It always hurts to lose a final, says Ruud Krol on the phone, and so it also hurts to see the iconic photo of the 1974 World Cup final. That is to say, the photo of the game Germany against the Netherlands in the Munich Olympic Stadium. So from the moment when Gerd Müller makes this enigmatic movement away from the goal in order to then – and perhaps precisely because of that – score the 2-1 goal that helped Germany achieve the second World Cup title in its history. Krol is in the photo because he did a lunge and Müller shot the ball through his legs. “That was a typical Gerd Müller gate,” says Krol on the phone from his domicile near Marbella in southern Spain.
The scene is burned into his mind, how could it be otherwise. “I sprinted back from midfield and tried to close the cross from our left (from Rainer Bonhof, Anm. d. Red.) “, describes Krol. But that failed, the ball flew into the penalty area – to Germany’s player with the shirt number 13.” Gerd Müller did not control the ball properly. Then he jumped back to him and he shot. The ball rolled slowly through my legs, our goalkeeper was on the wrong leg and couldn’t do anything. That was so typical of Müller because it symbolized his strength: even if he didn’t touch the ball well, he hit. In the box he was just amazing. “
Krol was part of a fabulous generation from Ajax Amsterdam
The now 72-year-old Krol started as a left-back and later moved to the center. He became one of the world’s best defenders in the 1970s – and part of a fabulous generation of Ajax Amsterdam led by Johan Cruyff. Between 1971 and 1973, Ajax won the European Cup – the forerunner of the Champions League – three times before Bayern’s three-year hegemony in Europe began. With Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller in the leading roles.
Krol remembers that as a player in the Vancouver Whitecaps he also played with Müller in the All Star Teams of the US League. Without establishing much contact with the man with whom his path crossed so unforgettable at the World Cup final in Munich.
“We didn’t have a special plan in the World Cup final that would have been tailored to him. We had a plan to play our game, which unfortunately didn’t lead to a win, that happens in football,” says Krol. “And anyway: It was impossible to prepare for Müller. Whenever you thought you had him in your pocket, the moment came when he woke up. And scored.”
“He didn’t look like a fine footballer. But a fine scorer, that was him.”
They often talked about Bayern and also about players like Müller, and there was always a consensus that Müller might not seem like a great stylist, but also that that was deceptive. “He wasn’t a big solo player who played three players. He didn’t look like a fine footballer. But he was a fine scorer,” said Krol, who also finished second in Argentina in 1978 with the Netherlands, his active player Finished his career in Naples and Cannes before becoming a globetrotter as a coach.
He then followed Müller’s further career out of the corner of his eye. “I have great respect for how Bayern looked after him when he had these problems – how they helped him up and gave him a job,” says Krol. The fact that Müller died on Sunday touched him very much, “it was a very sad day for me.” And he cannot help mentioning a circumstance that seems as puzzling to him as Müller’s movements in the penalty area: “Isn’t it strange that Robert Lewandowski broke the 40-goal record and Gerd Müller went after it?” asks Krol and finds no answer. Just one word: “Incredible.”
Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
