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Holland's Rijkaard too hard on himself
Posted: Friday June 30, 2000 05:40 PM
"I take my responsibility, and I am always very hard on myself. That's my character and I think it is the right way... I didn't reach my goal, so it is time to step aside and make a place for somebody else." So spoke Frank Rijkaard on the day after his Dutch team had surrendered to Italy in a one-sided penalty shootout, in which Holland handed the Italians a place in the European Championship final on a plate. Rijkaard had previously inspired his men to four straight Euro 2000 victories, including a sensational 3-2 win over finalist France in the group phase and a 6-1 thrashing of Yugoslavia in the quarterfinal. But he reasoned that since his team is no longer in contention for the big prize, he is an abject failure. So, should he have fallen on his sword so quickly? I think not. Obviously, by his own high standards, winning is everything, a premise that brought him more than his fair share of medals in his illustrious playing days. As an international coach however, outright victory is more often than not impossible. But that doesn't mean you can't be a success in defeat. Besides, as was demonstrated so embarrassingly in the semifinal, once the players cross the touchline, the outcome is not really in the coach's hands. When you're standing helpless by the dugout with the ball on the penalty-spot there isn't a lot you can do as you wait for any one of a number your multimillion dollar stars to hit the target from just 12-yards. All the coaching in the world couldn't have influenced the way Frank de Boer, Jaap Stam and Paul Bosvelt responded to the pressure of the penalty shootout. It was simply beyond Rijkaard's control. What's more, it's not as if he'd done a bad job as coach. Before Thursday's semifinal debacle, Holland hadn't lost in 12 games. In fact, the Dutch had peaked at the perfect time, playing some of the most attractive and successful attacking football of the tournament. The fact that they ultimately failed against the Italian masters of negative tactics did not suddenly turn the Dutch into a bad team. They were just beaten in a freakish lottery situation by a team whose sole purpose throughout the entire 120 minutes of open play had been avoiding a loss -- a tactic that inevitably presented the Dutch with far fewer chances than if they'd been playing a team that wanted to win.
Naturally, it was a huge letdown for every Dutchman. Home-field advantage and the thought of shaking an uncomfortable reputation as perennial underachievers had got the Dutch on an expectant high. Rijkaard himself didn't openly share that optimism, of course. Instead he seemingly opted for caution, constantly saying at every news conference I attended that he would take each game as it came and not underestimate any opponent. Behind the cliches, however, Frank had obviously set his heart on the trophy, like the rest of his countryman, and it was win or bust. That is, however, a great shame for Holland. In Rijkaard, they had a young coach, just 37, who had the affection and respect of all his players. In a nation whose international footballers have continually made headlines in the past over internal squabbling and vicious sniping, Rijkaard produced a harmony and a unity within the squad that Dutch football has rarely seen. In addition, he created that team spirit with more or less the same bunch of players who'd often been at each other's throats under his predecessor. With the European qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup set to begin in the next few weeks, this, in my opinion,, was not a time for a new beginning under a new coach, but instead a time to consolidate under the old one.
Granted, Euro 2000 was the last hurrah for some of the Dutch players, such as Dennis Bergkamp. But in a country that prides itself on its youth system, there are likely younger men coming through. And I'm sure Rijkaard was the man to mould them. As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And under Frank Rijkaard I believe that Holland could have gone from strength to strength.
Terry Baddoo is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International. Baddoo is part of the World Sport crew that is in the Netherlands and Belgium covering Euro 2000.
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