Dutch mentor Advocaat hits back at critics

Dutch coach Dick Advocaat said he was relieved to have qualified for the Euro 2004 quarter-finals but added that the personal abuse directed at him during the tournament had got out of hand.

"Now we play Sweden. They are a team we know everything about and normally we should be able to beat them," Advocaat told reporters on Wednesday night after his side beat Latvia 3-0.

Advocaat said criticism of his tactics and substitutions in the 3-2 defeat by the Czech Republic on Saturday had gone way over the top.

"It all went much too far. People talked about the individual too much... When people talk about stoning and hanging you, I don't find that normal any more. In such an atmosphere you can hardly work anymore," he told Dutch TV.

The Dutch squeezed through in second place from Group D after the Czech Republic, who had already won the group, beat Germany 2-1 to send the Germans out.

Qualification for the last eight is welcome vindication for Advocaat, who on Wednesday led the Dutch for the 53rd time, equalling a record held by the great Rinus Michels.

Dutch fans booed the coach before the game and he almost certainly would have been out of a job had results not gone in his favour. The Netherlands now play Sweden in Faro tomorrow. "I am relieved we are in the quarter-finals because it has been a tough period especially after the game against the Czechs when we were suffered a lot of criticism which was focused on me," said Advocaat.

Advocaat had been accused of throwing away the Czech game by taking off winger Arjen Robben, the team's best player on the night, when the Dutch were leading 2-1.

Midfielder Philip Cocu praised the Czechs who beat the Germans despite fielding a weakened team.

"We have to thank the Czechs for beating the Germans," Cocu said. "We heard from the crowd reaction in the second half that there had been another (Czech) goal and that of course gives you an extra push to keep going."

Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who scored twice against Latvia, said attention was already shifting to the Sweden game.

"It's just a great feeling we've done it. We just want to focus on Sweden. It will be a very tough game. It's the quarters now and anything can happen," he said.