Guus Hiddink has done it. Russia reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2008 after beating Sweden 2-0. Russia now faces the Netherlands, and you've got to believe that Russia will have a shot against the Dutch.
Obviously, Hiddink can manage. He took South Korea to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup and then got Australia to the second round of the 2006 World Cup. Now, he's got Russia in a position few picked them to be in.
South Korea, Australia, Russia... none of those teams have talent like the world's elite, but Hiddink works his magic there yet again.
Do you think Hiddink would get the US through to the second round or beyond at the World Cup? Do you think Hiddink could tap into the United States' potential? Or do you think Bob Bradley is the man to do both?
10 comments:
Well, it's almost certainly never going to be a choice the USSF will get to make--Hiddink has said over and over again that he's committed to Russia. So unless they fire him, he'll be with them through 2010.
But he'd be more likely than Bradley to get us out of the group stages.
Aside from his commitment to Russia, he'd be perfect. So of course it would never happen.
I don't thnk Bob Bradley is going anywhere, so I don't necessarily think that Guus has a chance of becoming US coach now. I just meant in a hypothetical situation.
l.b. I agree with your thinking that Hiddink is a great manager. I'd love to see him with Spurs in London going head to head with Scolari, Wenger and Ferguson. I'd love it even more if the USSF could sign him. It'd be their best investment to date.
It would make too much sense to hire a Hiddik type.
Gulati has a comfortzone issue that has to be addressed.
in the right group, the US could get into the knockout round...but it won't be because of Bradley.
I wasn't mad that they hired him permanantly because I think he is a good coach in many areas, but tactically he is pretty retarded for lack of a more elegant term.
The formation he rolled out against Barbados was exhibit A of that.
Basically; Hiddink can make a good team very good. Bradley can make a good team reamain good. That's the difference. Our success is solely based on who's playing not who's steering the ship right now.
Russia could have won 6-0 with all the chances they had.
Uh, he's not American. Where would the discipline come from? We need discipline. Bradley is very good at having a disciplined team. A poor, disciplined team is clearly better than a winning team coached by an undisciplined foreigner.
We need to stop hiring coaches who never played (Arena's one cap in goal does not count). Until we get someone who has played in a game that was not recreational in nature, we will always have issues like 2006.
Where would the discipline come from?
Uh, that's what whips are for...;D
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