It’s never easy coming into a club to replace a coach who’s had great success and enjoyed great admiration. You’re in that position now. How do you keep what’s working but also make your own mark on a team?
FdB: Coming in after last year [Atlanta United were 2018 MLS champions under Tata Martino – who left to take over the Mexico National Team] you have to adapt and ask players to adapt. Both have to come to useful compromises. Slowly, you integrate your own ideas and sometimes you have to take two steps back to make one step forward. It’s not always easy when you’re new and the players might be used to a different style, especially when they had success before you. Eventually you hope to convince them that your way is the right way.
You played under some legends –Leo Beenhakker, Guus Hiddink, Louis van Gaal and others – do you have one coach you look to most for inspiration or guidance?
FdB: I try to take a little of the best stuff from every coach I had. I like certain qualities that certain coaches had – from Beenhakker to Van Gaal. All of my coaches had a big influence on me and were a big part of my own development as a coach now. Hiddink and [Frank] Rijkaard too – it’s impossible to single one out. They all have their own special qualities to consider.
Coming from Europe, how prepared were you for the distances you need to travel in a country as big as the U.S.? Also, how disruptive is the heat here in a league and Cup played through the summer months?
FdB: I knew that heat from when I played here in the World Cup in 1994. As a player, it’s something you really need to adapt to. It’s also major impact on the body – it’s an attack on the body every time you board a plane. And we don’t travel like other sports do here in America – we’re not on charter flights – and that can add hours sitting around airports with delays. It all adds up on a player. In Europe the maximum is maybe three hours if you’re in the champions league or if you’re going from Barcelona to Tenerife it can be long. It’s a big difference playing here in the States, but at least all the teams have the same problem.
Speaking of your playing days with Barcelona, Ajax and the Dutch National Team – where you were capped 112 times – what would you say are the major changes in the game since you retired in 2006?
FdB: Every eight or ten years you see the game change in big ways. It was counter-to-counter and then it was the possession game. And now it’s possession and playing from the back and there are demands on everyone to be good with their feet – even the center backs and the goalkeepers. You have to be comfortable on the ball. Even in Italy you see it, where it was so conservative for so long. You are seeing these changes everywhere. When I watched Atletico [Madrid] beat Real Madrid the other day [7-3 in the International Champions Cup] it was really fun to watch and it felt like something new was happening again. I was in shock at how they played with the ball, coming out of their own penalty area with those triangles. The pressure is high up the field now, so the demand is to play through it. To play between the lines. This is a fresh way today.
Would you say you have a defined philosophy of the game or a favored formation?
FdB: I don’t have much of a defined philosophy or formation. I want to always try to dominate the game. The formation can change, but I’m happy if we’re out there trying to dominate and create.
What do you expect from the Open Cup Semifinal with Orlando on Tuesday, August 6 [live on ESPN+]? They are regional rivals and likely to be pushing hard to reach a first Final in club history.
FdB: We’re close to Orlando City and so we have a little rivalry with them. It will be a tense game I can tell you that. They will know there’s a prize to be won and it’s easier to win that in their position than it is to win MLS Cup [Editor’s note: at the time of publishing, Orlando City are in 9th place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings]. They are two games away from a trophy just like we are. They will put out their strongest team in this game and we will have to prepare for a battle. That’s always the nicest thing about Cups; they are always intense with energy, always a battle.
