Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football
By David Winner
David Winner explains the beauty and neurosis of Dutch football in his highly-acclaimed book Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football. The author sets out to lead the reader on a journey, providing an in-depth look at the psychological profile of the Dutch people and even the country's architecture, all in an effort to understand their approach to a game they have been responsible for making beautiful since they first began to caress a football.
In true Dutch style, Winner numbers the chapters at random. There are 25 chapters, the first number 5, the second 7, the third 9 and so on. Winner explains the origins and principles of the brand of Total Football which captivated the world in the 1970s through the medium of the Ajax and Holland sides of the decade and which continues to inspire clubs today, from Barcelona to Arsenal.
He looks in detail at Rinus Michels, the legendary coach who presided over that famous Ajax team before moving aside for George Knobel to take over. Winner chronicles the great performances of this legendary Amsterdam outfit, from their 5-1 demolition of Liverpool in the 1960s to a truly remarkable three Champions League successes in the early 1970s, before charting their rapid fall from grace. Johan Cruyff, the heart of the team, left for Barcelona after losing the captaincy in a democratic election and not long after the whole side split up.
Moving beyond Ajax, Winner casts his eye over the country's national sides, which came so close to winning the World Cup. In 1974 Holland were the best team at the tournament yet succumbed to Germany in the final after dominating for long periods, and in 1978 a fervent home crowd roared Argentina to victory, but not without a heart stopping moment or two in the dying seconds of normal time as the Dutch threatened a winner.
The author skilfully takes the reader on a beautiful adventure, moving via Heerenveen to the Ajax team of Louis van Gaal in 1995, seeing Dutch football in action. The fascinating aspect of so much of the country's national sport is the way in which their managers constantly focus on the aesthetic, sometimes even at the expense of victory.
If any one moment sums up the beautiful game in Holland, it is probably their defeat to Brazil in the semi-final of the 1998 World Cup. The pitch was their canvas, the players were both tools and artists, they out-thought, out-passed and out-played their opponents, but lost on penalties. Winner lucidly and expertly illustrates how exactly this valiant defeat came about and looks at the Dutch's dreadful penalty record, an aspect which has undone so much good work on the pitch and undermined trophy charges.
In all, Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football is a wonderful account of the history of the game in Holland, detailing its neurosis and philosophy, drawing on the memories of some of the stars of Dutch football – from Johnny Rep to Dennis Bergkamp – and chronicles beautifully the style and agony of their near misses at international level. But then, as Winner subtly, and perhaps unintentionally illustrates, even in defeat to Germany in 1974, the Dutch never really lose. Their success is as the one team remembered as one of the greats, despite being merely always the bridesmaid and never the bride.
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