As Coach of Mexico, ‘Bor-a, Bor-a’ Is Long Way From Belgrade

Outside one of this city’s more prestigious hotels, there is a rather accomplished statue of a man fighting to bring two young horses under control.

The man, his sombrero slipping off the back of his head, has one colt seemingly in hand, but the other, its mane flaring, is rearing and tugging at the reins in an effort to break free.

The artist has succeeded in capturing in sculpture the tension of the moment and the uncertainty of the outcome.

Bora Milutinovic can appreciate both the artist’s work and his subject’s plight. In many ways, he finds himself in the same position.

As coach of Mexico’s World Cup team, Milutinovic, or simply Bora as he is known throughout the country, also has his hands full. In his case, one of the colts is the Mexican national team, a temperamental aggregation capable of almost anything. The other is the Mexican public, which is perhaps even more volatile.

Milutinovic’s task for the past three years--a task now reaching its climax--has been to restrain the emotions of both, to guide both in the right direction without raising too many expectations.

He wants the players, for example, to believe in themselves, to have the confidence necessary to accomplish what Mexico has never done before--namely, win the World Cup.

At the same time, he wants the fans, the tens of thousands of ordinary Mexicans yearning for some symbol of hope in a time of increasing anxiety, not to expect too much. Failure will bring too great a disappointment.

So far, in the 41 months since he was appointed to the position, Milutinovic has succeeded in both these aims.

The greatest danger is now, however. Mexico has cleared its first two hurdles, beating Belgium and tying Paraguay, to virtually assure itself a spot in the next round. But with each success has come increasing pressure. The better Mexico does, the better it is expected to do.

Still, Milutinovic keeps smiling the matinee-idol smile that has been seen in newspapers and magazines from Mexicali to Merida. He, star player Hugo Sanchez and Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid are easily the most recognizable people in the country, and, of the three, he is the most popular.

He lives with his Mexican-born wife, Maria, in a comfortable home in the city’s fashionable Polanco district. They are soon to become parents. In fact, Milutinovic joked a few weeks ago that the baby would be born when Mexico scored its first goal of the World Cup.

That didn’t happen, but what has happened to Milutinovic in the past dozen or so years is still a source of wonder to him.

One of three soccer-playing sons of a soccer-playing father, Milutinovic came to Mexico as a player in 1973 after a successful career first with Partizan Belgrade in his native Yugoslavia and then with Nice, Monaco and Rouen in France.

In Mexico, he played for Universidad Nacional (better known as the Pumas of UNAM) for two seasons, then retired as a player and was named the club’s coach. As such, he met with even greater success, twice leading UNAM to the national championship and twice winning the Central American Club Cup.

Having proven himself as a coach, Milutinovic in 1983 was chosen to take over the reins of the national team, a move that was met with some skepticism by the ever-critical Mexican press. Milutinovic, however, maintained a reasonable outlook.

“I got the job because I had been successful at the club level,” he told London’s World Soccer magazine 18 months after his appointment. “I don’t expect the same success rate with the national team.”

Later during the same interview, Milutinovic explained the formula he would follow in preparing Mexico for the rigors of World Cup competition.

“All the successful World Cup teams . . . have succeeded not because the coach imposed a style but because he made the best use of the players available,” he said.

“This is all I want to do. I don’t believe the nonsense talked about a European style or a South American style. West Germany doesn’t play the same way as Italy, and Italy doesn’t play like Sweden. Brazilian football is totally different from Argentina’s, and that is different again from Uruguay’s.

“What I want to find with my team is the Mexican style. The Mexican footballer is generally quick and skillful and surprisingly strong over 90 minutes. What I have to develop is tactical awareness, professional concentration and, above all, self-confidence.”

During one of his frequent visits to California shortly before the World Cup began, Milutinovic was asked whether he thought he had succeeded in achieving these last three goals.

“Yes, I think so,” he replied. “Not very well, but quite well.”

The greatest difficulty he faced, he said, was in “getting all the players and the public to share my ideas about what we should do.”

But as it gradually became clear that Milutinovic knew exactly what he was doing, his acceptance grew, and the results began to show on the field.

“I believe in tactics, in hard physical training sessions and in getting to know your rivals through videos,” he said in Buenos Aires during a 1984 South American tour, “but more than anything, I believe in players of quality.”

On this point, Milutinovic and the Mexican Soccer Federation saw eye to eye. More than a year ago, the federation decided to allow Milutinovic free access to the country’s top players. Clubs were told they would have to release players to the national coach for as long as he wanted them.

Although this move considerably diluted the national championship, it did give Milutinovic 12 months to build what is truly a team. The results have shown on the field. Mexico in the past year has beaten or tied such powerful teams as England, West Germany, Argentina, Italy, Poland, Uruguay, the Soviet Union and Hungary.

In 62 preparatory matches played in Mexico as well as during tours of South America, Europe, Africa and North America over the three years that Milutinovic has had charge of the team, Mexico has lost only eight times.

The most recent loss, a 3-0 defeat by England on May 17 at the Los Angles Coliseum, might have proved a devastating blow so near the World Cup, but the spirit and confidence that Milutinovic has instilled in the team allowed it to bounce back with no apparent ill-effects.

“The loss was expected,” Milutinovic said. “Now, I am more optimistic than ever, because they (the English players) knocked us off the pedestal on which fan madness had placed us.”

Of course, Mexico’s fans have just as quickly restored the team atop that pedestal, and Milutinovic is right up there with his 22 players.

After Mexico’s opening victory over Belgium, the scene in at least one hotel made it appear as if Mexico had just won the World Cup. Hundreds of fans paraded through the lobby, the bar and the restaurants, singing, shouting, waving flags and generally creating such a disturbance that the hotel’s management shut down the bar three hours early and suggested that the celebrants leave.

They did, but went only as far as the square in front of the hotel, where they congregated around the statue of the man and the two horses.

Soon, passing drivers were treated to the sight of dozens of flag-draped, rain-soaked fans splashing about in the fountain, riding the sculpted horses and all the while chanting over and over, “ Bor-a, Bor-a, Bor-a .”

They never did that in Belgrade.