Other reasons why Van der Kuijlen's international career never took off were frequent clashes between Van der Kuijlen, his PSV teammate Jan van Beveren and Cruyff. The feud between PSV players on one side and the Ajax and Feyenoord players on the other originated in the sixties, when Van Beveren criticised Cruyff's will to play for the Dutch team. In return, Van der Kuijlen and Van Beveren's reluctance to adapt to Cruyff's ways had led to harassment from the Ajax and Feyenoord players. One way was to keep passing the ball only between Ajax players in Dutch matches, leaving Van der Kuijlen out of the game. His biggest issue with Cruyff was the preferential treatment he would got from the coach, teammates and the Dutch FA. In 1975, the Dutch team was in training to prepare for a match against Poland. After Cruyff and his FC Barcelona-team member Johan Neeskens took the liberty to arrive a few days late for a Dutch team training camp, coach George Knobel paused the training just to welcome the two. Van der Kuijlen responded to this with: "“Here come the kings of Spain”". Angered, Cruyff approached Knobel, forcing him to choose between him and Van der Kuijlen. Knobel sided with Cruyff, resulting in Van der Kuijlen and Van Beveren leaving the team.