A system dies from within and is revived from within, After being so tantalizingly close to the World Cup in 1974 and 1978, Dutch soccer lost its rhythm and thus began the slide, which saw Holland out of the qualifying rounds of both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Talent had dried up, professionalism went into a tailspin in Dutch clubs like Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
Coaches fed up with low salaries left for greener and lucrative pastures in Italy and Spain. Top clubs like Ajax now had no option but to import players like Soren Lerby, Frank Amesen, Jan Molby and Jesper Olsen, all Danes.
But it was a matter of time before talent sprouted and brought back Holland on the world soccer map again. The player who led Dutch soccer back to the glory of the seventies was Ruud Gullit, probably the ‘most gifted and devastating alrounder in the game. Helping him in the reconstruction are Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman and a host of other talents.
Experts attribute the welcome change in Dutch soccer to its captain, Gullit. At 25 Gullit is already a legend in Holland and is fast being referred as a footballer with extraordinary skills,
Along with players like Van Basten, Koeman and Rijkaard he is taking soccer back to the heady days of the seventies when the Dutch were led by Johan Cruyff who symbolized poetry in motion. The long legged 6 ft2 inch Gullit is masterminding a renaissance which would lead Holland again to the World Cup finals in Italy next year. Desdly
After Cruyff, Gullit is probably the most exciting player to have come out of Holland. Born of Dutch Surinamese parents, Gullit bas taken the Italian league by a storm, at times eclipsing even Napoli’s Diego Maradona. Maradona is a player with deadly football skills lighting reflexes and a footballing brain which homes in on the opponents goalmouth with the accuracy of a guided missile, But he isn’t an all-rounder like Gullit who can perform in any position but is at his best in midfield, from where he lopes forward and advances into the box to exploit heading abilities unimpaired by his flailing locks. In other words, he can attack and defend with equal ferocity.
Gullit was transferred from PSV Eindhoven to AC Milan for a mind boggling $7.5 million thus becoming the second most expensive footballer after Maradona Maradona cost Napoli $9 million from Barcelona, Gullit has announced that he would be staying with European Cup holder AC Milan for three more years when his contract expires next June.
Gollits greatest moment came in 1988 when he lifted the European Nations Cup which Holland had never won not even in Croffy’s days. Gulli’s men showed that teamwork and talent had once again blossomed in Dutch soccer. Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard were the three stars of the triumph. A striker with a nose for goals Van Basten scored five of them with a hat trick which demolished England, His goal in the final against the Russians was a beauty scored from zero angle, the spadework being done by Gullit. Gullit, in fact, scored the first goal of the final with a bang on target header. Exceptional At first glance on the turf Gullit seems a clumsy player but once in rhythm flows all over the field. His movements to an extent match, Cryuff’s. His defense splitting passes have made goals both for Holland and AC Milan. Such are his all-round abilities on the field that England’s manager, Bobby Robson, remarked, “The guy can create the impression that he is a one man soccer team. He is everywhere he is needed on the field, from defense to attack, and he can score at the slightest chance he gets. He is class apart.” In Italy he is literally worshiped by his fans. A mere presence among their midst and they go hysterical an imitation of his weird hairdo is for sale along with an AC Milan cap. In May Gullit, Van Basten and Rijkaard guided Milan to its first European Cup victory since 1969. Gullit and Van Basten scored two goals each as Milan crushed Steau Buchorest 4-0. The goal of match was scored by Gullit who chested cross in the box, turned and volleyed it highs into the net.
Hailing from the Yame country as Cruff comparisons are inevitable mSays Rinus Michels who coached Cruyff and now Gullit, “Cruyff played in a different era, end with Ajax and the national team in the company of six or seven superb talents. Far more than Cruyff, Gullit has to fight to possession of the ball, and them he is the best there is. He is one of the few in the world who can play every position on the field except the goal, that is his value and that is what makes him unique.”
Guillit as a player is held in high respect. ‘After last year’s European championships Cesar Menotti the manager of Argentina’s lands has had in the last five years.” A story which shows another factor of his personal1978 winning team said, “Gullit was Europe’s single most outstanding individual.” Michel, the Dutch coach rates him a rung above Maradona. Cruyff thinks he is better than Cruyfil fter A.C. Milan’s 41 victory over Napoli in last years Italian championship, Maradona said, “I was impressed (with Gullit) He is certainly one of the best. He has class.
But it is not only soccer that has given Gullit the popularity. The man with the flying dreadlocks has shown a talent for leadership and his off the field passions like politics and human rights may just propel him to be a future leader in the truly international perspective.
Ambassador
Subsalting these claims the Dutch Price Bins Bical Peden’ called eine. “one of the best ambassadors the Netherity s popular in the Netherlands. Gullit was to have moved from PSV Bindhoven to Juventus but at the last moment refused. He suspected that he was part of a deal which would enable Philipps car radios to be installed in the Fiats owned by Gianni Angell who also owns Juventus.
Gullit also has raised his voice against soccer hooliganism. He has pleaded for an all-out effort to cure the soccer fields of the dreaded malady. “Soccer is beautiful and it is a pity to see it ruined by # handful of kids ‘who seem to have no positive aim in life.”
Away from the pressures and strains of soccer, Gullit sings with a band, specializing in reggae music. He also supports the South African opposition movement, the African opposition movement the African National Congress and is an admirer of both Nelson and Winnie Mandela.
Gullit’s private life is a closed book. But friends say that he prefers to spend holidays with wife Yvonne and their two kids,
But in the coming months, finding time away from soccer will be tough. Holland has to qualify for the World Cup in Italy. It has West Germany in its group, a tough assignment. However for Gullit and his ‘men trooping on to the Italian turf in 1990 will not be an impossibility.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 28, 1989
