Pacific Games lures in coach
As someone who once had his wages paid from the proceeds of a bank robbery during his time playing in Corsica, Wim Rijsbergen appreciates the idea of one last job.
The former Holland defender - who played at the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals and alongside Pele during the rock’n’roll heyday of New York Cosmos – has taken on an unlikely last challenge: to win this year’s Pacific Games with the Solomon Islands.
“I’m 67 and I was retired, but when I got offered this job, my kids said to me: ‘Dad, why not?’” says Rijsbergen while watching his new charges from the sidelines of a training session in the Dutch provincial town of Goirle.
“It’s the only part of the world I’ve never worked in and I think I’ll be the only Dutch
