Sunday, March 13, 2022
Out of Nowhere, Part 3
To say that the Dutch were the favourites prior to the opening match of Euro 1976, the semi-final against Czechoslovakia in Zagreb, would be an understatement. "Dutch set to dazzle Europe", proclaimed the Liverpool Echo. David Lacey, in his preview in the Guardian, eulogised the Dutch while damning the Czechs with faint praise. It is noticeable that in the previews of the tournament in the English press, Czechoslovakia seemed to be worthy of respect for one reason only: they had knocked out England.
It was a night of pounding rain in Zagreb, a factor which should, in theory, have favoured the more physically robust Dutch side. But the de facto semi-final at the recent World Cup between West Germany and Poland, played in similarly dire conditions in Frankfurt, had been a very watchable encounter in which neither side resorted to crude aerial tactics. In this game, too, both sides would attempt to "play football"...when they weren't getting into trouble with the referee.
Any suspicion that the Dutch would physically overwhelm the Czechs from the outset, as the Oranje appeared determined to do, were dispelled in the opening minutes. Czechoslovakia kept pace with their celebrated opponents and gave as good as they got in the tackle, with Jaroslav Pollak in particular letting the opposition know he was there, so to speak.
With Johan Cruyff and Rob Rensenbrink taking their time to get into gear, Vaclav Jezek's team gradually assumed the initiative, and a goal duly came on 19 minutes. The battling Zdenek Nehoda won a free kick on the left, and up came the sweeper Anton Ondrus, to head Antonin Panenka's accurate floated ball into the far corner of Piet Schrijvers' net.
Holland's wheels still wouldn't go round. They failed to create a chance of note in the period following the goal, while Czechoslovakia might have added a second on two occasions; once when Marian Masny hit the by-line and pulled the ball back for Nehoda, and once when Jozef Moder, bane of the Soviets, was gifted an excellent chance thanks to some slackness in the Dutch defence. But the score remained at 1-0 when the teams went off at half-time.
There were further shades of the World Cup final when Wim Rijsbergen, who had clearly been struggling, was replaced by the veteran Wim van Hanegem at the interval. This meant that someone needed to drop back into defence to handle Rijsbergen's stopper role: very surprisingly, it was Johan Neeskens who was given the job. But these were the days of Total Football; every Dutch player could slot into any position, couldn't they?
In any event, the Czechs found their rhythm and their passing deserting them in the second half, and the Dutch took control, winning a number of free kicks. At one of these, Pollak encroached blatantly, to be punished both by a rude shove from an enraged Cruyff, and a yellow card from the fussy, self-important referee, Clive Thomas. Alas for the Czechs, soon afterwards Pollak was guilty of a nasty foul on Neeskens, leaving his defensive position for a run up the wing. Off he went, and the Dutch now had the numerical advantage as well as the momentum.
They made it tell seventeen minutes from the close. A disappointing Johnny Rep had been replaced by Ruud Geels, and the blond Ajax striker provided some welcome mobility and drive in attack. When Wim Jansen picked him out on the right, he delivered a dangerous low cross into the goalmouth; Ondrus, attempting to clear with Cruyff lurking behind him, sliced the ball nightmarishly into his own net. "A wonder-goal from Cruyff!" enthused the German commentator, before sheepishly correcting himself on seeing the replay.
All the omens now appeared to favour the Dutch. And yet one of those inexplicable, fateful acts which sometimes take place in tense matches suddenly turned the scales. Three minutes after the goal, Neeskens launched himself into a horrible, completely unnecessary studs-up lunge on Nehoda by the touchline. The Czech striker was, to be frank, going nowhere. Was Neeskens frustrated by his new defensive role? Had there been some off-the-ball niggle to make him see red? In any event, the Barcelona star joined Pollak in the sheds, and it was 10 v. 10. And yet again, a positional change was required; this time it was the muscular Willy van de Kerkhof who moved into central defence.
The Dutch were not recumbent, however. With the Czechs looking tired, and finding it difficult to break out of their own half in sufficient numbers, crosses sailed into Ivo Viktor's goalmouth, and time and again it was Ondrus who came to the rescue, impeccable in the air and combative on the ground. He was making up for his costly miskick, and then some. Viktor too was called into action towards the end of the game, making two smart saves in the final minutes of normal time.
It was still 1-1 at the whistle, and crucially, Jezek had yet to make any substitutions. At the start of extra time, on came the veteran striker Frantisek Vesely in place of Moder, and the game shifted once more; Czechoslovakia were now taking the game to the Dutch, who were themselves tiring. Vesely, surprisingly lively, was proving a shrewd addition. In the end, however, the game turned on a fateful refereeing error, which may have had its origins in Neeskens' dismissal.
In the aftermath of that earlier sendoff, Cruyff - badgering the referee, as was his custom - was booked for dissent, ensuring that he would miss the final. Thus incensed, he continued his "commentary", and the haughty Thomas probably conceived a certain ill-will towards the Dutch maestro. "There's Cruyff, explaining the rules to me again," the Welsh referee remarked many years later, watching a recording of the match.
This is about the only explanation for why the referee waved the play on after a blatant foul on Cruyff by Panenka six minutes from the end, just as the former was embarking on one of his fluent runs. The ball broke to Vesely, who advanced on the right, sent in a curling cross, and Nehoda was there to head the ball in.
Dutch protests were, in a word, vocal, and there followed the third dismissal of the game, in confusing circumstances. Objecting to some comments by van Hanegem prior to the restart, Thomas gave the big midfield anchorman his marching orders. Accounts of the incident differ, but the encounter between the referee known in some circles as "The Book" and several intransigent Oranje was never going to end well. It says something for the resilience of the Dutch, and the depth of their squad, that they managed to win the third-place match without Cruyff, Neeskens, van Hanegem and the injured Rijsbergen!
There was time for a third Czech goal: Panenka put the Dutch defence on the wrong foot with a well-timed ball through to Vesely, who rounded Schrijvers expertly and slotted the ball home, van de Kerkhof making a vain attempt to block the shot on the line.
So the Czechs had beaten the book. Cruyff and especially Rensenbrink had been disappointing, and although no Czech player had been outstanding, apart perhaps from Ondrus, it had been a laudable team effort. If they had received a slice of luck late on, perhaps it made up for the tragi-comic own goal.
West Germany, European and World champions, awaited them in the final. More in Part 4.
