Piet Keizer

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Piet Keizer

Peter ("Piet") Johannes Keizer (born June 14, 1943 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch professional football player. Having played 364 matches from 1961 to 1974, he's the fourth in number of matches played for Ajax Amsterdam. He was a left-wing striker.

Piet Keizer and Johan Cruijff were known as the "royal pair", or "the starter and the finisher". Keizer excelled by his gift of not being noticed, but then striking with uncanny precision. His hallmark moment came in the European Cup final against Internazionale in 1972, when Keizer crossed the ball with a deadly precision and Cruijff only had to tap it in.

Keizer was, for much of his career, in the shadow of his famous team member Johan Cruijff, but still some experts say Keizer was a better player then Cruijff was. An argument made an end to the combination of Keizer and Cruijff in 1974, and Cruijff left for Barcelona leaving Keizer with Ajax. Keizer celebrated the move of the then Barcelona coach Rinus Michels by dancing upon a table. It seems there was no love lost at all between Cruijff or Michels. It would turn out to be the final season for Piet Keizer.

For the Dutch national team, Keizer played 34 times, scoring 11 goals. He played for the Dutch team that finished as runner-ups in the 1974 FIFA World Cup, although he had a minor role. Michels was coach, and after an ineffective game by Keizer against Sweden, he was dropped for the remainder of the tournament.

v • d • e Netherlands squad - 1974 FIFA World Cup Runners-up 1 Geels • 2 Haan • 3 van Hanegem • 4 van Ierssel • 5 Israël • 6 Jansen • 7 de Jong • 8 Jongbloed • 9 Keizer • 10 R. van de Kerkhof • 11 W. van de Kerkhof • 12 Krol • 13 Neeskens • 14 Cruijff • 15 Rensenbrink • 16 Rep • 17 Rijsbergen • 18 Schrijvers • 19 Strik • 20 Suurbier • 21 Treijtel • 22 Vos • Coach: Michels

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