The former AC Milan player was rumoured to take over the Oranje coaching job following the departure of Bert van Marwijk, but the Heerenveen coach has now denied returning to the National team bench.
SC Heerenveen head coach, Marco van Basten, has mooted all speculation linking him with the Netherlands coaching job, which is vacant after the departure of Bert van Marwijk.
The 60-year-old tactician, who took the reins of the Oranje from Van Basten in 2008, stepped down from his coaching position in the aftermath of his side’s humiliating elimination from the Euro 2012 group stages.
Despite entering the competition as one of the favourites to emerge victorious in Poland and Ukraine, the Flying Dutchmen failed to impress and finished at the bottom of the Group B after suffering three defeats in a row at the hands of Denmark, Germany and Portugal.
Van Basten, who remained in charge of the Oranje for four years before leaving the managerial hot seat in 2008, confessed that the team’s reputation has severely damaged following their disappointing exit at European Championship.
Although, many were naming the former Ajax Amsterdam boss to take the reins of Netherlands, he denied returning to coach the Oranje while insisting that he is happy to be at Heerenveen.
“I'm at Heerenveen now and I'm happy here. Who should be the new [Netherlands] coach? I don’t think about it. I've got my work here at Heerenveen and it's not up to me”, Van Basten was quoted as saying to AD.nl.
The Dutch mentor went on to stress that he does not want to relive the Flying Dutchmen’s disastrous campaign in Poland and Ukraine.
“The Euros went badly and was not good for Netherlands but I don't think about it too much. Everyone’s already said something about it and I don't want to talk about it too much”, Van Basten concluded.
The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) are looking for possible candidates to lead Netherlands with Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Louis van Gaal tipped to be the leading contenders for the job.
The Oranje will return to action against Belgium on August 15 in an international friendly fixture.
No comments:
Post a Comment