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Guus Hiddink

Manager of the Russian National Football Team

Guus Hiddink (Cyrillic: Гус Хиддинк) was born on November 8th, 1946 in Varsseveld, Netherlands. Hiddink is a Dutch football (soccer) manager, currently a manager of the Russian national team. He managed PSV Eindhoven between 2002-2006. He is recognised for winning the treble with PSV Eindhoven, leading South Korea to a 4th place finish in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, managing the Netherlands into the same position in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, leading Australia to the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup—their first appearance in the tournament for 32 years. Hiddink took the managerial role of the Russian national team after the 2006 World Cup. He successfully led the the team to the semi-finals of the Euro 2008 tournament after beating the highly favored Netherlands 3-1, who had the most successful qualifying round of all teams participating in the tournament. He has several nicknames like "Hiddingu", "Aussie Guus", "Tsar Hiddink", "The Wizard", "Guus Geluk" (Dutch for Disney's Gladstone Gander) or "The Goose".

Contents

Playing Career

1967–1970 De Graafschap (Netherlands)
1970–1972 PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
1972–1976 De Graafschap (Netherlands)
1976 Washington Diplomats (North American Soccer League, now defunct)
1977 San Jose Earthquakes (North American Soccer League)
1978–1981 NEC (Netherlands)
1981–1982 De Graafschap (Netherlands)

Position: Midfield

Managerial Career

Overall

1982–1984 De Graafschap
1984–1987 PSV Eindhoven (assistant) (Domestic League Champions)
1987–1990 PSV Eindhoven (Domestic League Champions x 2, Domestic Cup Winners x 3, European Cup Winners)
1990–1991 Fenerbahçe
1991–1994 Valencia
1995–1998 Netherlands (4th Place, FIFA World Cup 1998)
1998–1999 Real Madrid (World Club Cup Winner)
1999–2000 Real Betis
2000–2002 South Korea (4th Place, FIFA World Cup 2002)
2002–2006 PSV Eindhoven (Domestic League Champions x 3, Domestic Cup Champions x 1)
2005–2006 Australia (Last 16, FIFA World Cup 2006)
2006–present Russia 

International Career

In 1995 Hiddink took over the managerial duties of the Netherlands national football team, a team of talented individuals continually racked by internal arguments and disputes. Hiddink held a firm grip on the team, for example in the Euro 1996 tournament when Edgar Davids was sent home after an argument with Hiddink. He was able to prevent further internal conflict in the 1998 FIFA World Cup where his team played some of the more entertaining football in that tournament. His usual 4-4-2 tactic of deploying wingers backed-up by central midfielders resulted in goals even by defensive midfielders such as Philip Cocu and Edgar Davids. A defeat at the hands of Brazil on penalties in the semi-finals of the World Cup 1998 signaled an end of another era for Hiddink, as he resigned as Dutch national coach soon after.

Hiddink's next post as international manager was in South Korea, a country that had competed in five straight World Cups and had yet to win a single match. South Korea was the host team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament along with Japan. It was an expectation at the World Cup that the hosts would progress to the second round of the tournament and it was clearly expressed that Hiddink's team was expected to perform to that standard as well.The decision to appoint a foreigner in the place of Huh Jung-Moo was received with the expected helping of suspicion in South Korea. A poor Confederations Cup in 2001 did not help Hiddink's cause, with a 5-0 mauling by world champions France a particular low-point. But that defeat marked a watershed for Hiddink. In preparation for the World Cup, he insisted that his side meet as often as possible and they did. The players spent the three months prior to start of the tournament together, and in that time Hiddink weaved his magic. Hiddink imbued his side with his Dutch footballing values and imposed the now familiar 3-5-2 formation. In the World Cup itself, the South Korean team achieved its first ever victory in the final stage (2-0, against Poland), and after a 1-1 draw with the USA and a further 1-0 victory against strongly-fancied Portugal, the South Korean team qualified for the second round, already realizing the hopes of the Korean nation. The second round opponents were Italy, who were defeated 2-1 after extra time in a game which recalled North Korea's victory over Italy in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, which ended up with Italy's 1:0 loss by Park, Doo-ik's goal from North Korea. The South Korea public then began to dream of a semi-final berth, which was attained on defeating Spain on penalties. The South Korean team's run was halted by Germany in the semi-finals. As with the Netherlands team four years before in France, Hiddink led his team into fourth place after a defeat to Turkey in the third place playoff. For the South Korean people, Hiddink had done a commendable job as football pundits had never expected success near approaching this scale.

As a result of his achievements in South Korea, Hiddink was given honorary South Korean citizenship.In addition other rewards soon followed - a private villa in Jeju island; free flights for life with Korean Airlines and Asiana Airlines, free taxi rides, and so forth.The World Cup stadium in Gwangju was renamed Guus Hiddink Stadium in his honor shortly after the World Cup.His hometown, where a Guuseum was set up, became a popular stopover for South Koreans visiting the Netherlands. The Guuseum is a museum established by his relatives, in Varsseveld, to honor Hiddink.

On July 22, 2005 Hiddink became manager of the Australian national team. He announced he would manage both PSV and Australia at the same time, fulfilling a clause in his contract that allows him to coach at both club and national level, but would leave both in mid-2006, after the World Cup finals.

In the play-offs held with Uruguay in Montevideo on November 12 and in Sydney on November 16, 2005, both home teams won 1-0. Australia went on to win 4-2 on penalties – the first time Australia had qualified for the finals in 32 years, and the first time that any team had qualified through winning a penalty shoot-out.

Hiddink was an extremely popular figure in Australia and was referred to affectionately as "Aussie Guus". A telling example of the public affection for him was the Socceroo fans chant of "Goooooooooooos!" during moments of play. Slogans for the Socceroos' World Cup campaign were "No Guus, No Glory", "Guus For Prime Minister" and "In Guus We Trust", as well as the play on words of the famous taunt "Guus your Daddy?". His reputation was enhanced by his transformation of the national side. He is credited with turning a team which conceded many goals under Frank Farina into a solid defensive unit which only conceded one goal away from home to both Uruguay and the Netherlands. Hiddink's assistants at Australia were Dutch legend Johan Neeskens and former Australian International Graham Arnold.

The Socceroos defeated the Japanese team 3-1 during their first game in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals, with Tim Cahill scoring 2 goals in the 84th and 89th minutes of the game and John Aloisi scoring 1 (92') to claim their first World Cup goals and victory ever. A dubious call by Egyptian referee Essam Abd El Fatah that awarded a goal to the Japanese team, despite an apparent foul to Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, had the Australians playing catch up until the last eight minutes. After scoring the first goal, Cahill was lucky to get away with a potential foul when he tripped Japan's Yuichi Komano who had dribbled into the Australian penalty area. The referee missed the incident, and Cahill then broke to score the second on the counter. FIFA's spokesman for refereeing Anderas Werz said that while Japan's first goal was irregular, the referee should also have given Japan a penalty. After full-time, Guus Hiddink remarked that "in the end justice was done in this game," and continued by saying "the referee will thank God for the result - it was a clear foul on the goalie."

Following the match against Japan and a subsequent 2-0 loss to Brazil, the Socceroos were left in the position of facing their final match against Croatia with the knowledge that a draw would put them through to the knockout stage of the FIFA world cup for the first time in their history. After a match fraught with controversy and erroneous decisions from English referee, Graham Poll (including an unprecedented three yellow cards given to the same Croatian player, ironically Australian-born and Australian soccer academy-trained Josip Simunic), they achieved this feat with a 2-2 draw.

In the second round, the Italian national team beat Australia 1-0. After sending off Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 55th minute, Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo, awarded Italy's Fabio Grosso a penalty kick eight seconds from the end of normal time after Lucas Neill was adjudged to have felled Grosso. The penalty was converted by Francesco Totti; this was to be the last play in the match. This put Australia out of the World Cup, marking the official end of Hiddink's tenure as Australia's national coach. Following the match, Hiddink commented: "You can have doubts about the penalty, it was questionable [...] We are very disappointed because we were so close. I think the only thing we can blame ourselves for is that we were not deadly enough in the area."

Manager of the Russian national team

On April 10, 2006 Hiddink announced on Dutch television that he would take over the Russia national football team. He signed a two and half year contract worth US$2.4 million a year plus bonuses, with an option for another two years, on April 14, 2006. His duties for Russia started after the 2006 World Cup, and the team's first match with Hiddink as coach was a friendly on 16 August 2006 against Latvia. Piet de Visser, a former head scout of Hiddink's club PSV Eindhoven and now a personal assistant to Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, recommended Hiddink to the Chelsea owner.

Russia's euro qualification hopes came in question after a 2-1 loss to Israel however after a win against Andorra, and England losing out to Croatia on the last match day, Russia and Hiddink managed to go through to the Euro 2008 tournament, where they have managed to reach the semi-finals. Hiddink signed a new deal keeping him with Russia until 2010.

On 21st June 2008, Hiddink led the Russian team to beat the Netherlands 3-1 in the European Championship Quarter-Final 2008 with two goals scored in extra time.

After clinching the semi-final spot, Hiddink was overcome with joy and pride for Russia's efforts in knocking his home nation out of Euro 2008 Hiddink spoke of his delight for the Russian team, but underlined his surprise at the team's newly found maturity and adeptness."I'm surprised by the way the players have quickly learned some international principles of the game," Hiddink said. "I'm not surprised by the skill, I knew that was tremendous. They can control, pass - they are skilful players."

Football fever swept across Russia ahead of the Euro 2008 semi-finals. Since Russia's wins over Greece, Sweden and Holland, two newborn babies have been named in honor of Russia's head coach. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that he wishes to honor Hiddink with Russian citizenship.The Russian press had dubbed Guus Hiddink a coaching wizard long before a magical sequence of results conspired to send his side to UEFA EURO 2008. Winger Yuri Zhirkov said: "What else can you call him, given that he has taken so many teams to World Cups and European Championships?"

On June 26, 2008 Russia's great run at the European Championships came to a disappointing end as they were beaten 3-0 by a slick and organised Spain side. 

In a match where Russia failed to recapture their attacking style crafted by playmaker Andrei Arshavin, Spain and Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas was the driving force after coming on as a replacement for injured David Villa. Xavi turned home Andres Iniesta's cross after 50 minutes and substitute Daniel Guiza converted a superb pass from Fabregas with 17 minutes left. Fabregas played in David Silva for a simple third after 82 minutes to cruise past Russia.

Despite the anticlimax in their team's defeat, a sense of positive and philosophical reflection set in for the Russian supporters.

'It was like a dream, but like any dream it must end sooner or later,' said one fan after the game. 'But we're still proud of our team and we're very proud of Guus Hiddink, our coach, for all that he has done for Russian football. I just really hope he stays in the job and continues his work, then next time we'll definitely come out on top.'

Following his team's defeat, Guus Hiddink commented that the pride his side can take from their impressive performances at Euro 2008 should serve them well for the challenges ahead, starting with the qualifying rounds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

"For us it's the end of the tournament and disappointment is in our heads tonight," the Dutchman said. "When our emotions have calmed down we will be able to say we are very proud at not just our results but at the way the boys have played in this tournament. I don't want to look for excuses but it shows we're short in the depth of Russian players we have."

In a tribute to the victorious Spanish side, Hiddink admitted his players had been found wanting when it mattered most. "Big teams know how to use their experience, and the longer a game goes on they know they have better qualities. It was new for Korea and it's new for Russia. If you can keep the score at 0-0 then it's OK but when you go 1-0 down, if you don't get an equaliser within ten or 15 minutes you have to open up, which makes it difficult to catch an experienced team."

In the wake of the defeat to Spain, Hiddink spoke of his team's need to relax and then focus in September on what will be mark the start of a testy World Cup qualifying. Russia will compete against Germany, Finland, Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein for qualification.

The vice-president of the Russian Football Union Sergei Kapkov has revealed that after Euro 2008 a contract with new terms will be concluded with Hiddink. According to Kapkov, Hiddink's role in the development of Russian football will not be limited to his managerial duties with the national team - he will play an important part in the modernization of the game in Russia, as well as in the development of  youth and children football programs.

Notable Achievements

1986-87 - Champions of Dutch Eredivisie Football League -- PSV Eindhoven
1987-88 - Winner of European Champion Clubs' Cup (now UEFA Champions League) -- PSV Eindhoven (the team's 1st and so far only time winning such trophy)
1987-88 - Champions of Dutch Eredivisie Football League -- PSV Eindhoven
1987-88 - Winner of Dutch KNVB Cup -- PSV Eindhoven
1988-89 - Champions of Dutch Eredivisie Football League -- PSV Eindhoven
1988-89 - Winner of Dutch KNVB Cup -- PSV Eindhoven
1989-90 - Winner of Dutch KNVB Cup -- PSV Eindhoven
1998 - Winner of the World Club Cup -- Real Madrid
1998 - FIFA World Cup, finished 4th place -- The Netherlands
2002 - FIFA World Cup, finished 4th place -- South Korea
2002-03 - Champions of Dutch Eredivisie Football League -- PSV Eindhoven
2004-05 - Champions of Dutch Eredivisie Football League -- PSV Eindhoven
2004-05 - Winner of Dutch KNVB Cup -- PSV Eindhoven
2005-06 - Champions of Dutch Eredivisie Football League -- PSV Eindhoven
2006 - FIFA World Cup, reached last 16 -- Australia
2008 - UEFA European Football Championship, last 8, match to be played 26-06-2008 vs. Spain, 20:45 CET -- Russia

Scandal

In February 2007 Hiddink was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined €45,000 after being found guilty of tax fraud by a Dutch court. Prosecutors had demanded a nine-month prison sentence for Hiddink, who was accused of evading €1.4 million in Dutch taxes by claiming to be a resident of Belgium from 2002 to 2003.

Related Sources

Sports.ru, Hiddink's Blog (In Russian)

Guus Hiddink Foundation

Argumenty i Fakty,  The Alluring Shine of Gold (What Soccer Legends Pele & Zidane think of Russian football team), June 25 2008 (In Russian)

ESPN.com, Russia take Hiddink's stock yet higher, June 22 2008