Dutch assistant national coach Ruud Gullit expressed regret today after landing himself in hot water for posting a post-match video clip from the team’s dressing room on social media.
The former Dutch international legend took heavy flak after tweeting the 15-second clip on his Twitter account, following the flagging Dutch side’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Bulgaria on Sunday.
The unauthorised clip features a shot of the players - some without shirts - followed by Gullit looking into his mobile phone, saying: “Victory today, 3-1 against Bulgaria, fantastic game.”
But the shot hit the wrong note, including with head-coach Dick Advocaat, who called it “very strange” and Dutch football commentators, saying the national squad’s dressing room remains out of bounds for the public.
“Young players are often admonished when they do things that are not allowed on social media,” the public newscaster NOS added.
“I’ll speak to him about it,” an unimpressed-looking Advocaat told the NOS .
A former midfielder who led the Dutch team to European Championship victory in 1988, Gullit later on Monday said he regretted making the recording.
“I made the clip because of over-enthusiasm. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have done it,” he said in a statement to the NOS .
Advocaat later said: “Ruud’s actions weren’t helpful and I told him, but that’s it. There’s no problem between Ruud and I and we’ve put the incident behind us.”
The Oranje’s win moved the struggling outfit back into third place, one point above Bulgaria, but four points behind France and three behind second-placed Sweden.
With Sweden to visit Amsterdam in the last round of matches next month, the three-time World Cup runner-up still has a chance of making it to Russia through the play-offs after missing out on Euro 2016.
Nevertheless, the best it can realistically hope for is second place, with the French on course to top the group after destroying the Dutch 4-0 in Paris last Thursday.
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