August 22, 2022
The brief from today:
Guus Hiddink comes out of retirement
Dutch manager, Guus Hiddink, has temporarily left retirement to head back to one of his old stomping grounds: Australia. Current Australia national team coach, Graham Arnold, will be without his assistant, Rene Meulensteen, for the September international break since his number two will be in Europe watching their World Cup Group D rivals: France and Denmark. With Australia set to play New Zealand on September 22, Arnold has reached out to former Australia manager, Hiddink, to assist him for the match against their neighbors. The two coaches have history working together as the roles were reversed during Hiddink’s spell as head coach with the Socceroos from 2005-2006. Of course it was during that period that Hiddink led Australia to the 2006 World Cup reaching the second round, before getting eliminated by eventual winners Italy. Arnold is looking for some inspiration for the players as the September break will be the final chance for them to make their case to be included in the World Cup Squad. With that in mind, he called Hiddink because as he put it, “Guus is a great storyteller, so I can’t wait to see the effect he has on this current generation of Australian players. Many of our boys know of his feats and achievements internationally but have never had the opportunity to meet him.” For his part, Hiddink is equally excited for the reunion saying, “I’m very delighted to go there. Every now and then when I talk about my career with people, I always highlight my experience with the Socceroos. This is one chapter in my career which gave me a lot of energy. I met very kind people and very open-minded people, which I liked very much.” Whether all this fond nostalgia extends into more than a temporary visit for the 75-year-old Hiddink will be interesting to see. After all, the World Cup will only be two months away following the New Zealand friendlies he will be attending.
Reunited: Hiddink (left) and Arnold (center) during the Dutchman’s stint as Australia coach.
Eventful week for Tuchel
It was just over one week ago that Thomas Tuchel was involved in the melee which kicked off because of his confrontation with Antonio Conte following the Chelsea/Tottenham match. As a result of his role in the fracas, the German manager received a red card, a £35,000 fine, and a one match ban—suspended until August 25—which is when the football association (FA) anticipates they will provide a comprehensive written explanation for their judgement. Following the game, Tuchel hadn’t had enough, and he would make some post match comments directed at referee, Anthony Taylor, claiming his performance was poor, and that he had a similar history against Chelsea. Fast forward to the following match yesterday versus Leeds, which saw Tuchel still allowed in the technical area because his touchline suspension was still pending, and Chelsea were battered 3-0 by the home side. Interestingly, despite the individual errors from Mendy and Koulibaly that cost Chelsea a goa,l and going down to 10 men, respectively, Tuchel mentioned another issue that contributed to the loss. The German referenced the fact that the coaching staff had to use the bus to get to Leeds, since there were no flights available, and somehow that played its part in the dismal performance. Today, the FA have now added more misery to Tuchel’s plate after they concluded their investigation regarding his remarks about Anthony Taylor. The decision was made to charge the Chelsea coach with improper conduct, and he now has until Thursday—the same day the FA’s written response regarding the incident with Conte is due —to respond.