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The hardest thing about an easy match is making a weak opponent play poor. A poor player isn't poor because he tends to kick the ball in his own goal. It's because when you put intense pressure on him, he loses control. So you have to increase the tempo of the game and he'll automatically give the ball away.

Johan Cruijff

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Johan Cruijff
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More quotes by Johan Cruijff

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Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practicing. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team mate.
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Players today can only shoot with their laces. I could shoot with the inside, laces, and outside of both feet. In other words, I was six times better than today's players.
Johan Cruijff
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If you want to play quicker you can start running faster, but it's the ball that decides the speed of the game.
Johan Cruijff
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Surviving the first round is never my aim. Ideally, I'd be in one group with Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Then I'd have lost two rivals after the first round. That's how I think. Idealisitic.
Johan Cruijff
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He has been outstanding. [Manuel] Neuer is an extraordinary goalkeeper, who would deserve to win it.
Johan Cruijff
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After you've won something, you're no longer 100 percent, but 90 percent. It's like a bottle of carbonated water where the cap is removed for a short while. Afterwards there's a little less gas inside.
Johan Cruijff
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I always threw the ball in, because then if I got the ball back, I was the only player unmarked.
Johan Cruijff
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Italy cannot beat you but you can lose to Italy.
Johan Cruijff
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When you play a match, it is statistically proven that players actually have the ball 3 minutes on average ... So, the most important thing is: what do you do during those 87 minutes when you do not have the ball. That is what determines wether you're a good player or not.
Johan Cruijff
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In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
Johan Cruijff
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Someone who has juggled the ball in the air during a game, after which four defenders of the opponent get the time to run back, that's the player people think is great. I say he has to go to a circus.
Johan Cruijff
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In small space a player has to be capable of acting quickly. A good player who needs too much time can suddenly become a poor player.
Johan Cruijff
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Every trainer talks about movement, about running a lot. I say don't run so much. Football is a game you play with your brain. You have to be in the right place at the right moment, not too early, not too late.
Johan Cruijff
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When you're playing against a team that has two great central defenders, the best option is to play without a striker.
Johan Cruijff
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Italians can't win the game against you, but you can lose the game against the Italians.
Johan Cruijff
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Why couldn't you beat a richer club? I've never seen a bag of money score a goal.
Johan Cruijff
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I can be a new Di Stefano, but I can't be a new Pelé. He is the one that goes beyond the limits of logic.
Johan Cruijff
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Every advantage has its disadvantage.
Johan Cruijff
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I still have a lot of room for improvement.
Johan Cruijff
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Often you see people who move there and then, once they have arrived, the ball moves here after which they also come here, but then the ball goes there again. I say: just stay where you are, then you are in any case at the right place half of the time.
Johan Cruijff