Bert keeps harmony in camp
AFTER almost a month in camp, tensions always arise. It’s one of the marks of a top-line coach that he can see it coming, and keep the harmony.
Bert van Marwijk had plenty of practice in 2010, with a Dutch squad full of little fissures that he still managed to lead to the World Cup final.
Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie didn’t remotely see eye to eye. The coach’s son-inlaw, Mark van Bommel, was not only a big personality but from PSV Eindhoven — several others were from rival Ajax.
The Socceroos of 2018 have nothing like those rivalries, and are genuinely united in pursuit of a place in the knockout stages.
Yet coop together any group of alpha males for four weeks, with a routine of training, eating, treatment and PlayStation, and fractiousness is always a risk.
This is where van Marwijk’s experience comes in, with situations that no coaching manual covers.
“There are no rules,” van Marwijk said. “When I went with Holland to the World Cup, Dutch people are even more strange and difficult.
“We both are open, Australian and Dutch, but [the Dutch] are spoilt already. We think it’s boring already after one day [in camp]. And the first one who said it was myself. When I was a player, I was always complaining, about everything.
“I told the Holland players in 2010, we will get bored. But we have to win the World Cup, we have to work together.
“So first you have to choose a hotel where things you mentioned [like players getting bored] will not happen so soon. The other thing is, it’s best to say it, that’s my experience.”
By that, van Marwijk means honesty when issues arise. If the end goal is clear, people of clashing personalities can work together.
“When we learn to respect each other’s qualities, then you don’t have to sit together the whole day.
“I know people who hate each other but can work together. I met two female rowers at the Olympics, they hated each other, they told me. They sat together and looked each other in the eyes and said: ‘ When we want to win gold, we have to co-operate, work together.’
“They won gold and they still hate each other.”