Argentina and the Netherlands played five times in the World Cup. Argentina won once, the oranges won twice and the remaining two tied, although in one of them Argentina ended up winning on penalties. This chronicler had to witness all those games. Here a bunch of memories.
A ride on a Clockwork Orange
The first time was on June 26, 1974, a few days before the death of Juan Domingo Perón, who was president at the time. They played in Gelsenkirchen, in the same city where Argentina beat Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 in 2006. It was a humiliating dance, with a distance in the game much greater than the final 4-0. Two goals from Cruyff, one from Krol and one from Rep. It was drizzling, while goals were raining down.
Argentina formed with Carnevali; Wolff (Glaria), Perfumo, Sá, Heredia; Telch, Squeo, Yazalde; Balbuena, Ayala, Houseman (Kempes). They always had the ball: Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Rep, Neeskens, Krol, all touch and touch. It was Rinus Michels’ clockwork orange that left us with an unforgettable bitter aftertaste. From that day the famous anecdote of Perfumo is remembered, when he stopped Carnevali dead when he was running to look for a ball that had fallen behind his goal. With the game 2-0, he told him “stop crazy, calm down, don’t rush us to put ten”. The Argentine coaches were Varacka, Cap and Víctor Rodríguez, each with a different speech. There was no chance and Holland went over ours.
Rematch
Exactly four years later, César Luis Menotti through, Argentina won the final 3-1, which was the second consecutive loss by the Dutch. Other names and only two survivors of the Germany disaster: Kempes and Houseman. Argentina came out of memory: Fillol; Olguin, Galvan, Passarella, Tarantini; Ardiles, Gallego, Kempes; Bertoni, Luque and Ortiz. Houseman and Larrosa also entered.
They no longer had Cruyff or Van Hanegem, but they did have Rensenbrink, who crashed a shot into a stick on the hour that could change history. Two goals from Kempes, one from Bertoni and one from Naninga made the final 3-1. Bertoni scored that goal twice: a year earlier he imagined it in a fanciful production of The graphic and then made it real. It seemed unbelievable such a transformation and how it went from that opprobrium to that glorious present.
Contact in Marseille
The third game was in Marseille in 1998, on July 4. Menem’s time in retreat. The Dutch won 2-1 with a goal from Bergkamp in the 89th minute. A long ball, lowered it, misplaced Ayala and nailed it up. How she hurt Daniel Passarella was the DT and Américo Gallego his right hand. Argentina formed with Roa; Zanetti, Ayala, Sensini, Chamot; Simeone, Almeyda, Verón; Claudio Lopez, Batistuta and Ortega. The goal was made by El Piojo, El Burrito was sent off and before that they had sent Numan off. Their other goal had been made by Patrick Kluivert. Before Bergkamp’s goal, Batistuta had hit a stick with a shot. Then the Netherlands lost to Brazil and was also left out. But that was a powerful team, with a lot of play.
The first time of the young Messi
In 2006 they played a game that defined the first place in the group. Both had beaten Nigeria and Serbia and Montenegro. That afternoon in Frankfurt the two put on some substitutes. The game was played on June 21, three days before Lionel Messi’s 19th birthday and it was very boring: they tied 0-0. Argentina formed with Abbondanzieri; Cufré, Ayala, Milito, Burdisso; Cambiasso, Mascherano, Riquelme; Maxi Rodriguez, Tevez and Messi who wore the number 19. On the bench was Lionel Scaloni, who did not enter.
rosemary day
Two World Cups and eight years passed until the next duel. San Pablo, 2014, Cristina’s time as president. Another 0-0 on July 10. Semifinal. Mascherano and Robben in a save similar to that of Lisandro Martinez against Australia, Mascherano and Chiquito Romero with the famous “today you become a hero” and this team: Romero; Zabaleta, Demichelis, Garay, Red; Biglia, Mascherano, Enzo Perez, Lavezzi, Higuain, Messi. Agüero, Palacios and Maxi Rodríguez also entered. Romero saved two penalties, Messi, Agüero, Garay and Maxi scored those from Argentina. Will it be repeated? Will Dibu become a hero? Or will the thing end in the 90?
