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Guus gives us the runaround
By Jacqui Oatley
I have a confession to make. I'm starting to feel like a stalker. Don't
get me wrong, I'm not hiding round corners waiting for players to come
past before jumping out on them with a microphone at the ready.
Our work as a roving TV crew is perfectly ethical, but, as the tournament's
progressed, it just feels like we've needed a little more stamina, patience
and ingenuity of late to get the job done.
In the group stage, there were 16 teams spread over two different countries.
There were two games per day, and interview opportunities and stories
were bountiful. As 16 became eight, then four and now two, our potential
victims - I mean interview targets - have narrowed accordingly.
Hence a two-day chase for a few words of wisdom from one of the world's
most respected coaches, Guus Hiddink, before Russia's semi-final with
Spain.
Hiddink is a fascinating character with an abundance of experience and
success. Taking Russia to the last four here is just the latest notch
on his footballing bed-post, though qualification was ultimately achieved
thanks to "that" victory by Croatia at Wembley. Moving quickly on...
Hiddink's career successes have come in different packages. He led his
homeland, the Netherlands, to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup and
took South Korea to the same stage in 2002 - an outstanding achievement.
As well as numerous club successes, he has now won even more plaudits
here, particularly after Russia's obliteration of the much-fancied Dutch.
Hence the reason we were really keen to chat with him. There was so much
to talk about - give the chance...
We went to Russia's training session at Austria Vienna's ground and filmed
for as long as we were allowed to. Then news filtered through that Hiddink
had cancelled his scheduled interviews afterwards. Cue plenty of "Mein
Gotts" and worse from irate journalists, some of whom had travelled long
distances.
What about back at the hotel, we thought? We were staying at the same
place as the Russian squad and returned to find Hiddink sitting in the
bar, puffing on a rather large cigar. The lads set up the camera on the
off-chance he'd agree, but it was gone 9pm and he was tired, so he told
the Russian press officer he'd give us five minutes after the news conference
the next day. We were grateful, but concerned we were running out of time.
The press conference proved to be manic. Hundreds of journalists and countless
TV crews from all over the world descended on the media centre at the
Ernst Happel Stadium to hear Hiddink's thoughts on the semi-final against
Spain. Having answered questions from the floor, he was shepherded through
the media scrum and out of the room. We were served with an abrupt "no
chance" from the press officer when we asked again.
After training, Hiddink appeared briefly in the interview area but recoiled
when he saw all the cameras, announcing: "I'll only do Dutch TV". He did
- and scarpered.
Blimey, this was proving to be a tricky operation. Hiddink was a wanted
man, but we were not going to give up just yet. We decided to give it
one last try back at the hotel that evening. We walked through the entrance
to see him surrounded by friends and a large bottle of white wine. Oh
dear. We wanted to ask him to do the interview before he tucked into it,
but our Jon had to set up the camera, lighting, etc first.
A few minutes later, Hiddink got up from the table and headed towards
the lifts. As I walked over to try to speak to him he took a call on his
mobile. Ten minutes later, he finished his conversation to be confronted
by a group of fans wanting autographs and photographs. He looked agitated
and was sweating profusely.
I bided my time and eventually was able to have a word. The look on his
face suggested I shouldn't even bother asking, but I'd always rather be
told to sling my hook than not enquire at all. Fortunately, he agreed
to come over and talk to us but was adamant it should be over and done
with as quickly as possible.
He sat down, clipped on his microphone and again insisted he wanted it
to be over with quickly but seemed to relax a great deal once we started
talking football. He answered my questions in full, giving his thoughts
on Spain and their counter-attacking style of play, telling me they'd
have to change if they were to win the tournament.
He also went on to talk about the "challenge" of managing man-of-the-moment
Andrei Arshavin, as well as his own footballing philosophy and how it
tends to bring him success in different cultures. He also spoke of his
fascination with the Premier League but said he doesn't know what his
future holds beyond 2010, when he's due to end his spell with the Russia
team.
I could have spent an entire evening talking football with this man but
was simply grateful for the few minutes he gave us. Especially the night
before the semi-final.
We all know what happened next. A step too far for Arshavin and co, crushed
in the second half by a superior and classier Spanish outfit. But the
wily Hiddink will be back, his next challenge being to take on Germany,
Wales etc in the World Cup qualifiers.
Perhaps after that he may choose to enhance his already fulsome CV with
a stint in England or possibly with the England team, in which case he'll
be leading a whole gaggle of journalists on a wild Guus chase. Sorry....couldn't
resist.
BBC.co.uk,
28 Jun 08
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