The book is called How to Win the World Cup, but actually it’s harder to compete when you’re a host nation out of your depth…
The idea of a home World Cup being used as a watershed moment to beckon in a new era for a national team has become a more common strand in recent decades, with more emerging football nations earning automatic qualification for the finals as hosts.
South Africa went into the tournament as the lowest-ranked side to ever host the finals. At 83rd, the Bafana Bafana were drawn in a group alongside France, former champions Uruguay and regular qualifiers Mexico. Suddenly the fear was they would be humiliated in front of a global audience.
Hiddink’s plan was to drill his players in the months leading up to the tournament, focusing on fitness and instilling more self-belief in the South Koreans to give them an edge on the opposition. Both of those factors were critical as the Reds shocked the world to become the first-ever Asian semi-finalists, so it’s hard now to believe the Dutchman’s methods were questioned when he first took charge in 2001.
Expectations suddenly ballooned from pessimism to belief they’d not only win a match, but progress into the knockout phase. One win turned into two, turned into three, then turned into a semi-final against Germany. But for all that Hiddink and the players achieved, midfielder Park Ji-Sung believes what made the vital difference was being hosts.
“I explained my target was to bring through a new group of players. Because when a national coach creates his team, it’s coming from a minimum of 60 or 80 players, not from [only] 20 or 30. It’s coming from the players that are ready now, others that might be able to play in the next six months, and others that will be ready to play in three years… so that’s why I wanted to identify immediately who were the right people to respond to me at the right moment in four years’ time.
“Because my players weren’t big names or big stars, my attitude was that of a teacher, I imposed how I wanted to play. I was like the conductor of the symphony. I had my musicians, each one is unique – this one plays violin, this one plays guitar, this one plays drums. And me as the conductor… I adjusted the timing of each one.”
Belgique Dernières Nouvelles, Belgique Actualités
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