1974 saw a new Cup, kept well under wraps. Rumor had it; it was a nude woman grasping a globe. But who would grasp the trophy?

And with the new Cup, came a new way and a new day.

The Ebony Leopards of Zaire turned up, and so did colorful Haiti, green and fresh from the Caribbean.

The languid rhythms of Brazil and the Old World masters were dead. In its place came a scientific, vaguely political, and certainly irresistible tactical upgrade known as Total Football, and its originators, a side known as Clockwork Orange from the Netherlands.

The Dutch were led by Johan Cruyff. Dubbed the Pele of Europe, Cruyff and his side played a brand of soccer very much dependent on positional change and shift. No one had a set role, but everyone played everywhere, and no one got lost. It was perhaps the most effective brand of teamwork ever introduced in any sport, but despite the hot new name, it did look an awful lot like a particular Hungarian approach 20 years before.

But styles are derivative, and Holland were a team to be feared, favorites for sure.

They manhandled once-mighty Uruguay in their first match, beat the Bulgarians, and hammered Argentina in a rain-soaked quarterfinal before doing battle, quite literally, with Brazil in the semifinal.

The meeting between Holland and Brazil was a clash of styles and cultures. An increasingly bitter past was meeting a brave, bold and brash future. It was a strange, uncommon Brazil with few faces left from '70. Rivelino with longer hair, a bigger mustache, and slower legs led his side as best he could, but with pride and honor at stake, ugliness won the day.

Unable to keep pace, Brazil went for legs and forgot about the ball. Johan Neeskens was cut down groin-high late in the match, and Herrera earned the first-ever World Cup red card. In tears, the giant gestured to enraged, long-haired Dutch fans, holding three fingers up. Everyone grasped the significance of the gesture, and considering the events on the pitch, the irony as well.

The Jules Rimet Cup the permanent prize for the first team to win three World Cups would be Brazils forever, but the new prize would elude Brazil for years.

On the other side of the table were the Germans, the hosts, loaded with talent, if not as hip as the Dutch.

Beckenbauer had withdrawn back to the libero position, making it a viable defensive and attacking option. Gerd Muller was still scoring an average of a goal per game, and Paul Breitner was scoring goals with passion and skill.

The Germans battled past Sweden, Yugoslavia, and surprising Poland on their way to the final.

The spider web-like Olympic stadium in Munich was the venue, and the Dutch kicked off. They teased the Germans with a virtual necklace of passes at walking pace. On the 20th touch, without the Germans having tasted the ball, Cruyff collected, ghosted past his shadow Berti Vogts, and was taken down to the ground, just inside the penalty area.

What a dream it must have been, thrashing the Germans on their home soul, but the Dutch would have done well to remember their Hungarian precursors from 1954.

Vogts pulled the reins in on Cruyff and beat him onto the fringes of the match, while Breitner nailed a penalty of his own and Muller spun to finish the job, clinically and cool.

Germanys rigidity of formula won the day, a heart wrenching moment for the Dutch, but they'd be back for sure.

It hadnt made champions of the Flying Dutchmen, but Total Football changed the game.