Rash of Coaching Changes Hasn’t Affected U.S., Arena
Just imagine the reaction if Robert S. Contiguglia, the president of U.S. Soccer, had released the following statement when the U.S. national team returned from Costa Rica:
“Mr. Arena has failed to carry out his job effectively both on and off the field and it is my opinion that the standard of discipline within the team has decreased and he must take full responsibility for this.
“In addition, the failure of the national team to qualify for the World Cup finals has set back our national program and therefore I have taken the decision to remove him as technical director.”
Bruce Arena did not come home to such a frosty welcome, even though the U.S. lost its third qualifying game in a row on Wednesday night falling to Costa Rica, 2-0, after earlier setbacks against Mexico and Honduras.
Instead, Jamaica’s coach, Clovis de Oliveira, received that bad news Thursday from Horace Burrell, president of the Jamaican soccer federation, who delivered the above explanation for de Oliveira’s ouster.
And so, in the wake of Jamaica’s 1-0 loss to Honduras on Wednesday night, its 2-1 loss to Mexico Sept. 1, and before its next game, against the U.S. on Oct. 7, de Oliveira became the fifth national team coach in the past week to either step down or be fired as the qualifying campaign for Korea/Japan 2002 enters its closing stages.
On Friday it was revealed that Colombia’s coach, Francisco “Pacho” Maturana, would be leaving once Colombia’s World Cup campaign had ended.
In addition to de Oliveira, Adnan Hamd was fired by Iraq and Bertalan Bicskei was shown the door by Hungary. Chile’s coach, Pedro Garcia, resigned under pressure, and Abdulla Saqr quit as coach of the United Arab Emirates just before being dismissed. Maturana’s approaching departure in Colombia also is believed to have been forced.
Scotland’s Craig Brown is not likely to have his contract renewed in the wake of a 2-0 loss to Belgium on Wednesday that all but ended Scotland’s World Cup chances. By Friday, British bookmakers were offering 6-1 odds that Manchester United Coach Alex Ferguson would take over as Scotland’s coach.
Hungary’s Bicskei might have been speaking for every national team coach when he said: “I was not surprised by the decision. Over the past y 11/2 years, ahead of every single game I expected that I might be fired if we lose.”
Some coaches go to bizarre lengths to avoid such eventualities. For instance, take Poland’s Jerzy Engel.
When the Poles qualified for the World Cup last week by shutting out Norway, 3-0, Engel sported the peculiar paraphernalia of a superstitious soul.
He wore his lucky gray-brown raincoat, and in his pockets, he kept an elephant mascot given to him by his daughter and a rosary from Pope John Paul, fellow Pole and soccer fan.
But on Wednesday, Poland was trounced, 4-1, by Belarus. It is unknown exactly what Engel wore or carried, but he did have a good line. “Consider the goals to be our souvenirs to you,” he told Belarus Coach Eduard Malofeev.
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Other recent losses have produced less humorous responses. Germany’s already infamous 5-1 defeat against England in Munich caused Coach Rudi Voeller, a 1990 World Cup winner as a player, to say he would resign if Germany failed to reach Korea/Japan 2002.
But Voeller got a strong show of support from Franz Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player and coach and is also chairman of the organizing committee of the 2006 World Cup in Germany and a vice-president of the German soccer federation.
“It would be a huge mistake to criticize a year’s good work from Rudi Voeller,” Beckenbauer said. “He is a rallying point for German soccer. I’m saying clearly he should stay as coach even if we don’t qualify for the World Cup.”
In the Netherlands, Louis van Gaal was shown only lukewarm support after the Dutch had been beaten, 1-0, by Ireland in a game that saw their World Cup hopes evaporate and subsequently caused the Dutch soccer federation to cancel a game against Brazil without even consulting Van Gaal.
“I always serve my contract until the end,” Van Gaal said. “I intend to stay even if there is opposition or repercussion.” Equally blunt was Jozef Chovanec, coach of the Czech Republic, which was upset, 3-1, by Iceland last week. That result had Chovanec fuming.
“I can yell at them, but I can’t get out there and run on the field with them,” he said.
All of which brings us to Oleg Romantsev, a delightful chap who just happens to coach Russia’s national team.
He was incensed when Russia was beaten, 2-1, by Slovenia on a dubious last-minute penalty. During the subsequent tirade, he looked ahead to Russia’s next two qualifying games, the first of which was at the Faroe Islands.
“If we can’t beat teams from sheep-rearing islands and Switzerland, we don’t deserve to go to the World Cup finals,” he said.
The United States’ last two qualifying games also are against island nations, Jamaica first, then Trinidad and Tobago.
But don’t expect Arena to utter any similarly colorful quote. It just might get him fired. Apparently, nothing else will.
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Road to World Cup
QUALIFIED: Japan and South Korea (co-hosts), France (defending champion), Argentina, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Nigeria, Poland, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia.
ONE VICTORY AWAY: Belgium, Denmark, England, Italy, Portugal, Russia.
PLAYOFF GUARANTEED: Australia, Romania, Turkey.
STILL IN SERIOUS CONTENTION: Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia.
WHAT LIES AHEAD: Qualifying play ends in November. The draw to divide the 32 finalists into eight groups of four for the May 31-June 30 World Cup will be held in South Korea on Dec. 1.
