AMSTERDAM, March 14 (Reuters) - Dutch football greats Patrick Kluivert and Clarence Seedorf will assist Suriname in the run-up to this month’s World Cup playoffs as they bid for a first-ever place at the finals.
Suriname meet Bolivia in a World Cup inter-confederation play-off in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 26, and if they win, will take on Iraq at the same venue on March 31 for a place at the finals in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.
"It is not an official position," Suriname team general manager Brian Tevreden said on Saturday. "Clarence will remain a member of the supervisory board at the Dutch federation, but he will support me as a sounding board and as an ambassador for Suriname. Just like Patrick Kluivert."
Seedorf, 49, was born in Suriname but moved to the Netherlands aged two and went on to play 87 times for the Netherlands, including reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 1998.
Kluivert, also 49, scored 40 goals for the Dutch. His father came from Suriname.
"They both want to contribute ideas and see how we can further improve the path we have taken," Tevreden told the Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf.
Suriname coach Stanley Menzo, another former Dutch star, quit after their failure to secure direct qualification last November and has been replaced by Henk ten Cate, with ex-Dutch internationals Winston Bogarde and Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink added to the coaching staff in recent months.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
