This year, there’ll be no World Cup for Guus Hiddink. The star Dutch coach has reluctantly turned down overtures from Ivory Coast. But he believes African countries can still go far. And what about the Netherlands?

It’s more or less football law that the country that wins the World Cup comes from the same continent as the tournament’s host. The only time in recent decades when this wasn’t the case was in the 2002 World Cup hosted by Japan and South Korea. Brazil went home with the trophy, but South Korea trained by Guus Hiddink surprised many by ending in the last four.

Turkey
Hiddink (63) had the opportunity to coach another ‘home’ side in the forthcoming World Cup to be staged in South Africa. Ivory Coast’s national team sacked its Bosnian trainer, Vahid Halilhodzic, last month. Hiddink was then approached by Ivory Coast’s star striker Didier Drogba who had worked with him at Chelsea last year.

Although tempted, Hiddink decided not to accept the offer. This summer, he is due to take over as coach of the national Turkish side and he found the combination too difficult. He stressed that his decision was not because he didn’t rate Ivory Coast’s chances. He thinks African teams have an advantage playing on their home continent and rates Ivory Coast as “a good outsider”.

“It’s true that everyone thinks that a South American team and a European team will play in the final. But I would not be at all surprised if, for example, Ivory Coast or another African country, find themselves in the semi-finals.”

Haggling
Hiddink describes African football as a feast for the eye and has praise for the players’ mental and physical resilience. He warns, however, about too much individual ‘haggling’.

Nigeria and North Korea have also shown interest in Hiddink leading them into the World Cup. Since 1998, he has guided the Netherlands, South Korea and Australia into the final 16 in the World Cup. In the 2008 European Championship, he trained the Russian squad which beat the Netherlands in the quarter finals.

His presence at the helm of one of the last 16 teams in the World Cup has become almost a matter of course. However, he sees one advantage in staying at home. “I’ll finally get to watch all the teams. If you’re taking part, you can’t manage it,” he explains.

Messi
Hiddink thinks it’s going to be an exciting competition, in which individuals could make all the difference. The names of Lionel Messi – Argentina’s latest football prodigy who plays for Barcelona – and other stars of the European leagues spring to mind. He says that the Netherlands can also call upon star talents:

“If the Netherlands does well, it’ll be because of its well organised defence. But as well, one person will make all the difference and that could be one of a number of players: Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and maybe even Ruud van Nistelrooij.”

Frustration
However, he sees the high Dutch hopes of World Cup victory as “an illusion that has held sway for decades and which we should always allow ourselves to have”.

“We will always expect that of the Netherlands, until we’re in with a chance and shoot ourselves in the foot again.”

In this, he is expressing a frustration shared by many Dutch fans. The Netherlands is always seen as a potential World Cup winner but seems doomed to slip up somewhere on the way to the final. Hiddink himself came close to success with the Dutch national squad in France in 1998. The Netherlands side was really impressive but lost the semi-final to Brazil on penalty points.