -0.17% | 77.34 | $ | |
BP | 1.07% | 33.235 | $ |
Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
Johan Neeskens, who has died aged 73, was the powerful but smooth engine of the Ajax and Netherlands teams that created "total football" with Johan Cruyff at their heart.
Neeskens was part of the Ajax team that won three straight European Cups and a key component of the "Clockwork Oranje" Dutch team that reached consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978, losing both.
"He was worth two men in midfield," Ajax team-mate Sjaak Swart once told FIFA.com.
Neeskens was a relentless runner and tough tackler, but he was also skilful. He finished the 1974 World Cup with five goals, second to only to Grzegorz Lato of Poland and top scorer in a Dutch team that also contained Cruyff and the flamboyant Johnny Rep.
"I always liked to play with style -- and to win," Neeskens said.
Johannes Jacobus Neeskens was born in Heemstede, west of Amsterdam, on September 15, 1951. He was signed from his home-town club by Ajax coach Rinus Michels in 1970.
Neeskens was right-back when the club beat Greek side Panathinaikos 2-0 for their first European Cup win in 1971. He then switched to central midfield, playing there as Ajax won two more titles in 1972, against Inter Milan, and 1973, against Juventus.
The Ajax team led by Cruyff and Neeskens formed the spine of the Dutch side that dazzled on the way to the 1974 World Cup final in West Germany.
After just two minutes in Munich, Neeskens set two World Cup final records, scoring the quickest goal in as he converted the first penalty, awarded before any West German and most Dutch players had touched the ball.
"As a player it is a little bit strange because sometimes you need the feeling," he later told FIFA.
"I'd hardly touched the ball and wasn't even warm. Then you have to make that penalty in front of 80,000 who are against you and of course the whole world is watching it.
"That was the first time that I was a little bit nervous in taking a penalty," he said.
"When I started running, I was thinking: 'which side am I going to shoot?' It was more or less always in the right side of the goal. At the last step, I thought 'no, I'm going to shoot the other way'. It was not my meaning to kick the ball straight through the middle."
But he also said: "If you're not sure, just hit it as hard as possible. If you don't know where it's going, nor will the keeper."
The West Germans fought back, equalising with the second ever World Cup final penalty, converted by Paul Breitner, and winning with a goal by Gerd Mueller.
Despite the loss, "that tournament was a dream," Neeskens told FIFA. "I was 22 and a key player."
The Dutch had caught the eye, but West Germany took the trophy.
"We lost that game but everybody was talking about our team and our football," Neeskens recalled. "We deserved to win that final."
- 'Kamikaze pilot' -
Four years later in Argentina, as Cruyff opted to stay at home, Neeskens was again a key part of the Dutch team that reached the final.
He was injured early in a group loss to Scotland and missed the revenge victory over West Germany. He returned for the last two matches, including the 3-1 defeat in extra time as the Dutch again lost the final to the host nation.
By then Neeskens had followed Cruyff to Catalonia, where Barcelona fans dubbed the midfielder "Johan the Second".
In five years at Barca, he won a Copa del Rey and European Cup Winners' Cup before heading to the United States for five seasons with the star-studded New York Cosmos.
Bobby Haarms, Michels' assistant at Ajax, was quoted in "Brilliant Orange", a book on Dutch football by David Winner, as saying Neeskens was "like a kamikaze pilot."
He coached in the Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland and South Africa and spent more than four years as Netherlands assistant coach under first Guus Hiddink and then Frank Rijkaard.
He was also Rijkaard's assistant at Barcelona and Hiddink's assistant with Australia.
S.Pimentel--PC