Northern Ireland v Netherlands

Words Liam Blackburn

NETHERLANDS THE COACH Netherlands appointed one of their all- time greatest players as manager when handing the reins to Ronald Koeman in February 2018.

following their failure to reach the 2018 World Cup under Dick Advocaat. Home wins over reigning World Cup champions France and Germany early in Koeman's reign meant Netherlands finished top of their group in the UEFA Nations League. At the Nations League Finals back in June Koeman's side beat England in the last four after extra time but were defeated in the final by Portugal. Since then Koeman's side have won all four of their matches, including an impressive 4-2 victory in Germany in September. » » Though he was often deployed as a defender at Barcelona, Koeman was joint top scorer in the 1993-94 Champions League with eight goals. » » He played for the 'big three' of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord in his homeland - one of only two men to have done so - before managing each of the trio, too. » » Koeman is one of three men to have won the Eredivisie with PSV as both a player and a manager. The other two are Eric Gerets and current Derby County boss Phillip Cocu. » » The 56-year-old has taken charge of 18 matches for Netherlands so far and the Oranje have conceded the first goal in 12 of those contests, including against Northern Ireland last month.

Koeman was capped 78 times by his country between 1982 and 1994, scored 14 international goals and was part of the side that won UEFA Euro 1988, playing alongside his brother, Erwin, and greats such as Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit. In a decorated playing career Koeman won the European Cup with PSV and league titles with both the Eindhoven-based club and Ajax. Koeman, who also won four successive top flight titles in Spain, scored a free-kick in extra time at Wembley in 1992 to earn Barcelona their first European Cup triumph courtesy of a 1-0 success over Sampdoria. Upon retiring in 1997, he had coaching roles with Netherlands and Barcelona before branching out into management with Vitesse and then Ajax, whom he led to two Eredivisie titles. He won another domestic championship with PSV either side of spells at Benfica and Valencia. He returned to his native country to take charge of AZ Alkmaar and then Feyenoord, the club where he ended his playing career, before moving to England and replacing Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton in 2014. In his second campaign at the helm he led Southampton to their highest ever Premier League finish of sixth, which helped land him the job at Everton. The Toffees finished seventh and qualified for the Europa League in Koeman's first season, although he departed in October of the next campaign with the club in the relegation zone. Koeman's next job saw him move into international management as he was given the Netherlands job

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