Revolving Doors for Coaches Start Spinning All Over World

Trying to keep track of everything that goes on in the soccer world is not unlike trying to keep up with Cobi Jones when the Galaxy winger is in full flight.

It can’t be done.

The best thing, therefore, is simply to keep browsing the Internet, keep stabbing the up-channel, down-channel buttons on the TV remote and keep flipping through the pages of the myriad soccer magazines that arrive from far-off places.

Not a single day goes by that a meaningful match is not being played somewhere on the planet. For those who are fans of the sport as a whole rather than a single team, soccer is a year-round hobby, if not an addiction.

And amid the torrent of information available there are always enough oddities and tidbits to keep the most jaded fan happy.

In the last week or so, for example, Argentina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and Spain each chose a new national coach, while South Africa, the United States and Zimbabwe moved closer to doing so.

Jose Antonio Camacho was named to succeed Javier Clemente as Spain’s coach, and the 43-year-old former Real Madrid player promised no surprises.

“A lot of people have asked me if there will be a revolution now that I’m in charge,” he said, “but I don’t think so. The players that have been in the squad were there for a reason, and the majority are going to stay there. The old coach had his ideas and I have mine, but there are not going to be many immediate changes.”

Camacho’s first game in charge will be against Russia on Wednesday, by which time the Russians should be celebrating a coup of sorts, although coup is not a word they like.

The Russian Football Union (RFS) on Tuesday signed an eight-year sponsorship agreement with the Coca-Cola Co. that was termed a “significant investment.” Financial figures were not revealed.

That gives Vyacheslav Koloskov, the RFS president, a second tie to the U.S. His son played soccer for Notre Dame.

Bulgaria selected Dimitar Dimitrov, 39, as its new national coach, taking the place of Hristo Bonev. Said Dimitrov in typically stolid fashion: “Our main goal should be to form an efficient team which will start the 2002 World Cup qualifiers successfully.”

Which is also going to be the goal of Bruce Arena, should the Washington D.C. United coach land the U.S. job, as expected.

Arena flew to Denver last week to have dinner with Bob Contiguglia, the newly elected president of U.S. Soccer. “It was a good meeting . . . delightful,” Contiguglia told the Washington Post. “He is very knowledgeable about our programs and has come through all levels.”

But three other candidates--Bora Milutinovic, Carlos Queiroz and Carlos Alberto Parreira--remain in the running, and Contiguglia said he might be making a foreign trip to interview at least one of them.

It might be a wasted journey, given the Denver doctor’s preference for a U.S.-born coach. “An American coach gives prestige to our leagues,” he told the Post. “It adds to our national spirit.”

The last U.S. game this year is against Australia on Nov. 6, possibly in Orlando or Miami, but the Americans’ first important tournament has suddenly been placed in jeopardy.

European club teams are balking at releasing players for the eight-nation Confederations Cup, which originally was scheduled for Jan. 8-22 in Mexico. Now, the tournament might be postponed.

FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter said the matter will be discussed at FIFA executive committee meetings on Thursday and Friday. He hinted that the tournament dates might be changed or that FIFA might reduce the number of days clubs must release players for such events.

The competing teams are Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Egypt, France, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United States. World champion France, however, has said it might withdraw, just as Germany did earlier.

The Germans are getting used to their first new national coach in eight years, Berti Vogts having resigned and Erich Ribbeck having taken charge, with Uli Stielike as his deputy.

Ribbeck, 61, said age will not be a factor in his team selection, although the German squad has been accused of being far too long in the tooth.

“The question is who will play the best,” Ribbeck said. “It doesn’t matter if they are old or young, big or small.”

Japan named former South Africa coach Philippe Troussier, 43, as its new mentor, and the Netherlands selected an even younger coach, Frank Rijkaard, 35. Johan Neeskens, 46, a onetime New York Cosmos player, will be his assistant.

“Yes, I’m quite young,” Rijkaard said, “but I have a lot of experience as a player and obviously I was an assistant at the [1998] World Cup. Don’t forget Neeskens is older and has a lot of experience. I think it’s going to work.”

Argentina’s new coach, Marcelo Bielsa, has not yet indicated whether he will continue the policy of his predecessor, 1978 world champion Daniel Passarella, who banned long hair, earrings and gays from his team.

Colombia selected 40-year-old Javier Alvarez as its coach, bypassing former coach Francisco Maturana, who had uttered one of the more memorable resume lines when he said he would not object to returning to his old job.

“I haven’t been vaccinated against coaching the national team again,” he said. “I haven’t ruled out the possibility of returning.”

Now, it looks more likely that he might end up coaching Bolivia or Costa Rica, both of which are pursuing him.

Alvarez, meanwhile, is intent on changing the Colombian players’ temperament, which has often led such stars as Faustino Asprilla astray. “My program is, above all, to try to educate and improve the way of thinking of the players,” Alvarez said.

It might be better if he concentrated more on finding a replacement for Carlos Valderrama, the Miami Fusion player now retired from the national team.

Emerging from semi-retirement last week was Bruce Grobbelaar, who decades ago used to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps before achieving stardom with Liverpool. Now 41, he was named Zimbabwe’s interim coach on Wednesday.

Neighboring South Africa is chasing one of the U.S. coaching candidates, Parreira, Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning coach. Like Holland’s Ruud Krol, Parreira remains a longshot, however, with England’s Ron Atkinson a more likely selection. “I have done a lot of things in a lifetime in football, managed big teams and been in charge of big-name players,” Atkinson told Reuters, “but this would be a big new adventure. Something different, and it excites me.

“As soon as I got off the plane [in Johannesburg] and I felt all that sun on my face I thought, ‘Yep, this will do for me.’ ”

Atkinson coached John Harkes when the former U.S. captain was playing for Sheffield Wednesday. Now, Harkes--dropped from the World Cup ’98 team by Steve Sampson--might be recalled, especially if Arena, his coach at D.C. United, gets the position.

And so it goes. Soccer is circles within circles, all spinning in different directions. Keeping up can make you dizzy. Just like chasing Cobi Jones.