Related News
Despite win, speculation rife over Hiddink’s Dutch future
Print Edition
SPECULATION over the future of Netherlands coach Guus Hiddink dominated the Dutch media yesterday even after Sunday’s comprehensive 6-0 win over Latvia revived the team’s Euro 2016 qualification campaign.
It was fuelled by the 68-year-old coach himself after the win in the Amsterdam Arena when he told reporters: “You can all go and enjoy yourselves speculating but I’m not saying anything. I remain in the service of the KNVB (the Dutch football association).”
He would not answer a question on whether would be on the bench when the Dutch resume their qualifying campaign at home to Turkey on March 28. “I’m only concerned about today,” he added.
Hiddink had said he would quit if the Dutch did not beat Latvia after they had lost two of their first three qualifiers, including an embarrassing defeat in Iceland last month. They also lost on Wednesday in a warm-up friendly at home to Mexico.
Hiddink, who replaced Louis van Gaal after the Dutch finished third at the World Cup in Brazil, is contracted until after the Euro 2016 finals in France after which his assistant Danny Blind takes over. But press speculation that he might move to another function within the association gathered momentum yesterday. “Hiddink should have explained more precisely yesterday. Now his statement ‘I remain in service’ hangs like a clammy mist,” wrote Algemeen Dagblad columnist Chris van Nijnatten.
Elsewhere, Italian police have arrested 16 Croatia fans for interrupting the Euro qualifier against Italy by throwing fireworks onto the field. Italy scraped through the match with a point.
Croatia hoped to protect an impressive unbeaten record against the Italians that stretched back to 1942 when the Azzurri beat the then Yugoslavia 4-0 in Genoa.
Instead, Croatia coach Niko Kovac spent most of the post-match period making apologies for the disruptive behavior of his country’s notoriously difficult fans.
“I want to say sorry for what happened with our fans,” said Kovac, a former captain of Croatia. “This is not football and it’s not a fair image of our country or our people.
With an impressive crowd of 66,222 fans inside a packed San Siro, Lazio midfielder Antonio Candreva got the hosts off to a great start in the 11th minute with his debut goal for the Azzurri. But four minutes later, Ivan Perisic put Croatia back on level terms.
Also, Norway won 1-0 in Azerbaijan, Malta picked up its first point with a 1-1 draw away to Bulgaria.
The Czech Republic went top of Group A with four wins out of four by beating Iceland 2-1. Turkey beat Kazakhstan 3-1 in Istanbul.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
