Dutch mourn end of era... but not coach Advocaat

Dutch newspapers mourned the end of an era yesterday as a raft of players ended their international careers when the Netherlands exited Euro 2004.

"Dream in shreds," read the headline in the mass-circulation De Telegraaf. "What a shame for Orange!"

The media agreed the Netherlands would have to make a fresh start after Wednesday's 2-1 semi-final defeat by Portugal, the swansong of leading players including captain Frank de Boer, Philip Cocu, Jaap Stam and Marc Overmars.

"End of an era. With the departure of the Dutch side from Euro 2004, national football bids farewell to a special generation of footballers," De Telegraaf wrote.

The Algemeen Dagblad agreed, plastering its front page with a picture of Stam and the headline: "Painful farewell".

"Generation discharged without main prize," the newspaper wrote. "The sunken eyes of Stam spoke a clear language: he completely drained himself. Everybody was exhausted.

"The defeat was hard to take. It doesn't just mean the end of Euro 2004 but also the departure of a large number of players and probably of coach Dick Advocaat."

Commentators said it might be easier to fill the shoes of players like de Boer, Overmars and Stam than those of Advocaat, who declined to discuss his future but gave a strong hint his resignation would come within days.

"Advocaat's successor has the opportunity to revitalise the pool of players with youngsters who have been out of the picture until now," De Volkskrant newspaper wrote.

"The future of Orange doesn't look so sombre even if the reservoir of talent is less rich than it was in the second half of the 1990s."

Advocaat's tactics had come in for bitter criticism, often of a highly personal nature, during the tournament. He had a reputation for cautiousness, sticking with older players rather than giving youth a chance.

The paper said candidates to replace Advocaat were thin on the ground and the Netherlands might have to look to a foreign candidate like Denmark's Morten Olsen.

Most commentators expressed little remorse for their harsh treatment of Advocaat, with De Telegraaf saying he failed to shine in his second spell as national coach.

Advocaat was widely condemned for replacing winger Arjen Robben with defensive midfielder Paul Bosvelt against the Czech Republic in a group game the Dutch lost 3-2 after leading 2-0.

"With one win, two draws and two defeats, the semi-final place camouflaged a strange tournament. With games in which the coach sometimes made incomprehensible substututions, shooting himself in the foot in the process," De Telegraaf said.

"Orange performed to the best of their ability and that is too little for the final," the Algemeen Dagblad wrote. "A farewell with a semi-final isn't at all bad."