SOCCER:Lungile Madywabe
AS an international defender Ruud Krol played 83 games for Holland before going to Belgium and Switzerland where he coached Mechelen and Servette. He then went on to become coach of the Egyptian under-23 team and after the success of the youngsters at this year’s All Africa Games in Harare two months ago, he was given the job of coaching Egypt’s national team.
Egypt will be one of the favourites to take the title at the African Nations Cup finals next year and Krol’s mind must be fixed on that target, but he still feels winning at the current Simba Four Nations tournament is important. “All matches are important. Do you know of any one that likes losing?”
Krol says he always tells his players to attack from the time the referee blows his whistle. “That unsettles your opponents and it disrupts their set plans for the game. Anyway the best form of defence is attack,” he says.
Krol’s mission is to make sure Egypt make it to the next World Cup in either Korea or Japan, otherwise as Azmy Hisham, member of the executive committee of Egyptian soccer says, “His contract will be terminated immediately”.
Egypt have a proud record in the African Nations Cup. They beat Ethiopia in the first tournament in 1957, successfully defended their title two years later and after a barren spell won the title again in 1986. Egypt have featured in 14 of the 19 African Nations Cup, but they withdrew from the tournament in 1968, 1972 and 1982.
Krol takes over as coach from Mohsen Salay who ensured that the Pharoahs are on board for the twentieth African Cup of Nations in South Africa from January 13 next year.
Hisham said Krol was appointed because “He is far better experienced than Salay and he has managed to transform the under-23 team.” After Zimbabwe beat them in the opening game, they went on to reverse the result by beating them in the finals to walk away with the gold medals.
Talking of transformation, one of the ways Krol makes sure his players are in good shape mentally and physically is that they have to sleep after lunch to be ready for the 4:30pm training session. Most of the squad is composed of mmebers of the two Egyptian teams which have dominated the continent’s club competitions – Zamalek and Al Ahly.
Krol is disappointed that Nigeria, which he regards as the strongest team in Africa, were withdrawn from the Four Nations tournament. The tournament, which features Egypt, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, was supposed to have started last week in Mmabatho but was delayed because of the heavy rains. The first two matches were played in Pretoria on Wednesday and the next round, with South Africa playing Egypt and Zambia taking on Zimbabwe will be played in Mmabatho on Friday night.