Tough Days Ahead, With Hiddink To Focus On Fitness
The Age
Saturday May 27, 2006
GOD, or the devil, may be in the detail, but it is the little things that will occupy the thoughts of Socceroo coach Guus Hiddink the most as he and his team complete the journey from Melbourne to Europe for the next stage of their World Cup assault.
To a greater or lesser extent, all coaches like to leave nothing to chance, but the Dutchman is, by his own admission, something of a control freak.Control is a word he uses constantly, especially in reference to his own team."I like us to have control of the ball, to have control of the situation, both offensively and defensively, I like us to have control of the tempo," he said.The possession game may be anathema to the die-hards of the AFL, but for devotees of soccer, it is a mantra. If you retain possession and do not allow your opponents to have the ball, they cannot hurt you. Simple.Hiddink's game plan is a mixture of simplicity and complexity. Simple effort, in which the opposition is denied time and space to exercise any creative threat, must be allied to technique, and skill and pace utilised to carve out openings that should be converted clinically.The Dutchman has a cerebral image, but underpinning his whole philosophy is a complete commitment to physical preparation. He knows that it is impossible to play the fast, pressing mobile game he demands without being in "top, top, top physical condition".That is why the Socceroos can look forward to a tough regime for the next seven days ahead of their warm-up match against the Netherlands tomorrow week. Hiddink wants them to improve their physical condition and sharpness, and focus on the small details that he feels need to be improved if they are to succeed in the white heat of World Cup intensity."Our organisation was good (in the first half against Greece). As a coach, you are always looking how it's organised in a tactical way offensively and defensively so that you don't get caught. I think we did well."But we have still to work a lot. When you want to be very competitive on the World Cup level, you must retain your control during the whole game. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I am always looking at what needs to be improved."We have to get more physical depth and strength in the upcoming days. When you are playing three games in a short time, you have to be physically top, top, top. We have to improve against Japan. It seems a bit pessimistic but I am full on details, on which games are decided at high international level. We lost the ball too early with straight not diagonal passes."Losing possession means you have to work a lot defensively when you give the ball away. We made some stray passes. We were overdoing it in possession in our own danger zone, doing sloppy things, maybe due to lack of top physical shape. But these are details, nothing more."The intensity levels will lift before the game against Holland."We worked (in Melbourne) for five days very tough physically. We did a rather tough physical session (on Wednesday before the game), so in some parts of the game there was fatigue, but the spin-off of the tough work this week will be there next week."If we don't go deep in our training session physically, we lose later on a lot of the power we need. The pay-off time is in the upcoming week in gathering more physical strength."He is also pleased at the flexibility he now has. Although concerned with the depth of the squad, replacements such as Josip Skoko and the recalled Mile Sterjovski on Thursday night showed they could be far more than bit players. "The team knows exactly what to do. I can shuffle round various players who can play in different positions, which is good."
© 2006 The Age