Rinus Michels, the coach of the 1974 World Cup runner-up Netherlands that dazzled with ''total soccer,'' died Thursday at 77 of complications from heart surgery.
Current Netherlands coach Marco van Basten, who starred on the Michels-coached 1988 European Championship-winning team, called Michels the ''father of Dutch soccer.''
After a playing career at Ajax Amsterdam, Michels coached Ajax to four league titles and the 1971 European Cup title. His two stints at Barcelona included a La Liga and Spanish Cup title. He also coached in Germany and for two seasons with the North American Soccer League's Los Angeles Aztecs (1979-80).
In his third stint as Netherlands coach, Michels, who served a U.S. Soccer Federation technical advisor in 1994-95, guided the Dutch to the semifinals of the 1992 European Championship.