"We want to dominate the game, to take the initiative with the ball." Xavi Hernandez said it with a straight face, knowing full well that the Netherlands just lost to Morocco in a Round of 32 penalty shootout — a team that had no business going further than them at the World Cup.
That's the job he's walked into. Third choice behind Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot, both of whom said no. Xavi didn't flinch at that either: "It's not a bad position after Guardiola and after Slot. Third position. At least we are on the podium. I don't care."
Fair enough. He's got a point.
The philosophical pitch
The 46-year-old spent Tuesday's unveiling in Zeist sounding more like a Johan Cruyff disciple than a man who just picked up a job by default. He grew up at Barcelona under Louis van Gaal — who also coached the Netherlands — and was shaped by the Cruyff philosophy that still runs through the Catalan club's DNA. Now he wants to bring that back to its country of origin.
The pitch is compelling on paper. The 1970s Netherlands sides that gave the world "total football" are still the benchmark for what Dutch football can look like at its best. Ronald Koeman's version was a long way from that. Defensively cautious, reactive, ultimately eliminated by a team ranked 36 places below them. For a nation with the Netherlands' pedigree, that's a failure of identity as much as tactics.
Xavi's record with the ball is unimpeachable. At Barcelona he won four Champions Leagues and eight La Liga titles. He was the engine of Spain's run that included the 2010 World Cup — beating the Netherlands in the Johannesburg final — and back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012. He knows what a dominant team looks and feels like from the inside.
First test: Germany with Klopp in the dugout
The Netherlands open under Xavi on September 24 in Amsterdam against Germany, who have their own new coach in Jürgen Klopp, replacing Julian Nagelsmann after another World Cup that went nowhere. Two nations, two new coaches, both trying to reset. Netherlands' odds for that fixture will be worth watching — home advantage counts, but Klopp's Germany will not be a soft opener.
"It's a big challenge from the beginning," Xavi admitted, "but I think we will be ready."
He replaces Ronald Koeman, who left following the World Cup exit. Whether Xavi can actually translate his possession-based philosophy into international football — where you have days not months to coach — is the real question nobody is asking yet. Club football gave him the time and resources to build something. International management is a different beast entirely, and it has humbled better tactical minds than his.
Eighteen million people in the Netherlands want to be proud of their team again. That's the brief. The philosophy sounds right. The pedigree is there. The execution starts in September.
