The Hindu : Sport / Football : ‘We knew Hiddink would stay’

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‘We knew Hiddink would stay’

LEOGANG (Austria): Guus Hiddink looks certain to spend another two years trying to bring about a revolution in Russian football now that Luiz Felipe Scolari has been confirmed as Chelsea’s new coach.

Hiddink has a contract with the Russian football federation until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and repeatedly said that he was not interested in coaching the London club. That did not stop observers linking his name with the Chelsea job after Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant lost their jobs.

At least Hiddink’s players at Russia’s camp in the Austrian Alps were not surprised when Scolari was unveiled as the new Chelsea coach.

“We knew for a long time that Hiddink would stay, because he renewed his contract until the next World Cup,” Roman Shirokov said on Thursday.

Continuity

The Zenit St. Petersburg defender said having Hiddink at the helm for two more years would give the team crucial continuity as it attempts to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa.

Russia has been through eight coaching changes since it began playing as an independent nation in 1992, following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

“When you have the same coach for several tournaments it helps him prepare the team in a better way. It’s better than what it was before when the coaches were always changing and they had no time to prepare the team. Now, Hiddink has time and it will help him prepare.”

Hiddink, who was appointed in 2006 as Russia’s first-ever foreign coach, can now concentrate on modernising the way the country plays football.

Judging by Spain’s 4-1 thrashing of Russia in its first match of Euro 2008 in Innsbruck, he still has some way to go. Hiddink wants to teach the team to play “a more modern football where it’s important when we don’t have possession of the ball that every player is defending.”

When he took over Australia ahead of the 2006 World Cup, the team was known for playing attractive football but giving away goals.

Hiddink transformed the Socceroos into a team of defensive misers that only conceded one goal in a home-and-away qualification play-off with Uruguay that Australia eventually won on penalties in Sydney — securing a World Cup place for the first time in 32 years. — AP

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