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De Boer bows out with hatful of caps and regrets
Frank de Boer bowed out of international football with a Dutch record haul of 112 caps and more regrets than he cares to mention.
Frank de Boer bowed out of international football with a Dutch record haul of 112 international caps and more regrets than he cares to mention.
Four times in a 14-year-career in the famous orange strip, de Boer was part of Dutch squads that suffered the frustration of losing in the semi-final of a major tournament.
On three of those occasions — at Euro 92, the World Cup in France in 1998 and at Euro 2000 — penalty shoot-outs cost him and his team-mates the chance of a place in the final.
The memory of those agonising nights meant Portugal's 2-1 win here on Wednesday was easier to bear but it was nevertheless a moving moment for de Boer, who missed what should have been his farewell match with an ankle injury.
"It was a painful way for things to end," de Boer said after hobbling out of the Dutch dressing room on crutches.
"Of course what I had in my mind was to lift the Cup. But life and football don't always go how you want them to.
"I am not an emotional guy. But I think when I sit around the table with the players for the last time and then say goodbye to everyone, then I'm going to realise that it is over."
Of the four semi-finals he was involved in, de Boer admitted it was the last one that will give him the least cause for regret.
"This one, I think we didn't deserve to be in the final," he admitted. "In 92 I think we deserved it, in the World Cup in 1998 I think we deserved it and in 2000 also.
"It is hard. We have so much quality and to stand now at the end of my career empty handed — I would rather have finished with only 20 caps and won one trophy."
De Boer, 34, now plans to finish his career alongside his twin brother Ronald in Qatar, having turned down the chance to play on for one more season at Scottish giants Rangers.
The former Ajax and Barcelona defender said the ankle ligament injury he sustained in the quarter-final against Sweden would not affect his money-spinning move to the Gulf.
"It is only four to six weeks (recovery) and I expect to be moving out there in the second half of August."
De Boer, who opted to quit Rangers after it was made clear that Ronald would not be offered another contract at Ibrox, added: "It was hard to leave Rangers.
"But I made a pact with Ronald. If Ronald was not there I would have surely stayed at Rangers because I had a fantastic time there. But I promised Ronald we would end our careers together, so why not."
Wednesday's defeat is expected to trigger a changing of the guard in the Dutch national squad with de Boer retiring and Phillip Cocu, 33, Jaap Stam, 31, and Marc Overmars, 31, among the older players who are not expected to be around by the time of the next World Cup in Germany in two years' time.
But de Boer believes the future of the Oranje is in good hands.
"There is a lot of talent left," he said. "(Rafael) van der Vaart is coming, (Wesley) Sneijder is coming. Ruud van Nistelrooy is there, Clarence Seedorf is still young and Edgar Davids can still go. So there is a lot there and I'm not worried about it."
One of de Boer's contemporaries who is definitely not retiring is former Celtic and Nottingham Forest star Pierre van Hooijdonk.
"For me you don't retire from the national team," the 34-year-old said. "You retire from football but not the national team.
"It is too big an honour. When the moment comes and the coach decides he has someone better, that is it but I would not quit by myself."
