New Belgium coach Van Bommel had no hesitation accepting job

BRUSSELS: Belgium’s new coach Mark van Bommel did ‌not hesitate to accept the job offer even if there might have been a chance to take over the national team of his native Netherlands, who are still looking for a coach after the World Cup.
Van Bommel, in his first press conference since his appointment late last month, said he jumped at the offer to replace Rudi Garcia as Belgium coach.
“Did I want to wait for the Dutch national team? No, not at all. I didn’t even think about that,” he said on Friday.
“As a coach, being in charge of a national team is one of the best jobs there is. You work with the best players in ‌a country.

And ‌there aren’t that many really top countries.
“I am very ‌happy ⁠to be here. ⁠It is different from coaching a club, but this challenge suits me well.
“In the past two years, I have had many offers, but none that I was convinced of. Things have moved very quickly here.

Coaching a country, and certainly Belgium, is an honor. Every coach wants to do this.”
Belgium reached the World Cup quarter-finals last month, but Garcia did not have his contract renewed, with Van Bommel, a ⁠former defender with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan and ‌who played for the Dutch in the ‌2010 World Cup final, quickly named as his replacement.
Van Bommel, 49, said winning was top ‌of his agenda. “As a footballer and a coach, you always want to ‌win,” he told reporters.
“You don’t know what will happen along the way, but you want to go as far as possible.