Not Everyone Loves Guus Hiddink

August 2nd, 2006 | by: WC Bob |

He has won just about everywhere he has coached. He led South Korea and the Netherlands to the World Cup semifinals. This summer he helped Australia advance to the second round for the first time ever. Even with these impressive credentials, there are some in Russia who don’t think Guus Hiddink is the right man to lead the motherland to international glory.

Not surprisingly, those critics are other coaches, namely coaches born and raised in Russia. Our favorite criticism comes from former Russia manager Valery Gazzayev, who lasted an entire year at the helm of his country’s team.

“I strongly believe that being just a good coach is not enough to lead our national team,” said Gazzayev. “You must be a real patriot, thoroughly understand our national identity, character and traditions, and for that you must be born here.”

“This year I was invited to attend an elite coaching course by UEFA but I didn’t see Hiddink there,” Gazzayev said recently.

Ah yes, now we see. Since Hiddink wasn’t at a coaching course he is not an elite coach. That makes perfect sense.

You don’t think Gazzayev and the others are just a wee bit jealous of Hiddink and the $3 million per year he is being paid in part by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich now, do you?

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simon

of course they are jealous. idiots. A man that can make magic out of minnows so consistently has to have something in him to do so.
nicko

Hiddink’s success with South Korea and Australia was built around giving confidence to the players and encouraging them to play as a team and with pride for their country. Only someone who hasn’t seen his teams play could suggest they didn’t play with far patriotism.

As for his coaching skills, Hiddink is not perfect, his coaching style is very involved, he is a big fan of formations and imposes his will on the team (though admittedly his will is formed from what he thinks is best for the team). He teaches players to fit the formation and not the other way around. He is also a big fan of the element of surprise to disrupt the plans of the opposition, however this can backfire such as his selection of Kalac in Australia’s final group game. On the otherhand the potential reward for second tier players means that all players feel the need to impress so you don’t get secure lazy players developing

Because of Hiddink’s high level of involvement, his seemingly random acts of tactical brilliance, and the passion he shows on the sideline, with a few wins its easy for a personality cult to grow around him, however if Russia fails to perform, he’s also going to take a rapid fall.

oh and um, Hiddink is also up on some sort of tax fraud charges in Holland – I’m not sure if this works for or against him in Russia …
Adam Rupolo

Hahaha that Russian uy cracks me up… what a fine article.

Good luck Hiddink beating this guy out and perhaps actually taking Russia somewhere. But then again maybe he’d be happy with just being a PATRIOTIC and russian born crappy team :-P