5 legends who have played and managed at the FIFA World Cup

Its hard enough to get a chance to play at the FIFA World Cup but to both play and later manage your national team is extraordinary.Here are 5great legends who have managed to do so.

#5 Marco van Basten

Van Basten played 58 games for Netherlands scoring 24 goals from 1983-1992. His first majot tournamnet was Euro 1988 where he scored 5 crucial goals and was named Player of the Tournament. He has however never scored in the World Cup despite playing in the 1990 World Cup. Netherlands were knocked out in the second round by Germany. He has had an amazing domestic career however scoring 218 goals in 280 appearances for Ajax and AC Milan.

Van Basten coached Netherlands for 4 years from 2004-2008. He was heavily criticized for dropping regulars like Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids as he believed that they were underachieving or past their prime. During the 2006 World Cup, the Netherlands won all their group stage matches but were eliminated by Portugal in the Round of 16.

Many critics blamed the loss on Van Basten as he picked Dirk Kuyt, who failed to score in the entire tournament over Ruud van Nistelrooy. He stepped down after Netherlands were knocked out of Euro 2008 in the quarter-finals.