Thursday, March 03, 2005

The greatest coach of the 20th century

One of the greatest football coaches of all time just passed away. Mr. Rinus Michels was the brain behind some of the greatest football ever seen: the total football of the Netherlands. With a long line of great players to complement him in Ajax Amsterdam, he was instrumental in creating the Ajax team that won three European cup titles in a row.
He was also Spanish champion with FC Barcelona, and in 1999 he was deservedly named as Coach of the century by FIFA.
In 1974, he led the Netherlands all the way to the World Cup final, displaying some of the most entertaining attacking football ever seen.
The Orange football machine lost the final in Munich in 1974 to the West German hosts. But 14 years later, in 1988, he was behind the Dutch triumph in the European Championship: at the very same stadium, where they had lost the 1974 final, the Netherlands defeated the USSR 2-0.
Mr. Michels gave a lot to Ducth football, and a lot to all football fanatics. He will be greatly missed."

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