Guus Hiddink, christened the wizard by grateful Russian media, said Tuesday there was no magic to his giant-killing exploits as a coach in big international tournaments.
There s no recipe, there s no secret, there s no magic, he told journalists during a visit to South Korea, the team he took to the 2002 World Cup semi-finals against all the odds.
What we emphasised was to expose (ourselves), as a team, as players, to play fully committed and fully hard, the 62-year-old said of his latest team Russia, which he led to the Euro 2008 semi-finals last month.
The country had not advanced to the knockout stage of a major competition in 20 years.
The Dutchman a hero in South Korea also took Australia to the second round of the World Cup two years ago.
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