Johan Neeskens

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Johannes Jacobus Neeskens (born September 15, 1951) was a Dutch football player and now manager. He was part of the Dutch national team that finished as runner-ups in the 1974 and Template:Wcs.

Neeskens started his career at RCH Heemstede in 1968, before being spotted by Rinus Michels and signed for Ajax in 1969. The youngster impressed at right-back, playing in that position for Ajax in the 1971 European Cup Final win against Panathinaikos. During the 1971-72 season, Neeskens took up more of a central midfield role, in support of Johan Cruyff, but was equally adept in central defence. Ajax completed a hat-trick of European Cup wins in 1972 and 1973, and Neeskens moved on to FC Barcelona in 1974 to join Cruyff and Michels. While his time at Barça was relatively unsuccessful (one league title and the 1979 Cup Winners' Cup), he was hugely popular amongst the fans. In 1979, he accepted an offer from the New York Cosmos, spending 5 years at the club. Winding down his career, he also played for FC Groningen (1984-85), Fort Lauderdale Sun (1986-87), FC Baar (1988-90) and FC Zug in Switzerland, finally hanging up his boots in 1991.

Neeskens was capped 49 times for his country, scoring 17 goals. He made his debut against East Germany, and played a crucial role in the 1974 and Template:Wcs, playing in central midfield and providing crucial goals. Indeed, Neeskens scored the opening goal in the World Cup Final against West Germany, scoring after only 80 seconds. However, this wasn't enough for victory, losing out 2-1 to the hosts. Four years later, Neeskens was a crucial player for the Dutch (despite a rib injury suffered in the Scotland defeat), in the absence of Cruyff who had retired from international football in 1977. Holland again reached the final, only to lose to the hosts, this time Argentina, going down 3-1. He played his final international game in 1981 in a 2-0 defeat against France in a qualifier for the Template:Wc.

Neeskens was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

At the request of Guus Hiddink, Neeskens acted as assistant coach for the Dutch national team during the qualifiers and the finals of the Template:Wc. After Hiddink stepped down as national coach after the Template:Wc, he performed the same role during the reign of Frank Rijkaard as national coach up until the end of Euro 2000. He was then appointed as coach of Dutch side NEC Nijmegen leading them to their first European appearance in twenty years in 2003, but was sacked in 2004 for poor results.

In December 2005, Neeskens was appointed the assistant coach of the Australian national team, once again at the request of Guus Hiddink, who is now the national team manager of the "Socceroos". He will now work along side Hiddink and Graham Arnold as part of their World Cup 2006 campaign.

Notes

Neeskens was known for being a cold-blooded penalty kick taker. He liked to blast the ball high into the middle of the goal, speculating that the goalie would always jump into a corner and would be quite chanceless to defend the ball.de:Johan Neeskens et:Johan Neeskens es:Johan Neeskens fr:Johan Neeskens it:Johan Neeskens nl:Johan Neeskens ja:ヨハン・ニースケンス pl:Johan Neeskens pt:Johan Neeskens fi:Johan Neeskens sv:Johan Neeskens