Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk draws on Dutch courage to overcome Cup camp fires

CRAM together a group of alpha males for a month and tensions are sure to boil over, luckily this is an area of special expertise for Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk.

Australia during a training session at the Socceroos training base, Stadium Trudovye Rezervy, after their loss to France at the FIFA 2018 World Cup, Kazan, Russia, Sunday, June 17, 2018. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

AFTER almost a month in camp, tensions always arise. It’s one of the marks of a top-line coach that he can see it coming, and keep the harmony.

Bert van Marwijk had plenty of practice in 2010, with a Dutch squad full of little fissures that he still managed to lead to the World Cup final.

Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie didn’t remotely see eye-to-eye. The coach’s son-in-law, Mark van Bommel, was not only a big personality but from PSV Eindhoven; several others were from rivals Ajax.

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The Socceroos of 2018 have nothing like those rivalries, and are genuinely united in pursuit of a place in the knockout stages.

Yet coop together any group of alpha males for four weeks, with a routine of training, eating, treatment and PlayStation, and fractiousness is always a risk.

This is where van Marwijk’s experience comes in, with situations that no coaching manual covers.

“There are no rules,” van Marwijk said. “When I went with Holland to the World Cup, Dutch people are even more strange and difficult.

“We both are open, Australian and Dutch, but (the Dutch) are spoiled already — we think it’s boring already after one day (in camp). And the first one who said it was myself. When I was a player I was always complaining, about everything.

“I told the Holland players in 2010, we will get bored. But we have to win the World Cup, we have to work together.

“So first you have to choose a hotel where things you mentioned (like players getting bored) will not happen so soon. The other thing is, it’s best to say it, that’s my experience.”

By that, van Marwijk means honesty when issues arise. If the end goal is clear, people of clashing personalities can work together.

”It happens in life, but you have to do one thing,” he said. “When we learn to respect each others qualities, then you don’t have to sit together the whole day.

“I know people who hate each other but can work together. So you have to have that mentality.

“I met two female rowers at the Olympics, they hated each other, they told me. They sat together and looked each other in the eyes and said, When we want to win gold, we have to co-operate, work together.

“They won gold and they still hate each other. I spoke to one of the girls afterwards.

“I think in the same way, they (players) don’t have to be friends, but they have to respect and accept each other’s qualities.

“Everyday a few small things happen and those things are very important for the atmosphere in the whole group. You cannot find it in any book, it’s the way you lead the group, manage the group.”