Advocaat picked to rescue Holland
Zeist, (Netherlands), May 9: Dick Advocaat has been named coach of The Netherlands for a third time aiming to kick them into shape fast and save their World Cup hopes, with Ruud Gullit as his assistant.
Advocaat, 69, and Dutch legend Gullit have signed contracts until the end of the year, the football federation said on Tuesday, admitting it was “a shortterm” rescue mission.
Disciplinarian Advocaat returns for a third stint in charge, taking over from Danny Blind, who was sacked in March after the Dutch were beaten 2-0 by Bulgaria.
The shock defeat left the once-proud Dutch clinging to only the slimmest of hopes of reaching the World Cup finals in Russia next year.
Hans van Breukelen, the Dutch federation’s (KNVB) technical director, told reporters at an at-times heated press conference that the KNVB had wrestled with “two scenarios”.
“Either we decided to go with a long-term solution or we did everything we could to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“We decided to go for the second option and therefore we needed an experienced trainer, someone with authority.”
Advocaat, who has also coached the UAE, South Korea, Russia as well as briefly Serbia and Belgium, previously managed the Dutch national side from 1992 to 1994 and 2002 to 2004.
The Netherlands, threetime World Cup runnersup, have endured a tough time in recent years, failing to qualify for Euro 2016 in France and now facing the prospect of being a humiliating World Cup no-show.