HOLLAND
Rinus Michels, Dick Advocaat, Guus Hiddink and Frank Rijkaard were the four
coaches Dennis Bergkamp dealt with during his time with the Dutch national
team. His best result under Hiddink was when Holland reached the semi-finals
in the 1998 World Cup. Dennis missed making the final only after losing against
Brazil on penalties. Hiddink, who has just signed on as coach of Russia, talks
about some remarkable years with a remarkable player.
Guus Hiddink
"I'll always remember Dennis as a
humorous personality, who was
very open minded and good for the
people he had to deal with. He was
also a leading figure in the squad.
On the pitch he was able to create
the most brilliant solutions with
remarkable ease. Having such a
subtle mind made it possible for
him to make decisions in a split
second. It was a way of thinking
that I witnessed with very few
players during my career.
Our contact became extra special
during 1995 when Dennis trusted
me about his fear for flying. We
talked a lot about it and especially
how to handle it. At the end I made
it clear to him that he had to be
honest to himself and the outside
world. At the beginning of June he
took the decision not to fly with us
to Minsk, where we had to play our
qualifying game against Belarus for
Euro 1996.
Because we had the finals of the
European Championship in England
and the 1998 World Cup in France
his problems with flying didn't
affect him playing for Holland.
Therefore he still was able to
perform on stages a guy with his
talent should be on. Especially the
World Cup which remains a great
memory the absolute highlight of
which was his brilliant goal against
Argentina in the quarter-finals.
That goal was typical Dennis. He
played horrible that afternoon and
he couldn't get any grip on his
game. Actually it would have been
very normal to have him
substituted, but I had in Dennis the
same type of player as with
Romario whom I coached at PSV.
When it looks like they were having
an offday, they made the
difference. Romario was like that,
but also Dennis. During those last
minutes against Argentina, with a 1-
1 score, he made three perfect
touches of the ball. Enough to put a
brilliant winner in the back of the
net. Another masterpiece that
Dennis made look simple."
"WE'VE GOT DENNIS BERGKAMP. WE'VE GOT DENNIS BERGKAMP."
