Coaches Are Told It’s Stoppage Time
Two days after the end of the World Cup, the sound of slamming doors is reverberating throughout the soccer world as one coach after another is shown the way out.
In the 48 hours after Brazil’s victory over Germany on Sunday, Saudi Arabia fired its coach, Spain’s coach stepped down and the president of the French soccer federation stated flatly that France’s coach will get his pink slip later this week.
Saudi Arabia’s Nasser al Johar was the first to fall. Under his charge, the Saudis lost their three World Cup games--the most humiliating an 8-0 drubbing by Germany--and failed to score a goal.
All the same, Prince Nawaf bin Faysal ben Abdul Aziz, head of the Saudi delegation at the World Cup, vowed only one month ago that Al Johar would keep his job come what may.
Al Johar did not help his cause, however, when he said that “people in Saudi Arabia should lower their expectations” concerning the national team. But the Saudi soccer federation also shares some responsibility. It has appointed and fired six coaches since 1998.
Prince Sultan bin Fahd, head of the federation, said five foreign candidates are being considered for Al Johar’s position. One of them might be Brazil’s World Cup-winning coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has said he would like to coach a foreign team--in other words, one that can pay very handsomely, and the Saudis fit that bill.
Spain, meanwhile, is looking for its first new coach in four years after Jose Antonio Camacho on Tuesday said he had had enough.
“I did my job and now I am leaving,” Camacho said at a news conference in Madrid. “I believe the national team is not dependent on the coach. All I think it needs is that little bit of luck that we have been missing in the past.”
It was certainly missing at Korea/Japan ‘02, where a patently incorrect call by a linesman denied Spain a goal against South Korea and cost Camacho’s team a place in the semifinals.
“Life is made up of stages and this one is finished for me,” he said. “The Euro 2004 [championship in Portugal] is two years away and the next World Cup another two. I need more [immediate] challenges.”
Camacho finished with a 28-7-9 record as Spain’s coach, leading it to the quarterfinals of Euro 2000 and the quarterfinals of the World Cup.
In France, Roger Lemerre’s days as coach appear to be dwindling down to a not-so-precious few in the wake of the 1998 world champion’s first-round ouster from the Cup. He has refused to resign and might be forced out.
“I don’t see any other solution [but to change coaches],” Claude Simonet, president of the French Football Federation (FFF), told France Football magazine.
The FFF will meet Friday to resolve Lemerre’s fate. His contract runs through 2004, but already several names have surfaced as potential replacements.
One is Philippe Troussier, who took co-host Japan to the final 16 of the World Cup before stepping down. Another is former national team midfielder Alain Giresse, now coaching in Morocco.
France starts its Euro 2004 qualifying campaign in September, and Simonet said a new coach will be in place this month.
Russia, too, is casting around for a replacement for Oleg Romantsev, who resigned after Russia failed to advance to the second round.
A newspaper survey in Moscow over the weekend showed that 79.6% of 14,000 Russians polled said they wanted to see a foreign coach take over the national team. The top three “people’s choices” were Dino Zoff, Italy’s 1982 World Cup-winning goalkeeper; former AC Milan coach Alberto Zaccheroni, and Richard Moller Nielsen, who coached Denmark to its Euro ’92 title and recently resigned as Israel’s coach.
Brazil Homecoming
Almost a half-million people turned out on the streets of the Brazilian capital of Brasilia to honor Ronaldo and the rest of Brazil’s World Cup winners when the team returned home.
The party was not confined to the ground. Overhead, Air Force planes spelled out the words “Five-Time Champion” in white smoke.
At the presidential palace, Scolari, the coach, and his players were embraced individually by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and each was presented with the National Medal of Honor.
Kahn Wins Golden Ball
Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has won the Golden Ball as the outstanding player at the 2002 World Cup.
Kahn received 25% of the votes cast by the World Cup media and Ronaldo received 21%. Much of the voting was done before Sunday’s final.
Ronaldo, who won the Golden Ball in 1998, received the Silver Ball and South Korea defender Hong Myung-Bo (18%) received the Bronze Ball.
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WORLD CUP LEADERS
*--* Scoring leaders at each World Cup: YEAR PLAYER, COUNTRY GOALS 2002 Ronaldo, Brazil 8 1998 Davor Suker, Croatia 6 1994 Hristo Stoitchkov, Bulgaria 6 Oleg Salenko, Russia 6 1990 Salvatore Schillaci, Italy 6 1986 Gary Lineker, England 6 1982 Paolo Rossi, Italy 6 1978 Mario Kempes, Argentina 6 1974 Gregorz Lato, Poland 7 Gerd Muller, Germany 10 1966 Eusebio, Portugal 9 1962 Garrincha, Brazil 4 Valentin Ivanov, Soviet Union 4 Leonel Sanchez, Chile 4 Vava, Brazil 4 Florian Albert, Hungary 4 Drazan Jerkovic, Yugoslavia 4 1958 Just Fontaine 13 1950 Ademir, Brazil 9 1938 Leonidas, Brazil 8 1934 Oldrich Nejedly, 5 Czechoslovakia 1930 Guillermo Stabile, Argentina 8
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