GUWAHATI: IF that famous surname wasn’t confirmation enough, then those facial features he shares with his younger brother were. Erwin Koeman comes from Dutch footballing royalty — his father Martin played for the Netherlands and his brother Ronald is regarded as one of the best central defenders of all-time, a mainstay in the Oranje of Ruud Gullit, Dennis Bergkamp and Marco van Basten. Erwin himself did not have too bad a playing career, making 31 appearances for the Dutch national team.
Over the next couple of days, the Koeman brothers will lead the respective national teams that they coach, into battle. Ronald will command the attention of the footballing world when the Dutch side, that he coaches, takes on Germany in a Euro 2020 qualifier on Friday. Erwin though will be on duty in a distant outpost of the footballing map on Thursday. He is here in Guwahati as the coach of the Oman team that will take on India in a 2022 World Cup qualifier.
“I haven’t seen him in one year,” Erwin laughed when asked about his brother. “But yeah, we talk on the phone regularly. We last worked together in England (during Ronald’s stint in the Premier League). He is also preparing for his game on Friday.”
Erwin’s journey has intertwined with that of his brother at multiple points. They spent a year together at
Groningen — Erwin after his career failed to take off at PSV Eindhoven and Ronald on the verge of a career-making move to Ajax. They both made their Netherlands debut in the same match against Sweden in 1983. After stints at Feyenoord and the Hungarian national team, he joined forces with his brother once again when Ronald was appointed as coach of Premier League team Southampton. Erwin joined as assistant manager, a role that he would perform at Everton as well. But when Ronald was appointed the Dutch coach in 2018, Erwin declined to follow him, preferring to revive his own managerial career instead.
He replaced Pim Verbeek as Oman coach in 2019. Like his India counterpart Igor Stimac, he has only had a few months to impose his philosophy on his players. “With the national team, it’s always a difficult task,” he said. “We do not have enough time. There is an international break by FIFA so we know when we can play. Of course, we would like to play more games but we have to deal with this.
“But I like it very much in Oman. It’s a safe country. I like people who are involved in football here. I am happy with the team I have.”