De Boer marked his first match to coach the Netherlands with a 1-0 defeat to Mexico in a friendly match.
Frank De Boer argued that the defeat he experienced in his debut match to coach the Dutch national team was understandable, because this was his first match and he had rested a number of pillar players.
Mexico defeated De Boer and his troops in a friendly match at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Wednesday (7/10). Raul Jimenez’s penalty scored the difference in the match that brought De Boer with his predecessor at Atalnta United, Gerardo Martino, who is now coaching Mexico.
As is known, Martino coached the MLS club before being replaced by De Boer. Poor results led De Boer to parting ways with Atlanta in July and a few months later he was appointed to coach the Netherlands, replacing Ronald Koeman who moved to Barcelona.
De Boer has a notorious reputation in recent years, having only lasted three months at Inter Milan before being sacked by Crystal Palace despite only having played seven games in charge. Fans Orange even doubted De Boer’s capacity to pass on the baton from Koeman.
The defeat to Mexico in the inaugural match confirmed those concerns. But De Boer refused to be cornered for this bad result.
“Of course I am disappointed. I always wanted to win, but we made some logical choices by resting some of the core players,” said De Boer, who in this match gave debuts for Owen Wijndal and Teun Koopmeiners.
De Boer reasoned that the Dutch core players such as Frenkie de Jong and Daley Blind will be prepared for two more important matches in the UEFA Nations League against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy.
“Besides, I am not the only national team coach who lost his debut match,” he continued.
“This result is clearly unwanted, but this is just a trial match. We know a player like Frenkie de Jong is very important and he is not playing. However, don’t forget that Teun Koopmeiners played very well today in midfield.
Meanwhile, Martino, who won his 18th victory for Mexico from the last 19 matches, felt he deserved this result.
“We played well. We controlled the match. This result is fair. If you work well, then you determine the results. Today, we played very solidly,” said the former Barcelona coach.
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