BBC SPORT | Euro 2008 blog

Hiddink continues to set new standards

John Sinnott
25 Jun 08, 11:20 AM

London

If Andrei Arshavin has become the star player of Euro 2008, then Guus Hiddink easily walks away with the coach award.

Having already guided Holland and South Korea to World Cup semi-finals and suffered an agonising defeat to eventual winners Italy as Australia boss in 2006, he has now steered Russia to the last four of a major tournament.

To get an idea of what makes the 61-year-old Hiddink tick, I spoke to Arthur Numan, who played under the Dutchman at both Euro 96 and the World Cup two years later. Numan says the problems Hiddink experienced at the European Championship in England 12 years ago were key to his development as a coach.

"Hiddink's achievements are remarkable," said the former Rangers defender. "The teams he has had success with have had completely different styles and different mentalities, but he has got them all to work really well.

Hiddink has a close bond with his players

"It is not luck. It is quite an achievement. The key is his ability to work with the group. He knows when to put an arm round the shoulder and when to give the kick up the backside."

But even Hiddink struggled to cope with the disharmony which plagued the Dutch at Euro 96.

"The Dutch camp had a lot of problems as regards the relationship between Ajax players," explained Numan. "Edgar Davids was sent home and things were so bad I was glad to get home when we were knocked out by France in the quarter-finals. That's a terrible thing to say, but it's true.

"Hiddink learnt a lot from that experience because two years later in France the atmosphere was fantastic. So much so that we felt we could become world champions. There was a good competitive spirit in the camp."

Numan told me that Hiddink treated the players with respect.

"He knew instinctively when to give us a rest," he said. "We were based near Monaco and twice he let us out to socialise and have a few drinks. He told us he trusted us but he was also clever he that he warned us the next day we would have two training sessions, so we knew we would suffer if we drank too much."

Numan said Russia's transformation under his countryman has been nothing short of staggering.

"What he has done with Russia in the two weeks since that defeat to Spain is incredible," he said. "Then they gave away stupid goals. But the team has learnt from that and are now very well organised.

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"Russia have been wonderful to watch. They have two overlapping full-backs and will always have two midfielders breaking into the box. What I also noticed from the win over Holland was how physically strong they were. Russia are a team that wants to attack and entertain.

"Most of the players are all playing in the Russian league and the national side have replicated the success Zenit St Petersburg have had. I've spoken to Zenit's manager Dick Advocaat (another Dutchman) and he says the players are great to work with. They want to learn and are ready to listen.

"The players are very humble and treat the manager with a lot of respect. That's very different from Holland, where all the players have an opinion about everything. In Holland, the player culture is very different."

The Dutch did their best to out on a united front at Euro 2008 but could still not find a way past Hiddink. Now the test for the Russia coach is to reach the final and win it.

John Sinnott is a senior broadcast journalist at BBC Sport Interactive. Please check our FAQs if you have any questions.

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Comments

1. At 12:51pm on 25 Jun 2008, the_disenchanted wrote:
I'm very happy to see the Russian team still in the tournament. They played much better against Spain than the rsult shows. The Spaniards won't have another 'easy' win against this young and eager team. Hiddink (aka The Fox) forbid.

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2. At 2:30pm on 25 Jun 2008, ya_dafty wrote:
And to think - the FSA wanted to put him through an interview process. His agent at the time said "either offer him the job or don't".....

The men in suits will always hold England back - not that England might win anything...

Hiddink - top coach and proven...

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3. At 2:40pm on 25 Jun 2008, davebest2001 wrote:
I can see Hiddink getting the Man United or Chelsea job in a year or two. Might be sooner if and when Big Phil makes a mess of the Chelsea gig

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4. At 3:26pm on 25 Jun 2008, pburner wrote:
Hit the nail perfectly on the head there ya_dafty

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5. At 3:40pm on 25 Jun 2008, Kuca79 wrote:
Russia is my Team of the Tournment
and all the player have been amazing from the GK to the Striker.

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6. At 3:42pm on 25 Jun 2008, Mharlon-Bhrando wrote:
Brazil's Women's Beach Volleyball Team are my team of the moment :-)

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7. At 4:36pm on 25 Jun 2008, vince_vega87 wrote:
The only thing that has been a revelation to me in this tournament with regards to Arshavin is that the scouts working for most european clubs are a bunch of useless know-nothings. The man's been player of the season in the Russian league, has performed extremely well in the uefa cup in the last few seasons and, when called up, played well for the national side (some of our previous coaches were had various conflicts with him which is why he wasnt around in the previous tournaments). The key question here is not if he is coming to the premiership or La Liga now, its why exactly are these big clubs basing their transfer policy on a small number of games in such a big competition where any half-wit can tell a good player from a bad one, rather than carefully scanning the russian market for talent. You got only yourselves to blame if he goes to Spain or Italy now.

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8. At 4:58pm on 25 Jun 2008, psjajl wrote:
What on earth is John Sinnot talking about when he says in his blog that,
'If Andrei Arshavin has become the star player of Euro 2008, then Guus Hiddink easily walks away with the coach award.'
Granted Arshavin is the star player of the tournament but how can you just assume that Hiddink takes the managers award. I mean look what Terim has done for Turkey -a fantastic motivator, getting his players to perform above themselves. Or Aragones - despite all the criticism in Spain he has done a remarkable job in getting his team near the final for the first time in decades. Lowe of Gemany has also been mightily impressive in masterminding the tactical victoy against Portugal. Yes Hiddink has done a vey good job but lets judge this coachs award after the tournament has actually finished, rather than making a premature and hasty decision. It's not rocket science Sinnot.

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9. At 8:23pm on 25 Jun 2008, pinnicleoffruit wrote:
He has done well, but russia are a good side.

Did you know he apparently had the south korean team for 6 months straight before the world cup, which must have helped.

Hasnt won much though.

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10. At 9:55pm on 25 Jun 2008, maldiniforzamilano wrote:
re; pinnicleoffruit

how about a european cup (probably before you were born) with eindhoven. he took real madrid to the intercontinental and south korea, australia, a disorganised holland and russia do not necessarily need to win to be considered successful as they are not favourites for anything.

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11. At 07:39am on 26 Jun 2008, emekaisyourfriend wrote:
re: pinnicleoffruit

Maybe I say this as a naive Arsenal fan starved of silverware over the last three years, but football must be viewed holistically.

While it is important to look at trophies won, intangibles such as style of play, integrity, and magnanimity are for me, and I'm sure many others, important factors when one considers what is successful.

The Dutch side of the 70s never won anything, but that hasn't detracted from their legend.

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12. At 11:06am on 26 Jun 2008, giantnornironman wrote:
hiddink is the best at international managemnt but there is no way spain will lose there amuch better team senna should take arshavin out of the he has 1 of spains best players

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