Quote:
Originally Posted by NBC
Cruijff's Oranje were the masters of possession football. They had wonderful playmakers and clinical finishers. The Total Football style that they played had a massive impact upon the way the game was played, even though they failed to bury they Germans in 1974. That was pure arrogance on their part, wanting to humiliate them and beat them. It backfired.
Hungarian tactics of a deep-lying CF and choosing players for the national side from a very small group of clubs (sound familiar) and the flexibility of having players able to play out of position (early Total Football) helped revolutionize the game. Puskas and Kocsis were an incredible 1-2 punch, scoring 160 goals in 152 games at the national level. Legends.
I guess one could argue whether winning a tournament or 2 is more significant than playing football that changes the way the game is played at a fundamental level and going undefeated against all comers for 6 years, home and away.
I'm not sure I know the answer to this.
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The counter arguement though would be that it is more of an acheivement to dominate playing against rivals that know and are clear how to handle what you are doing and yet you are so good at it they can't, both Holland and Hungery had a period where they were playing a game that their opposition, was, to a large degree was witless as to how to play against.
Spain isn't doing anything special tactically, nor are they relying on a Pele or Cruyff of exeptional talant, in fact unlike every other team mentioned, Spain is the best in the world without the best player, they are, as a team, just outplaying everyone.