Advocaat enjoying the respite

Euro 2004 News: It's one of the more unlikely reinventions of modern football. Dick Advocaat's famously divided Dutch squad will arrive here today proclaiming themselves to be united at last in their determination to win the country's second European title.

Finally, though, the former Rangers coach does seem to have exerted some control over a squad with a long history of public dissent and private bickering. These days, senior squad members are even coming out to defend Advocaat who, back at home, remains deeply unpopular but who may have regained the respect of leading players thanks to his willingness to make some tough decisions and uncomfortable concessions since they embarked on this Euro 2004 campaign.

"Dick is a strong manager," said Jaap Stam of his coach yesterday. "He never gives up and always gets on with the job, no matter what else is going on. We are so thrilled for him now because we know the stick he has been taking and we know he doesn't deserve it. We are all in this together now, the manager and the players.

"The Dutch people expect a lot, and that is their right, but some of the things that have been said about the manager have gone way too far."

This from a man who sounded distinctly lukewarm about the decision-making capabilities of Advocaat as he chatted to journalists three weeks ago in the wake of Ireland's win at the Amsterdam Arena.

Since then, however, Advocaat has been persuaded to abandon his preferred formation, 4-4-2, and his repeated attempts to get Patrick Kluivert and Ruud van Nistelrooy to form an effective partnership up front. Instead, he has reverted to the the team's more traditional 4-3-3 and discarded the Barcelona striker - joint top scorer at Euro 2000 and previously a favourite of his - to the point where he is the only outfield player not to have featured at all in the four games to date.

But even Kluivert is playing along, albeit belatedly, with the new sense of unity among the Dutch, with the striker announcing in the aftermath of Saturday's dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat of Sweden that, "even the substitutes have their role to play".

It's touching stuff from a man whose initial reaction to being dropped for the opening game of the tournament was to heavily criticise both the coach and his team-mates. Subsequently, he made little attempt to disguise his bitterness at the way events had turned against him.

When van Nistelrooy was taken off against Latvia with the game won and a place in the last eight effectively secured, the United striker embraced Advocaat warmly before high-fiving his way down the length of the bench Dutch. Every player warmly reciprocated, except Kluivert, who coolly looked the other way.

His disappointment is, of course, understandable. Kluivert could have done with having another good European championship, for he is currently listening to offers from clubs after being told by his former Ajax team-mate, Frank Rijkaard, that he is no longer wanted at Barcelona.

A senior international at 18 and a European Cup winner in 1995, he will turn 28 on Thursday and should have another five very good years left in him.

To date, however, he has turned down an approach from Middlesbrough and appears to be considering a move to those great Spanish underachievers, Atletico Madrid.

Kluivert, though, is hardly the only man in the Dutch set-up who could be forgiven for being distracted by concerns over his club career. Steven Gerrard's performances at this tournament were said by many to have been affected by the prospect of a move to Chelsea, something that the player finally turned his back on yesterday. But more than half of Advocaat's 23 players here are involved in moves or the subject of significant speculation in relation to one, and yesterday the Dutch coach found himself being asked for his view on reports that van Nistelrooy would be sold by Manchester United in order to fund a bid by the club for Wayne Rooney.

A week ago the 55-year-old Advocaat was being berated back at home for substitutions in the game against the Czechs that were widely perceived as having lost the Dutch that game and severely undermined their chances of making it to the last eight of this tournament. Now, despite having won just one match out of four in regular time, they face Portugal for a place in the final and Advocaat is being asked nothing more threatening than whether his star striker will be in Manchester or Madrid next season.

This might be as good as it gets for the former PSV boss, for if his side loses tomorrow night, even to the hosts, things are sure to quickly turn nasty again.

Just for the moment, however, he seems to be enjoying the upturn in his fortunes.