Guus Hiddink is the Miracle Worker 2.0 - a new and improved version of Bora Milutinovic

Guus Hiddink has done it again. I don’t have words to describe his magical feats at Euro 2008 – have simply run out of clichés. So I’ll make my life easy and do a simple analogy.

Guus Hiddink is the new and improved Bora Milutinovic

First a little something about Velibor ‘Bora’ Milutinovic

Long before Guus Hiddink gained a reputation as the coach with the magic touch; there was Bora Milutinovic. The Serbian had the uncanny and almost ungodly ability to get the football team of any nation to play out of their skin and achieve the seemingly impossible. Succeeding with one foreign team is difficult enough – there are issues about understanding the culture, the football mindset and sometimes even the language. But rather then succumb to it; Bora Milutinovic seemed to thrive on the challenge.

Savour this – He got Mexico to the quarters of the 1986 Football World Cup;Costa Rica to the second round in 1990, the US to the second round of the 1994 World Cup;Nigeria to the second round of the 1998 World Cup and finally China to the World Cup of 2002. He has a flawless resume when it comes to taking the most ordinary of football nations to the biggest football event in the World and then getting them to do well in the main tournament as well. Teams like Mexico and Nigeria at least had a modicum of football pedigree. The likes of Costa Rica and the US were supposed to be lambs to the slaughter but Bora got them to roar like a lion

In his prime, Bora was the closest thing to a ‘Miracle Worker’ – a nickname bestowed upon him by Alan Rothenberg, the president of the US Soccer Federation. Rothenberg had turned to Bora when the US faced the certain ignominy of becoming the first host nation to fail to qualify for the second round of the World Cup. The miracle worker blew his magic whistle (to use a coaching term) and saved them the blushes.

Those who know Guus Hiddink well would now be smiling to themselves in the knowledge of having figured out the rest of the article. But for the benefit of those who haven’t, here’s why Guus is an improvement on even the great Bora.

Because taking Holland into the semis of the 1998 World Cup beats taking Mexico into the quarters in 1986

Because taking hosts South Korea into the Semis in 2002 was more sensational than the achievements of hosts USA in 1994

Because taking Australia into the second round of the 2006 World Cup, where they almost knocked eventual champions Italy out of the tournament is on par with the feats of Nigeria in 1998.

Because Hiddink’s magical journey into the semis of Euro 2008 with the Russians eclipses the Costa Rica’s dream run in the 1990 World Cup.

And for those who are still not convinced here’s the clincher – Bora was a poor club coach failing with Udinese in Italy and with the Metrostars in the US. Hiddink on the other hand won the European Cup with PSV Eindhoven in 1988 and went on another magical run with the same club in the UEFA Champions League in 2004-05 making the semis.

Various people have tried to honour Guus Hiddink by bestowing impressive nicknames upon him – notable being Tsar Hiddink, Aussie Guus and Guus Geluk ( meaning lucky Guus) . But I can think of only one which gives the Dutchman and his achievements the right scale and perspective. He is the Miracle Worker 2.0 – a new and far improved version of the original ‘Miracle Worker’

This article was originally published on www.goal.com

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