Beenhakker coming to the end of the road as Poland face elimination at the hands of Croatia

This is likely to be his final appearance in a major tournament after a glittering career that has spanned nearly four decades, working in four continents.

"Mad, dirty and sick": Polish daily newspaper Super Express showing Michael Ballack and German coach Joachim Loew with their heads chopped off

His verbal attack on Barclays Premier League referee Howard Webb on Thursday night, after Austria were awarded a late penalty and equalised against Poland, showed the strain he feels.

He was furious in the build-up to Poland’s first game against Germany too as one of the country’s tabloids published a controversial photomontage of him holding the severed heads of Michael Ballack and Joachim Loew. He apologised to Germany, describing the image as "mad, dirty and sick".

It has been an eventful tournament for him, but an anti-climatic end looms. Former Real Madrid coach Beenhakker had said that Poland were capable of reaching the Euro 2008 final.

Having topped a difficult qualifying group – including Portugal, Serbia, Belgium and Finland – it did not seem impossible.

Beenhakker, a man with a love for cigars, has often dramatically over-achieved with unfancied nations. He took both Saudi Arabia and Trinidad & Tobago to World Cup qualification in 1994 and 2006 respectively.

But reaching the final is a different matter. Poland are a far cry from the Dutch team of the late Eighties and early Nineties that he coached.

In those days, he was barking out orders to Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. Now he has the likes of Southampton’s Marek Saganowski to work with.

Van Basten: king of Europe

Saganowski: no champion

The 65-year-old coach will not use technically inferior players as an excuse, though. "n football, two plus two is never four," said Beenhakker. "It is always three or five. We don’t play on paper. We play on the field."

Beenhakker has been attracted to relatively obscure roles because he has always wanted to prove a point – that football is a universal language and nations or clubs do not need a history of success to flourish.

"I’ve worked in many cultures and countries but there’s only one football culture," said Beenhakker.

Beenhakker: "My philosophy is the Dutch philosophy"

"Each country has its own cultural life, political life, religious life and they can keep it. All I ask is, 'Give me your football life'. Give it to me and I can show that football culture is worldwide.

"There are many Dutch coaches who are succeeding all around the world," he added.

"My philosophy is the Dutch philosophy. You know Dutch teams, you know Dutch football. If you have seen Dutch teams, you know the Dutch philosophy."

If Poland do not replicate the feats of the modern Dutch team, by putting on a splendid show tonight, then Beenhakker’s remaining Euro 2008 interest may be in his protégé Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has already scored a contender for goal of the tournament against holders Greece and added to his tally against Spain.

While Beenhakker was Ajax’s director of technical affairs, a role he held in 2000-03, he fell out with the club’s respected head coach Co Adriaanse over the Swedish striker.

Ibrahimovic, who Beenhakker discovered and signed, was being left on the bench.
Adriaanse was sacked by Beenhakker and replaced by Ronald Koeman, who gave Ibrahimovic a regular place.

Ibrahimovic: how Beenhakker could do now with the striker he discovered for Ajax

"I am not surprised he is now one of the best strikers in the world," said Beenhakker of Ibrahimovic. "When I first went to see him, he was not well-known. I only watched him in training. But I knew he was going to be a great player.

"I hadn’t yet watched him in a game but it was clear that he had the qualities and I should sign him."

If only Poland had an Ibrahimovic playing for them on Monday night. Maybe he would have scripted a happy ending for his old boss.