Holland coach: Marco van Basten
The former world-class striker, who won the European Championship as a player in 1988, has been in charge of Holland since July 2004 and led them to the second round of the World Cup and into Euro 2008 as runners-up in their qualifying group.
Van Basten received much criticism for Holland’s less-than-inspiring performances during the qualifiers and his stubbornness in team selection. The 43-year-old took the advice of his experienced players to change from a 4-3-3 system to a 4-2-3-1.
Will leave after Euro 2008 to join Ajax, the club he served as a player during the 1980s and as a reserve coach.
Have Holland progressed since the World Cup?
Yes. We have a good squad with international experience. But it’s still a young team, compared with our group opponents Italy and France, who’ve already played in a World Cup Final. So it’s going to be a hell of a job just to get out of the group.
Phillip Cocu did a very important job on the pitch. Now he has retired, who is doing that job?
It’s a pity Phillip is not here any more. But there are other players now taking the lead with talking about tactics.
So do you now have five or six key players, instead of one?
It varies from game to game. Sometimes it’s player A who is the leader of the group, sometimes it’s player B. They all have to get used to the fact that Van der Vaart is a leader at Hamburg, that Van Persie is an important player at Arsenal, Sneijder at
Real Madrid.
Why have you changed your system from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1, using two defensive midfielders?
You have to find the best tactics for the players you have available. Different games require different approaches. With this new system you have more options in the build-up. You have six defensive players who you can use to build up the game, instead of five. That makes it easier for the defence.
When you started as Holland coach, you said you wanted to make the team play attractive football. Have you succeeded?
In the last few qualifying games we had a lot of problems and there was a lot of criticism. If you play against Luxembourg, have 10 chances to score and at the end of the game it’s only 1-0 people are disappointed that Luxembourg came out and had a chance. But it’s part of the game.
So will people still expect you to win the European title?
It’s logical. If you ask the supporters of every country going to the finals the answer will be the same. Everybody wants to win, that’s the way it works.
How do you handle the fact that winning is not enough for the Dutch?
It depends on the game. If you play against Italy or France, then winning is enough. If you play against a smaller country, then sometimes you have to ask more from the players.
So are you still a romantic coach?
It’s good to have dreams, it’s good that you have an idea of the way you want to play and a way to get there. But at the same time you have to see the reality of the situation, I’m also a realistic person.
Is that something you picked up in Italy?
No, I just like to win. That’s what you have to have as a basis but if you have the chance, you have to try to attack and try to do something that’s nice. It’s better to create than to destroy.
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