Hiddink Returns Home
Guus Hiddink, the charismatic Dutch coach who led South Korea to fourth place in the World Cup and stirred the country in the process, returned home to the Netherlands on Sunday to begin talks with PSV Eindhoven.
Hiddink was given an emotional send-off at Inchon International Airport, where hundreds of South Korea’s “Red Devil” fans turned out and a school band played in his honor.
“It’s not goodbye, just so long,” Hiddink said.
Hiddink had been offered the chance to remain South Korea’s coach, but said he wanted to return to the daily challenge of club soccer. He said he would maintain close ties with South Korea as an advisor ahead of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2006 World Cup.
If he agrees to coach PSV, his contract will allow him to spend time working with Korea’s national teams.
Meanwhile, speculation is rife in Seoul about which South Korean players might join Hiddink at PSV.
“I have not made a decision yet on which players I would like to take with me to Europe,” he told Agence France-Presse. “They could be younger than those in the World Cup squad.”
Ronaldo Says No
Brazilian striker Ronaldo quashed speculation that he might be moving from Inter Milan in Italy to Real Madrid in Spain, telling the Spanish daily sports newspaper Marca that he is content where he is.
Brazil teammate Roberto Carlos, who plays for Real Madrid, had started the rumor of a possible move last week when he asked the reigning European champion to try to acquire Ronaldo.
“Real Madrid is a great team, one of the most important in the world, but it has its players and I’m already part of a team at Inter,” Ronaldo said.
He said he owed loyalty to Massimo Moratti, Inter Milan’s president.
“When I was experiencing very difficult times, being injured on a number of occasions, the president was always by my side and I can’t betray him,” he said.
Rivaldo on Painkillers
Ronaldo’s fellow World Cup winner, Rivaldo, said he wants to stay at Barcelona in Spain until his contract expires in a year, denying that a move to Lazio in Italy was likely.
“I don’t know anything about that story of Lazio that has been published in the newspapers,” Rivaldo said.
The playmaking midfielder also told Reuters that he had been given an injection of painkillers at halftime of last Sunday’s World Cup final, in which Brazil defeated Germany, 2-0, in Yokohama, Japan.
“I made an ankle support with bandage to keep the ankle firmer, but it wasn’t enough on its own,” he said. “I had an injection of Voltaren with the consent of Jose Luiz Runco [Brazil’s team doctor] to get over the pain. It’s a normal solution to reduce pain.”
Boniek to Lead Poland
Poland has named one of its greatest former players, Zbigniew Boniek, as coach of the national team, replacing Jerzy Engel, who was fired after Poland’s first-round elimination at the World Cup.
Boniek scored 24 goals in 80 games for Poland, helping it achieve third place at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. He also won the European Champions Cup in 1985 while playing for Juventus.
Wright to AEK
Mauricio Wright, the Costa Rica national team player who formerly played for the San Jose Earthquakes and New England Revolution of Major League Soccer, has been signed to a three-year contract by AEK Athens of the Greek first division. Wright scored a goal for Costa Rica against China at the World Cup.
Reggae Boyz Bankrupt
The Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) has disbanded its national team program, effective immediately, after running out of money.
Players from the women’s national team, which had been preparing for its qualifying games for the 2003 Women’s World Cup, and the men’s national team, which was readying for a trip to Europe, have been sent home.
Horace Burrell, the JFF president, told Agence France-Presse that a cut of 65% in the Jamaican government’s sports development subsidy to the JFF was to blame for the financial crisis.
Zambia Advances
Striker Rotson Kilambe returned from a nine-month drug-related suspension to score twice as Zambia defeated Mozambique, 3-0, in front of 30,000 in Lusaka, Zambia, to advance to the semifinals of the Cosafa Castle Cup regional tournament. Forward Chaswe Nsofwa scored Zambia’s other goal.
