Hiddink seeks more big tournament success with Russia at Euro 2008

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Canadian Press
Monday, May 13 2008

Russia coach Guus Hiddink has a history of success at the World Cup. His only trip to the European Championship was one to forget.

Coaching his native Netherlands in 1996, Hiddink's talented squad was built around the young Ajax team that won the Champions League a year earlier.

But it crumbled on and off the field as tensions soared between white players and those of Surinamese descent, culminating in Edgar Davids being sent home for insulting Hiddink.

Now. the 61-year-old Hiddink has a chance to do at Euro 2008 what he has become famous for at the World Cup: take a rank outsider beyond what's expected.

He has already proved his worth to Russian soccer fans by qualifying from a group that included England and Croatia, even if Hiddink's team got a big assist from a faltering English team that failed to advance.

"You make your own luck," Hiddink wrote in a column. "We were unbeaten against Croatia - seen by many as a title favourite - and we won the all-or-nothing match against England (in Moscow)."

In Switzerland and Austria next month, Russia is in a tough group with defending champion Greece, Spain and Sweden.

If Hiddink lives up to his past performances, he should guide his team to the knockout stage.

After the debacle of Euro 96, when the Netherlands scraped through the first round before being eliminated on penalties by France, Hiddink managed to patch up differences between players. He took the Netherlands to the World Cup semifinals, winning matches and plaudits with attacking flair before losing to Brazil on penalties in Marseille.

The foundations for Hiddink's rise to international success had been laid a decade earlier, when he guided PSV Eindhoven to a European Cup title and a Dutch league crown.

Hiddink won two more league titles with PSV before moving overseas, first to Fenerbahce and then to Valencia, before taking over the Netherlands.

After his success at the 1998 World Cup, Hiddink took over at Real Madrid, but lasted less than a season before being fired. He also failed to make an impression at Real Betis.

Hiddink then became coach of South Korea and propelled the 2002 World Cup co-hosts to the tournament semifinals - the best showing ever by an Asian team at soccer's showcase tournament.

Hiddink's team beat Poland for its first World Cup victory, and then Portugal in the group stage before knocking out Italy and Spain. The South Koreans lost to Germany in the semifinals.

When soccer underachiever Australia started hunting for a coach capable of taking its team to the World Cup for the first time in more than 30 years, the list was very short.

Hiddink joined the Socceroos in 2005 and became another nation's sporting hero when he guided the team past Uruguay in a two-leg playoff to secure a berth at the 2006 World Cup.

Again exceeding expectations, and underscoring his ability to get the best out of teams, Hiddink guided Australia to the second round by beating Japan 3-1 - with three goals in the closing 10 minutes - and drawing with Croatia. The Socceroos' run was ended by a controversial penalty decision that gave Italy its only goal in the final moments of a 1-0 win.

Last year, Hiddink's biggest challenge came in a Dutch court, where he was convicted of tax evasion and given a fine and suspended six-month prison sentence.

Even in court, Hiddink forced a draw: He was convicted of filing a false tax return for January-August 2003, but acquitted of any wrongdoing in 2002.