(Reuters) Dutchman Johan Neeskens has been appointed as the Socceroos' new assistant coach, the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) announced on Thursday.
The former international midfielder joins Australia's Graham Arnold as assistants to head coach Guus Hiddink. FFA chief executive John O'Neill said Neeskens had been recruited to give Australia every possible chance of performing well at next year's FIFA World Cup? in Germany.
"We said we would leave no stone unturned to get to Germany and now we are applying the same philosophy towards our tournament preparations," O'Neill said in a statement.
Neeskens, who was sacked earlier this month by his struggling Dutch club NEC Nijmegen, played 49 times for the Netherlands, including FIFA World Cup final appearances in 1974 and 1978.
He was also a three-time European Cup winner with Ajax Amsterdam in the early 1970s and served as Hiddink's assistant coach to the Dutch side that reached the 1998 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
"I'm looking forward to realising the best possible results with the team of Australia, along with Guus Hiddink, Graham Arnold and all the staff members during the World Cup in Germany," he said.
Australia beat Uruguay in a penalty shoot-out in November to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years.
In Germany, they will face defending champions Brazil, Asian champions Japan and Croatia in Group F.
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01-10-06, 12:24 PM
Neeskens appointed Australia's assistant coach
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