Mexico: Chivas hires Barcelona legend, Johan Cruyff
On its website, Chivas de Guadalajara already invited fans to welcome Johan Cruyff (right) to the team. On Thursday, team manager Jorge Vergara announced that Cruyff was hired to coach the team. (photos: chivascampeon.com, JNNdigital.blogspot.com)
By MANUEL RUEDA
Channel: Sports
What do you do if your soccer team has gone seven games without winning, and is currently last place in league standings? You can hire former Dutch super-star and ex-Barcelona coach Johan Cruyff, and hope that he can fix things up.
Of course, you can only do that if you have pockets as deep as those of Chivas de Guadalajara, one of the most popular teams in Mexico’s first division.
The rebaño sagrado, or “sacred herd” announced on Thursday that it will bring Cruyff on board in an effort to cut its seven game win-less streak.
And the former Barcelona coach already has some devoted fans in Guadalajara.
“Bringing Johan Cruyff is like bringing the Pope of futbol” said team manager Jorge Vergara, as he announced his new acquisition.
Cruyff obtained four league titles and a champions league while coaching Barcelona. During his days as a player and a coach, he also pioneered “total football,” a soccer system in which players fluidly cover up for each other in the field, changing positions several times over the game.
Cruyff has been largely credited for installing this system in Barcelona, and passing it on to players like Pep Guardiola who now coaches the highly successful Catalan squad.
But if this all sounds too good to be true for Chivas fans, well, it kind of is. Cruyff is on a consultant type of contract, and will only help to coach the team for 55 days a year.
But even in that short time span, Chivas management is hoping he will be able to pass some of his magic on to the struggling team.
