In Dutch teams, when a defender brings up the ball, no midfielder will fill the open position. There will be a one to one defense. The idea is to create a majority on the midfield.

"From observations over the years the playmaker is usually a midfielder."
It is true, that Beckenbauer was the first libero-playemaker, but the Dutch have a whole tradition: Epi Drost, Ruud Krol, Ronald Koeman, Danny Blind. There is a Dutch football term for it, which I can't translate:
de inschuivende libero.

Brazil is a bit of an anomaly, their bestest player isnt necessarily the playmaker. In 1970 Pele was the best one around but the main orchestrater was Tostao.

Again in 1982, they REALLY had a dream midfield of Zico, Socrates, Falcao & Eder. Play was orchestrated by Socrates not Zico as one might expect.

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Yes that's right. So talent rich they are that they can have more than 1 playmaker in the team at one time eg Brazil 2002. They had Rivaldo & they had the option to add in Juninho as well. If just one of them were Singaporean, Singapore would be the most obvious one man team around!

From observations over the years the playmaker is usually a midfielder. The anomaly would then be Beckenbauer who was a libero. But then again he started operations from midfield whenever he ventured forward but he was a classy midfielder all his life before taking up the libero position.

Its fairly typical of all teams to be so called a 'one man team' when there is a playmaker around; the playmaker has always been that one person who is heads & shoulders above the rest in terms of skill, tactical vision, game reading etc. So once he can stamp his authority on the game, he practically orchestrates the whole team. eg Platini, Maradona (esp so in 86), Scifo, Figo etc including Hoddle @ Spurs (my favorite English player)

Its a very common German tactic to snuff out playmakers. I watched a Euro cup final betn Bayern Munich & Porto back in the 80's - Bayern perpetually fouled Scifo. The 86 world cup final also showed the German's going after Maradona, but the Argies later switched tactics so instead of using him as a prime mover used him as a pawn to distract the Germans & let the other's exploit the Germans' distraction.

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Am I right to say that this happened because Vogts marked Cruyff so totally out of the game that the Oranje  lost their 'engine' & hence suffered a loss of 'edge' & ultimately their game direction?

I just wonder if Alumbrado's memories of 1996 are as good as his memories of the 1982 match at Wembley, with two goals by Jantje Peeters ...
The Orange team is not only one of the few to beat the Germans at home (East-Germany beat West-Germany in the opening match of 1974, goal by Jürgen Sparwasser), it also one of the few to beat the English at their home temple. I believe, Scotland managed to do the same once.
I clearly remember the infamous 1974 finals. I was on holiday in the Alsace and watched it with a German hotel guest. As a 12 year old boy, how I enjoyed the first couple of minutes, ultimate domination by the Dutch! And how I cursed Gerd Müller's goal! During the second half I slowly sank in despair, the Orange team not able to create real chances. With tears in my eyes, staring to the ground, I had to congradulate the German adult. Ah, those were the days.
Many years later I have reseen the match and now I have to admit, that on the whole the Germans in fact were better and deserved to win.
Last couple of years I have noticed, that the classical football countries are in trouble. Neither the Dutch, the Germans, the English nor the French play impressive lately. Will we see Argentina-Brasil in the finals next year?

Well, the dutch got lucky last time, in the euro ch 

Btw, Sweden is very near to being qualified for Germany next year thanks to Zlatan's impossible goal in Budapest. As Croatia only managed 1-1 with Malta, we now lead the group and a win in the last round against Iceland should secure at least a 2nd place with the best goal score, and a win or draw in Croatia before that would ensure a ticket to Deutschland...