Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Will Guus Hiddink be learning Russian?

Update on the story here and here.

Local media in Russia is reporting that Guus Hiddink (pictured) or fellow Dutchman Dick Advocaat will take over the Russian national team following the World Cup.

The country’s soccer chief Vitaly Mutko had made it clear he wants a foreign manager.

“I had talks with three top foreign coaches and two of them have agreed to coach Russia,” Mutko said, adding that he would make up his mind by the end of the month.

“The problem is that most top coaches have contracts at least until the World Cup, so we may have to wait a bit to make an official announcement.”

Hiddink has had more then his fare share of luck in the World Cup has he has led both the Netherlands in '98 and South Korea in '02 to the semi-finals. This time out, he is coaching the Socceroos of Australia (a job he only took over last July).

He is also currently coaching PSV Eindhoven.

Dick Advocaat is trying to follow up Hiddink's 2002 South Korean success with some of his own as he will coach the side in Germany. Advocaat has also done some time as coach of the Dutch national team, PSV Eindhoven and the Rangers. He had success with all these teams (although his final days with the Rangers were not his best).

Either of these coaches would be a huge get for Russia, but I think Hiddink is the better of the two. The team seems to be a good setup for him (good players with no huge standouts), but will he go for it?

If he does, I guess that will kill off, at least for a short time, the speculation that he might take over the US should the Bruce elect to walk away after the Cup.

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