the mentality was: ‘as long as you’re
committed, it’s enough’. I told them
that it wasn’t enough. There wasn’t
a good balance of technical qualities
and physical condition, and if you’re
over-committed, you can go over
the top. I slowed that down a bit and
encouraged them to think more about
football-minded solutions in games.
Where does taking Australia to the
2006 World Cup, and the knockouts,
rank on your list of achievements?
And just how dirty was the play-off
against Uruguay? All sorts went on...
Alex Watson, via Facebook
After we qualified for the play-off, the
first thing I asked my backroom staff
was whether they could provide me
with information on their previous
experience of playing Uruguay [in the
qualifiers for 2002]. It seemed there
was a detailed report about it, and one
thing I noticed was how our players
had been really drained and held up
on several occasions in Montevideo,
where they’d been preparing for five
days. For example, they couldn’t get
onto the training pitch as the gate key
had suddenly gone. Or they were kept
awake in the hotel until 4am. It meant
that on the fifth day, the players were
exhausted. They had also arrived from
Australia on different scheduled flights,
which didn’t help. So, I made sure we
got a chartered flight via our airline
sponsor. Initially I was told it was too
expensive, but I said, “You want to go
to the World Cup, right?” We travelled
on this huge aircraft with all kinds of
equipment. I also told the board that
I wanted the training camp to be in
Buenos Aires, a 20-minute flight away
from Montevideo, meaning we flew to
Uruguay only a day before the match.
During the game, the Uruguayans
didn’t play too dirty – but don’t forget
that Australians can take a knock and
dish them out as well! We lost 1-0 but
we had the best possible recovery for
the second leg, as I arranged for us to
fly back immediately after the match.
The Uruguayan federation requested
to join us but I said, “That’ll be difficult,
as we’re completely full.” I’d heard that
they held up flights for the Australians
in 2002, so I asked my organiser if he
could book up all flights from Uruguay
to Australia, then cancel them just
before. It meant players from Uruguay
probably had to travel separately, so
they’d arrive slightly groggy. I’m not
entirely proud of it, but we did it. They
got a taste of their own medicine! You
wouldn’t do it otherwise.
It was a very exciting night. Uruguay
had a really good team and in the first
half had chances to score, but didn’t –
we went through on penalties.
What went through your mind when
Graham Poll dished out three yellow
cards for Josip Simunic during the
Australia-Croatia group game?
Sean Li-wen Cheong, via Facebook
I only realised afterwards. It was very
confusing, but we made it to the next
round nevertheless. In the last 16, we
faced Italy and conceded a penalty in
the 93rd minute after a dive from Fabio
Grosso. Lucas Neill didn’t touch him. It
wouldn’t have happened nowadays
with VAR, but I accept it. That night we
had a farewell dinner with the squad.
Everyone was on time, but then I told
my staff to wait for a little bit. Thinking
back to our first dinner, I deliberately
arrived 10 minutes late, wearing a cap,
flip-flops, Bermuda shorts and a ripped
shirt. Everyone loved it. That was such
a nice group of guys and we worked
really well together.You were put on a stamp in Australia,
are an honorary citizen of both Seoul
and Eindhoven, have a club mascot
named after you at De Graafschap,and received a lifetime achievement
award from the Royal Dutch Football
Association. Which of those honours
is the best? It’s the stamp, right?
Carl Anderson, Melbourne
[Laughs] They’re all great! The honorary
citizenship of South Korea is pretty
exceptional, as they’ve only awarded
it to a few people. But the thing which
has given me the most satisfaction is
the foundation that we started there.
The initial ambition was to establish
football pitches for blind children in all
of the World Cup cities, and there are
something like 30 pitches today, also
in other places. Now the foundation
is focused on helping disadvantaged
people requiring leukaemia or eye-lenssurgery. While the foundation bears
my name, my girlfriend, Liesbeth, has
done a lot for it. She said, “Now you’re
very well-known here, you have to give
something back.” When I’m working
somewhere, she blends with the local
society, meets people, then sometimes
discovers things you won’t often come
across in the so-called ‘perfect society’.Having taken Russia to the Euro 2008
semi-finals, how disappointing was it
to miss out on the 2010 World Cup?
Benjamin Clark, via Facebook
That was such a great pity. We lost the
second play-off game 1-0 to Slovenia,
when a draw would have taken us to
the tournament, so the second phase
was disappointing as we didn’t make it
to South Africa. But overall I look back
with fondness. We did very well at the
Euros, beating England in qualifying
and then reaching the semis, which
was a fantastic achievement. We had
a really good team, with players like
Andrey Arshavin and Yuri Zhirkov who
later ended up in the Premier League.YOU ASK
HIGHS & LOWS
HIGH: 1988
Leads PSV to European Cup glory
in his first full managerial seasonLOW: 1996
Oversees Netherlands’ bitter Euros
campaign as infighting takes overHIGH: 2002
Takes co-hosts South Korea on
stunning run to World Cup semisLOW: 2006
Heartbreak with Australia as
Italy net late, late last-16 winnerHIGH: 2009
Becomes Chelsea boss in February
and guides Blues to FA Cup gloryClockwise from above
Taking the Socceroos on
a soccer cruise; it’d be
their first (and last) trip
to a World Cup knockout
stage; Hiddink’s record
in his first Chelsea spell
read P23 W17 D5 L1;
Holland’s new coaching
team, or the hottest
Dutch sitcom of 2014?;
success bossing Russia10 June 2022 FourFourTwo