Van Marwijk quietly confident as his unbeaten charges face the acid test

Tom Humphrieson a man who doesn't fit the usual profile of Dutch managers with sharp suits and large egos

IN THE Netherlands the face of Dunga the Brazilian manager is almost as familiar as that of Bert van Marwijk. Back at France 98 it was Dunga who scored the winning penalty in that breathtaking semi-final clash in the Velodrome in Marseille.

Dunga, a great defensive -minded midfielder who saw it all and did it all in his day, was a realistic choice as Brazilian manager and he has gone about building a team in his own image.

By contrast van Marwijk had a modest playing career and doesn’t fit into the succession of Dutch managers with sharp suits and large egos, men who have contributed much themselves to the national team occasionally becoming a menagerie of squabbling children.

“I’m not a suit person,” he says pointedly. His strengths are patience and communication .

“I pay a lot of attention to non-verbal communication. I know that a little joke with a player or a tap on the head can mean much more than long conversations. But I do talk with them, of course. I have this huge suite in the Huis ter Duin hotel and I invite them in, one by one, whenever we’re together.”

The odd Dutch tantrum has been defused, either by peer pressure or once, in the case of Wes Sneijder, taping an Apres Match style takedown of the player and relaying it through the speakers on the team bus. The hilarity was such that even Sneijder had to laugh.

Still nothing persuades like success and van Marwijk led the Dutch to a 100 per cent record in qualifying for the World Cup and brings them here continuing a record unbeaten run. It’s not total football but he will be forgiven that if he can get a result today.

Van Marwijk won just a single cap himself. To his credit he can claim to have been kept from winning more caps by legendary contemporaries like Rob Rensenbrink and Rene van de Kerkhof. He worked as an attacking midfielder, toiling for most of his career in the glamour -free zone that is MVV Maastricht and was stymied by a recurring knee injury and other misfortunes. He was in line for the Dutch Word Cup squad in 1978 but a hernia injury finished his season early.

He is a product of the Dutch coaching system, however, having earned his stripes first as a youth coach at MVV and then on to senior work with and Fortuna Sittard, Feyenoord and to Germany with Borussia Dortmund.

His CV doesn’t have quite the same weight as the Special One’s, for instance. He won a Uefa cup with Feyenoord (and Pierre van Hooijdonk) eight years ago and added a Dutch Cup six years later with the same club, although his service was interrupted by his spell with Dortmund.

On returning to Feyenoord from Germany slightly reluctantly (he says he wasn’t ready to come back) he decided to add a list of clubs to his contract. If any of those clubs came in for him Feyenoord would let him go. At the very last minute, thinking wishfully, he added the name of the Dutch national side as well.

Before that opportunity came about in the wake of the disappointing performances of the Dutch under Marco van Basten at the last European championships, Feyenoord had been a slight disappointment during his second period in charge. The Rotterdam club were never seriously in the running for the Eredivisie or Dutch league title.

At Feyenoord he worked with the young Robin van Persie. Not always easy, as he told a Dutch interviewer.

“At one stage – right before the Super Cup against Real Madrid – I sent him home. I told him: ‘You need to understand what it takes to be a top player’. And he was sloppy. He’d give 20 crosses in a game, 10 of which were crap. For someone with his technique, it’s not on. But seeing him now . . . I really admire that. He developed as a player but more so as a human being.”

Quiet triumphs like that, his ability to get disparate talents and strong personalities to work under the same harness were the strengths of his club management style. Still there were raised eyebrows then when he was elevated over a queue of sharp suits and given the national job.

For a man who came to the task without a big reputation he has been unafraid of some of the big noises of Dutch football.

Clarence Seedorf dropped off the radar and when Ruud Van Nistelrooy made noises some time ago that he was interested in returning to national duty after a year off he was met with an unexpectedly cool response.

He faced some criticism early on also for his persistence in playing his son in law Marco van Bommel in the Dutch midfield.

He came through it all and in the meantime has instilled a more cautious approach into the style of the national team. “Brazil are tough whoever plays,” he said before the World Cup started. “It always seems as if there’s no game plan and they just do what they like, but their four defenders and two destroyers are always tall and strong guys. Good headers and quick too! The four lads up front improvise whatever they want, but they’re so good that they’ll always create something. And every player in their team can score a goal. Let alone those full backs. Brazil are quite something . . . Hard to play against. But they will find that with us as well.”

Van Marwijk is an oddity in the lineage of Dutch managers. He said before he got here he wouldn’t consider reaching the semi-final to be the definition of success. Performing well against Brazil may have to suffice.