Johan Cruyff, the High Priest of Dutch Soccer, Dies at 68
Source: NYTimes
Johan Cruyff, a brash Dutch soccer star who helped develop a style that revolutionized the way the game is played, becoming the Netherlands’ greatest player and later a scolding conscience of the sport, died on Thursday in Barcelona, Spain. He was 68.
The cause was cancer, Cruyff’s family said in a statement on his website.
Cruyff, a heavy smoker until he had heart problems in the 1990s, revealed in October that he had lung cancer. But as recently as Feb. 16 he had predicted his recovery, saying he had “the feeling that I am 2-0 up in the first half of a match that has not finished yet.”
Widely acclaimed as one of the best players in history, Cruyff (pronounced CROYF) teamed with the famed coach Rinus Michels in the 1970s to perfect a style called Total Football, a shape-shifting system in which players switch positions effortlessly.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/sports/soccer/johan-cruyff-netherlands-soccer.html
Man was a soccer/football genius on par with Pele, Maradona, Messi, etc. One of those guys who could dribble around a whole defense and score.
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