Stillness and Speed: My Story (13 page)

On the very eve of the tournament, the Dutch talent for self-harm was revealed again. Van Basten, desperate to play, was simply too injured to join the team. Then Ruud Gullit announced at a
press conference that he would not go to America. He refused to say why and promised to explain all later. Shocked Dutch fans were bereft. Some even burned their Gullit wigs. But the players
responded with surprising indifference. Gullit had never been the most popular member of the team and now Dennis took the lead in declaring that the team could cope without him. To emphasise the
point, two days later, Dennis scored the first and last goals in a 7-1 demolition of Hungary in a pre-tournament friendly.

Nearly 20 years later, Gullit still hasn’t explained, but Dennis has his theory about why he walked out on the team. ‘After 1990 Ruud wanted us to play more Italian-style football,
with a large defensive block fronted by a pair of free strikers. But in 1990 Michels emphatically chose to play the Ajax system: four-three-three with a deep midfielder as shadow striker behind the
centre-forward, or three-four-three with a diamond-shaped midfield. Advocaat maintained that. The structure was clear and he didn’t want to abandon it just to please Gullit, especially not
when we were already so far into preparing for the 1994 World Cup. The team was working well and everyone was happy with how it was going. When Ruud announced he was leaving, most of the lads
responded in the same way. It was like: “If he wants to leave, let him leave. It’s a shame, but we have enough self-confidence to continue the path we’ve chosen.” In 1994
the generation of 1988 was becoming the generation of 1998, that of Frank and Ronald de Boer, Overmars, Jonk and Bergkamp. That sometimes led to conflicts, not on the pitch or in the dressing room,
but in people’s feelings. My own feeling was: “I’m taking over now because I’m growing to a higher level, my status is increasing. Hand over responsibility to me, I’ll
take it, I’m ready.” That’s what I was thinking, and that’s how Frank de Boer and plenty of others were thinking as well.’

Holland stuttered in their next warm-up match – a 3-0 win over the Canadian national side in Toronto – but were taken aback to find themselves being hammered in the Dutch media for
being ‘boring’. In response, the team collectively decided to grant fewer interviews. ‘I had just come off a difficult season in Italy, where I’d had to deal with a huge
amount of criticism. I didn’t want to deal with any more blabbering, especially before the World Cup finals had even started. “Get lost,” I thought, and I wasn’t the only
one. So we decided to be a little less cooperative with the press. They didn’t appreciate that of course, and they particularly went to town on me. For the first time I was no longer the
ideal son-in-law, that nice, friendly guy.’

With temperatures in the mid-30s, the Dutch started the tournament slowly with a goalless draw against Belgium in Washington, and fortuitous 2-1 wins over both Saudi Arabia and Morocco in
Orlando, with Dennis scoring against the Moroccans. The Dutch media was unsympathetic to their difficulties. As 31-year-old captain Ronald Koeman suffered in the heat, TV commentator Eddy Poelman
mocked him: ‘Our so-called world-class defender is playing like a fat old tart.’

Against Ireland, however, the team finally clicked and overwhelmed Jack Charlton’s side with a terrific first half in Orlando. Dennis not only scored the first goal but also created a
remarkable little vignette. The time-honoured method of flicking a ball on from a corner is to ram a high ball to a spot a few yards in front of the near post where a big man uses his head to alter
the direction of the cross. On this occasion, Marc Overmars drilled his corner hard and low to the same position. Half-turning and with a velvety touch of his right foot, Dennis simultaneously drew
the fierce pace out of the ball and lofted it like a hand-grenade to the penalty spot. Sadly, Ronald de Boer’s bicycle kick went harmlessly wide, but Dennis had provided a delicious moment of
invention.

So to Dallas where the Dutch faced Brazil in the quarter-final. In Britain the match was seen as an entertaining and sweet-natured classic, perhaps the best game of the tournament. For Dennis,
however, the memory remains bitter. The BBC gave the game a showbiz build-up, using the opening credits of the TV show
Dallas
with the faces of JR, Bobby Ewing and Sue-Ellen replaced by
the likes of Bergkamp, Bebeto, Romario and Rijkaard. In a goalless first half, Holland, shackled by fear, play a cramped and nervy game. In the second, after Brazil score twice, the Dutch throw
caution to the wind and attack with passion. Dennis powers through for the first before Winter heads the equaliser from a corner. The momentum is now all orange, but a few minutes later Brazil earn
a free-kick 30 yards from goal from which Branco fires home a spectacular winner. Afterwards Des Lynam beams: ‘Well, we said it had potential, and it potentialled!’

In his
History of the World Cup
, Brian Glanville observes that absent friends might have made the difference: ‘It’s arguable, but had Gullit played instead of sulked,
Holland might well have won their crucial game against Brazil . . . and gone on to beat Italy [in the final].’ What sticks in Dennis’s mind is that Brazil’s victory owed more than
a little to the decisions of the Costa Rican referee Rodrigo Badilla and his linesmen from Bahrain and Iran. Romario, scorer of Brazil’s first, looked offside and Branco grabbed the winner
after pushing Overmars in the face; Badilla ignored that foul but blew for Jonk’s retaliation a few strides later. ‘Later, you wonder what all that was about. A referee from Costa Rica
and linesmen from Iran and Bahrain? Why are they allowed to officiate at such a crucial match?’ (Four years later, Holland would play Brazil again, this time in the semi-final, and this time
with a referee from the United Arab Emirates and linesmen from Oman and Kuwait. Dennis: ‘Pierre van Hooijdonk got a yellow card for diving when in fact his shirt was pulled in the penalty
area. That makes you wonder what’s going on. Twice we had to contend with debatable refereeing decisions when we were playing Brazil in the World Cup.’)

Dennis was also frustrated by the lack of ambition and courage from his own side. After the game, coach Advocaat seemed satisfied. On the plane home from the States he told the Dutch press:
‘We are one of the top eight teams in the world. Not bad.’ Dennis: ‘Dick Advocaat is one of the most ambitious people I’ve ever met and I had a good relationship with him.
He was always completely committed, had tremendous drive and always strived to achieve maximum results. The World Cup was his first big tournament as manager . . . but I thought we could have done
better. After the Brazil match it was as if he was relieved because we hadn’t done too badly in the end. But he didn’t accomplish the maximum achievable. We didn’t play with
enough guts. We were capable of more than we realised. As players, we were afraid we wouldn’t measure up against Romario and Bebeto and allowed ourselves to be intimidated by the
Brazilians’ flair, bluff and arrogance. And Dick should have let us take more initiative sooner. The team was up to it. Overmars and Van Vossen were in great form, our attacks were effective
and we had some seriously experienced players like Koeman, Wouters and Rijkaard. They knew how to respond when the Brazilians pushed the boundaries in terms of physical play and
intimidation.’

The month in America was traumatic in other ways, too. Dennis had suffered through two air incidents. On one occasion the Dutch plane was forced to make an emergency landing after an alcoholic
journalist travelling with the team became ill. On another a flight was four hours delayed because of a hoax bomb threat. And after the drama in Dallas, Dennis felt shattered. ‘I was
finished. I was exhausted, physically and mentally. I was angry at the referee and because I thought the team hadn’t pushed itself as far as it could have done. That was something I often
felt after defeats, especially when it meant elimination. I would think: “I did everything I could, I gave it my all, but can all the others say the same?”’

Soon after the World Cup Advocaat accepted a lucrative offer to manage PSV and Guus Hiddink, best-known for winning the 1988 European Cup with PSV, became manager of the national team. Once
again, qualification for the next European Championship finals, to be held in England, proceeds uneasily. In June 1995, Dennis deicded to stop flying. Fortunately, the next three major
international tournaments would all be in Western Europe: after Euro ’96, the World Cup would be in France and Euro 2000 would be shared between Holland and Belgium. Playing in the 2002
finals in Japan and Korea would be out of the question, of course, but since he planned to retire after Euro 2000 this wouldn’t be an issue. Until then, Dennis’s international career
need barely suffer at all.

In any case, the problems thrown up by Euro ’96 would be entirely different. Before the tournament started, Dennis began to sense tension within the squad. ‘I was part of the
players’ committee and more and more of the black players wanted to join. At first I just thought: “Fine, come on in.” But as the committee got bigger and bigger it made me
uneasy. Why do so many guys suddenly want to be on the committee? It tells you something about how much they trust the committee. They hardly trust it at all.’ Meanwhile, he noticed the black
players separating themselves in various small ways. At mealtimes players had got into the habit of sitting at separate tables. Surinamese food was served at one, traditional Dutch fare at the
other. On one occasion, Clarence Seedorf turned up late for lunch and when Danny Blind, by now the team captain, chided him, ‘One-thirty is one-thirty,’ Clarence shot back,
‘I’ll come to the table when it suits me.’ The tension seemed to be related to internal strife at Ajax and Hiddink did not intervene.

In terms of the sheer quality of the squad offered, there was plenty of cause for optimism. The emerging generation of ’94 had now been joined by a crop of brilliant youngsters like
Patrick Kluivert and Seedorf, who played a big part in Ajax winning the 1995 Champions League. Ajax had reached the final in 1996, too, but lost on penalties to Juventus. In December, after a
lackadaisical qualification campaign, the side had gelled splendidly and thumped the poor Irish (again) in the play-off. More than a few bookies installed the Dutch as favourites. Dennis was
optimistic, too: ‘It had been a difficult time for me. After the World Cup we spent a long time soul-searching. A lot happened, to me and to the Dutch team where a generational change was
taking place. Patrick Kluivert was a rising star, and, after Inter, I’d rediscovered the pleasure of playing football again. There were times when I doubted myself and I wondered what might
happen to me now that Kluivert had come on the scene. But the play-off against Ireland went so well, and playing behind Patrick I felt like the shadow striker I’d been behind Van Basten.
Excellent! I was ready for the European Championships. We had a young, largely new team, but with quite a few lads from Ajax who had played in two Champions League finals. I thought: “Yeah,
this could work.”’

Holland’s first group game, 0-0 against Scotland, was unimpressive but calm. Only during the second match, a 2-0 win over the Swiss at Anfield did things begin to unravel. Dennis and Jordi
Cruyff (Johan’s son) scored Holland’s goals, but the real drama was on the subs’ bench. Just 26 minutes into the match Hiddink withdrew Seedorf, who’d been booked 12 minutes
earlier and had just escaped a second yellow. For Hiddink it was a case of looking after a player when he seemed certain to get sent off. Seedorf, however, interpreted his substitution as an insult
and spent most of the rest of the game fuming about it with his friend Edgar Davids, who was also angry at being dropped. Later that evening, Davids was overheard telling a foreign journalist that
‘Hiddink should stop sticking his head up other players’ arses.’ Davids was sure that Hiddink was favouring white players like Danny Blind and the De Boer brothers to the
detriment of the black ones. Davids’s remark made the news and Hiddink demanded to see him in private. When Davids refused to apologise, Hiddink angrily expelled him from the squad. Hiddink
then called a team meeting in the hotel, said he’d noticed tensions among the players and then – amazing as it seems to non-Dutch eyes – told them to sort it out by themselves.
‘Talk it through,’ he said before leaving.

All hell broke loose. Seedorf, speaking on behalf of the
kabel
(cabal) of Surinamese players which included Davids, Patrick Kluivert and Michael Reiziger, brought up grievances from
Ajax and claimed that Danny Blind and Ronald de Boer had too much influence with Hiddink. Seedorf, aged 20 at the time, also revealed that the reason he left Ajax for Sampdoria a year earlier was
that he failed to secure the right-midfielder position which Louis van Gaal had promised him. Ronald de Boer had got the slot instead, proving that the De Boers wielded undue influence not only at
Ajax but in the national team. Michael Reiziger spoke next to support Seedorf’s allegations. He also said the black players at Ajax were treated as juniors. He gave details of their contracts
to bear this out. Danny Blind, he revealed with bitterness, was earning six times as much as Patrick Kluivert.

Dennis recalls: ‘I couldn’t believe what was happening! It just exploded and the tone was really aggressive. There were three groups: one group consisting of Seedorf, Kluivert,
Reiziger and [Winston] Bogarde were fighting with Blind and De Boer while the third, largest group, to which I belonged, just sat watching, open-mouthed.’ Although the
kabel
were
convinced the Ajax salary structure was racist, Dennis points out now that ethnicity was utterly irrelevant. As always, what counted at Ajax was seniority. Because Blind was 35 years old and the
club captain, he would obviously be paid more than the 20-year-old Kluivert, who had been in the first team for less than two years. The
kabel
argued that since Ajax’s Champions
League successes were largely due to them, they should be rewarded accordingly. For the black players the key word was ‘respect’. And Hiddink wasn’t showing them respect either,
because he didn’t include them in the starting line-up.