He belongs to the new league

HE WOULD easily pass for a modern day executive. Immaculately dressed, the dapper Arie Adrianus Van de Zouwen would look anything but a conventional coach on a football field. But then he belongs to the new generation of Holland coaches. And perhaps it had to with his new thinking that Arie, as he introduces himself can plan strategies that sometimes defy conventional understanding. Like the way he shuffled the players, changed a neatly combining bunch in the Hong Kong team, to which he is attached for four months now, for the key match against Jordan in the Group III league of the Sahara Cup football tournament in Margao.

On the eve of the Group matches, it was thought that Hong Kong would be the whipping boys for the other two teams, Jordan and Romania. But a refreshing display of enthusiasm, speed and ball skills against Romania in its opening match brought a different focus on this squad, of which not much had been heard of in recent times in the Indian sub-continent but yet is just a few rungs below India in the FIFA ranking. The slow build up from the midfield and rapier like touch in the attack was a revelation. Hong Kong lost that match but the way Kwok Yue Hung scored two goals and the intelligent mid-field passing by Yeung Ching Kwong, Romania encountered problems aplenty at least initially. However the physically stronger players and their ability to force their way in helped out Romania in the final analysis but Hong Kong earned applause even in its loss.

That performance put into perspective coach Arie's statements earlier that he was trying to infuse a new approach in Hong Kong players. ``Perhaps you will see them yourself'', he was to say with that air of someone who means business. Just when the small gathering at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda expected Hong Kong to do more than being a `surprise package', the team played below par in what was a crucial match against Jordan. That was when Arie's thoughts were totally at variance with others seeking to know why he had to shuffle a good combination and also keep out a man, who was the brain in Hong Kong's scheme of things against Romania. ``Our priorities are different. We wanted to give every player a chance'', he was to surprise enquiring mediamen. Clearly Arie's sights were set not on the Sahara Cup but on something bigger, the World cup qualifiers in March when it faces Palestine, Qatar and Malaysia.

``Two good matches'', that was what Arie had decided once it became known that Cameroon will not be there. Thereafter get back home, make some additions and deletions in the squad before further friendlies are planned. Before coming to India, Hong Kong had drawn with UAE, beaten Singapore 1-0 and lost to Estonia 1-2. ``There is much to be done to put Hong Kong on the path to progress'', Arie said of his challenges ahead, but he is finding the new job encouraging. ``It is always a challenge to take up a new team and have your influence on every aspect of team development than be in control of a side which had everything already set'', the Dutch said of his present assignment after tenures earlier in Zambia and Singapore.

What is great about Arie is his past and the way he was inducted in to the prestigious Royal Dutch Football Academy. ``I did not come up as a player but as a Youth coach of Fayenoord FC first, then as its Under-18 and reserve team coach'', he said of his early foray into the game. ``My work was appreciated by the Dutch football authorities and they allowed me to do the professional coaching course, which normally is reserved for former internationals. I passed out along with Gullit and Koeman'', he said with a sense of pride. This assignment in Hong Kong was following a FIFA- inspired report by Dr. Venglos, a renowned name in international football coaching circles, on ways to improve football there and his suggestion that Holland coaches would be useful to make his short term project take shape. ``This is the first time that the Royal Dutch Football Academy has been asked to develop the game in a country in this region'', he said.

Arie grabbed the opportunity and along with him there are four other countrymen of his to jointly take up what at present is a five-year project. Coming from a land, where football is a passion, Hong Kong seemed a far cry, so to say. ``Ground facilities are less, public patronage poor and professionalism does not exist'', he said of his initial impressions. Then again the question of choosing mainland (China) players, a touchy subject, had to be resolved. It was decided before long that there would be only two mainland players, the rest would be from the local pool.

So it had to be a brick by brick start that involved not only picking up players but helping them condition both in terms of diet and physiology. Then came the toning up of skills and strategies. Here, Arie recalled a funny incident during his selection of players from the various league teams, ``I had dropped players who had a big standing in local football and also taken players who would normally not come into national reckoning'', he said with a chuckle. That is how Chan Ho-Man, a key player in the team now had come in.

In the next few months, Arie and his team hope to plug a few loopholes to enable the senior team to provide promise for the future. But surely the total football concept, which Dutch excel in will have to wait.

As Arie foresees, in the next two years at least the youth level development would have been restructured and it was from there that Hong Kong football resurrection had to be seen.

The Dutch coach said if Holland was a football force in the world it was because of the emphasis given to youth development where the stress begins from the kids level. Big clubs like Ajax and Feyenoord, for instance have been successfully running their youth football development for over 15 years now. ``Our football is still good although most big players go to various leading Clubs in England and Italy because of big money and that sometimes affects national team selections. But no question, we are as good as 20 years ago'', he said.

S. R. SURYANARAYAN

Chennai

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Uruguay showing signs of recovery
Next     : Allaire confirms her status