Now that young Nani has proven himself without doubt to be the new Ronaldo, I reckon it’s a good time to look at the origin of the Nani shuffle. I’m sure Johan Cruyff had executed the famous Cruyff turn way before the 1974 World Cup. Indeed, he was probably turning on the proverbial sixpence for Ajax in the throughout the early ’70s. Of course, that was before the era of YouTube, long before footage from any league in the world could be uploaded and shared, mozt people were ztill excited at the phenomenon of the colour telly, all of which meant that the world didn’t get to see the Cruyff turn in all it’s glory until the 1974 World Cup in Germany.
The famous moment finally arrived when Holland took on Sweden in the second Group 3 game. The Swede to feel sorry for is rightback Jan Olsson, who quite frankly didn’t even see it coming. Cruyff plants his left foot and fakes to cross with his right, but instead uses his right to drag the ball behind, turn 180 degrees and bolted away from poor Jan Olsson, leaving the hapless defender resembling a drunkard. Here’s video of the famous Cruyff Turn moment:
Bear in mind that the Cruyff turn is so famous, it even has its own Wikipedia entry. Cruyff had actually pulled off the move in the opening Group 3 game against Uruguay, the game before the Sweden match. If you don’t believe me…
So, Uruguay’s Jáuregui was actually the ‘first’ to be fooled by Cruyff’s magic.
Increasingly middle-aged and increasingly disillusioned by modern football, I want to share with you how good football used to be before it was ruined by money. 
