1974 world cup final
West Germany 2 (2) Netherlands 1 (1)

The opening minute of the match, produced a string of Dutch passes, which was brought to an end by Johan Cruyff who swept forward from the halfway line straight for the West German goal; he looked certain to score which was why he was wrestled down by Uli Hoeness in the penalty area. Neeskens easily scored the penalty that was awarded by the referee, Jack Taylor of England. It appeared that the West German script of assigning Bertie Vogts to man mark Cruyff out of the match had failed catastrophically. Yet the Dutch forgot that the only way to cope with a wounded animal is to put them down; instead of flowing forward and attacking; they used their great skills in passing the ball to retain possession. This lack of danger to the West German goal allowed Vogts to recover his poise and start shadowing Cruyff much more effectively, the Dutch domination, which had been pronounced in the first twenty minutes, began to reduce. Arrogance and overconfidence would cost the Dutch greatly, for a poor challenge by Gerd Müller sent Rijsbergen falling to the ground; which resulted in the Dutch to instantly protest, Van Hanagem being dearly vociferous that it was he who discovered his name being booked. While the Dutch argued, the Germans played, Hölzenbein sprinted down the left wing with the ball and started to home in on the Dutch goal. He was lashed down by Jansen. Thus the second penalty of the match was given, and Paul Breitner made no mistake. The Dutch had needlessly thrown away the advantage. Disaster then struck for the Netherlanders, Neeskens who so frequently had tackled decisively to turn the tide in the past, mistimed a tackle on Hölzenbein with two minutes remaining of the half-time. Bonhof quickly took the free kick, his pass to Müller was a shade out, but this did not stop this well known poacher from controlling the ball and then smashing it past Jongbloed, who had seen the danger too late. The Dutch were behind.
It is often problematic to be a goal down to a team who are, by common consent, weaker than the other side. And the 1974 World Cup final remained correct to this tradition. Sepp Maier was stupendous in goal for West Germany as the Dutch produced wave after wave of attacks in the second period. Luck deserted the Dutch too, as every occasion the goal appeared to be at their mercy, and nothing looked simpler than scoring, they contrived to miss, this occurred to Rep twice.

1978 world cup final
Argentina 3 (1) The Netherlands 1 (0) after extra time.

Many years of waiting had taken their toll on the Argentines sense of fair play. Thus when the Dutch side trooped out in front of the seventy-six thousand crowd at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires on 25 June 1978, they were left to stand for several minutes, eventually the Dutch started to kick some balls to relieve the tension. Soon afterwards their skipper, Daniel Passarella led his players out. The crowd erupted and unleashed ticker tape all around their players. Seeking to take advantage on this act of gamesmanship, Passarella then complained to the referee about the plaster on the right hand of Rene van der Kerkhof, who had been wearing it ever since injuring two bones in the first game the Dutch had participated in the tournament. This gamesmanship was clearly pre-arranged, and it was no shock that the referee, Sergio Gonella of Italy, fell for it. Quite correctly, Neeskans protested, and he was supported by his skipper Rud Krol who indicated to his players that they should leave the pitch. At that time it began to dawn upon the referee that he was being made a fool of; fortunately, he came up with a face saving solution, Kerkhof would have to wrap his hand and the plaster in a soft bandage, which, of course made no change. But at least the tie could commence. However, the Argentine ruse had one effect, the Dutch players were furious. An anger not lessened by persistent Argentine fouling, especially by Galvan, who went unpunished. The Dutch took control of the opening exchanges, but were unable to exchange their advantages for something tangible, like a goal. Slowly the Argentine players started to come back into the match. Then Kempes smashed the ball home, thirty-eight minutes into the game, which sent the crowd into triumph. However the Dutch did not wilt, again and again they pressed the Argentine goal. With the referee losing some control over the match there was a large amount of kicking, from both sides; somehow the Dutch managed to keep playing well, and then with eight minutes to go, Nanninga headed home the equalizer. The players were tired, especially the Dutch, and it was a disappointment for the Dutch players when Resenbrink’s last shot of the ninety minutes struck the post instead of going inside the net. During extra time, the Dutch, who were weary, had no answer to Kempes’s rampaging runs. Therefore it was no shock when the South Americans scored twice more. Argentina had won the World Cup for the first occasion.