Fans buy plane ticket for Advocaat

Dutch fans at Euro 2004 have clubbed together to buy a plane ticket out of Portugal for coach Dick Advocaat following the 3-2 defeat by the Czech Republic. Advocaat was blamed for making a substitution in the second half which allowed the Czechs to...

Dutch fans at Euro 2004 have clubbed together to buy a plane ticket out of Portugal for coach Dick Advocaat following the 3-2 defeat by the Czech Republic.

Advocaat was blamed for making a substitution in the second half which allowed the Czechs to come back from 2-1 down.

"We collected the money in just three minutes," said Johan de Laat who organised the initiative on a camp site in Portugal.

Advocaat's ticket was booked for tomorrow's Virgin Express flight from Faro to Brussels, costing €163.14. The Dutch play their last Group D game on Wednesday, needing to win to have any chance of reaching the quarter-finals. "We will give him the ticket through room service at his hotel," de Laat said. "He doesn't have to come back to the Netherlands."

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