‘I’m not the first coach to lose on his debut’: New Holland boss Frank de Boer in defiant mood after Crystal Palace and Inter Milan flop tastes defeat in his opening game in charge of national team
- Manager Frank de Boer was left deflated after Holland’s 1-0 loss to Mexico
- De Boer hoped to prove the doubters wrong with his return to the dugout
- De Boer lasted just 85 days at Inter Milan and seven games at Crystal Palace
- He said ‘the result is unpleasant’ but as it was a friendly he made certain calls
- De Boer opted to rest Frenkie de Jong and Daley Blind ahead of Sunday’s fixture
Frank de Boer was left deflated after suffering a 1-0 loss to Mexico at the Johan Cruyff Arena on Wednesday night.
De Boer – who flopped during his time at Crystal Palace and Inter Milan – had hoped to prove the doubters wrong in his first game in charge of Holland, after taking over from Ronald Koeman who left to join Barcelona.
However, Wolves striker Raul Jimenez denied De Boer of his wishes after scoring a penalty in the 60th minute following Nathan Ake’s foul in the box.
Holland lost 1-0 to Mexico in their first game under new manager Frank de Boer (above)
De Boer’s managerial career has been somewhat ropey after lasting just 85 days in charge of Inter in 2016 and just seven games at Crystal Palace a year later.
Having failed to prove his worth on his initial outing with his new team, the Oranje manager admits to feeling ‘bad’ about the result.
However, he insists that he is ‘not the first coach to lose on his debut’ and that the team was altered for future success.
‘Of course I have a bad feeling,’ De Boer said after the game. ‘I always want to win, but we have made certain choices, which I think are logical.
Wolverhampton striker Raul Jimenez scored the winning penalty in the 60th minute
Gerardo Martino said Mexico ‘played a good game’ and that the 1-0 result was fair
‘We did not let some guys play. We have two more matches soon.
‘Moreover, I do not believe that I am the first national coach to lose on his debut.’
‘The result is unpleasant,’ he added. ‘But it was a practice match. You could give the excuse that not all the best guys played.
‘We know that someone like Frenkie de Jong is very important, and he was missing. But let’s not forget that Teun Koopmeiners played a very good game in the middle.’
De Boer opted to rest Frenkie de Jong and Daley Blind ahead of Sunday’s fixture against Bosnia and their trip to Italy just three days later.
De Boer opted to rest Frenkie de Jong (picture above playing against Italy) and Daley Blind
Therefore De Boer handed out debuts to left back Owen Wijndal and Teun Koopmeiners
The new manager handed out debuts to left back Owen Wijndal and midfielder Teun Koopmeiners, while also choosing to give goalkeeper Tim Krul his first international start in five years.
Whereas, Gerardo Martino – who took charge of the Mexican team in January 2019 – was pleased with his teams performance.
‘We played a good game,’ he said. ‘We had enough control of the game and we worked very well together.
‘It seems to me that the result is fair. At times we pressed well and had the ball. If you work well, you impose your game. Today we were a very solid team.’
