EURO 2008:
After winning as player, Van Basten is back for a challenge as coach

The Associated Press
Herald Tribune
Saturday, May 10 2008

Around this time two decades ago, Marco van Basten was a substitute on a team that had failed to qualify for the previous World Cup. His story shows that a man with talent should never lose faith.

By mid-1988, the Dutchman's name was on just about every soccer fan's lips because he scored some of the greatest goals in the history of the European Championship, leading the Netherlands to its only major soccer title.

Twenty years later, the orange army is still waiting for another trophy — and getting ever more anxious. But for Van Basten to lead the team to a second title, this time as a coach, would be just as much a surprise.

"You never know with us," the 43-year-old former striker said recently.

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Over the years, he has nurtured a mysterious smile that keeps everyone second-guessing, with good reason.

This year, the talk is centering on Dirk Kuyt, the unassuming, stocky forward who was instrumental with goals and stamina in bringing Liverpool to the brink of the Champions League final before an extra time loss to Chelsea.

With the Dutch league itself in a rut, coaches would crave a streaking player like that. Van Basten, though, is as coy as ever, even essentially making Kuyt beg for a spot on the national team.

"I hope that the coach keeps thinking of me," Kuyt said. "It is not easy for Van Basten."

Being a coach of "Holland" is never easy. Blame Johan Cruyff.

He led a supremely talented team in the 1970s that dazzled the world at the 1974 World Cup with play as frivolous as it was lethal.

"Oranje" was that good it was considered an upset when Franz Beckenbauer's West Germany beat them in the final, even though the Germans played at home. It is still considered the best team never to have won the World Cup.

It is a distinction the Dutch wear with pride, and as a result every coach is measured by two benchmarks: winning, and playing beautiful soccer. Brazil is the only nation to meet both standards with stunning regularity.

For Oranje, there has been one exception, and it was Van Basten that made sure it happened in 1988.

He came off the bench in the opening game of that tournament, went on to score three against England, added the deciding goal in the semifinals against West Germany and, to cap it off, sent a dipping volley out of nowhere from an impossibly tight angle to finish off the Soviet Union in the final.

From then on, he was considered second in his country only to Cruyff. But hobbled by ankle injuries, he seemingly set off into a golden sunset in 1995 to play golf the rest of his life.

Surprisingly, he picked up coaching in 2002, and after Dick Advocaat was hounded out of his job following an unsuccessful Euro 2004, the nation turned to "San Marco," as he is affectionately known.

Qualifying for the World Cup in Germany was a cinch and people believed in the magic of their coach. But during the tournament, Van Basten suddenly criticized striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and sidelined him for the second-round game against Portugal.

That game turned into everything Van Basten never stood for as a player: a brutal, sneaky foul-fest where Dutch strikers were totally ineffective while Van Nistelrooy languished on the bench.

Many have doubted Van Basten's coaching credentials since, but he blamed it on inexperience of a young squad.

Now, he will have no such excuses.

"Over the past four years, we have been able to create a reasonably tight team," Van Basten said.

Now it has to start producing in the toughest group of the tournament, playing World Cup champion Italy, runner-up France and Romania in the first round.

Win or lose, there is no point in pondering Van Basten's future. He already signed to become Ajax coach as of next season.