Top ten managers of the World Cup
Takeshi Okada
Sometimes in-depth tactical analysis can overcomplicate the fairly basic job of a manager – to get the best out of his players. Here are the ten managers who did that well at this World Cup.
10. Takeshi Okada, Japan
The allegation before the tournament was that Okada was failing to get the best out of a decent bunch of players, but a late switch in tactics meant Japan were reasonably impressive in their advance to the second round. The surprise use of Keshuke Honda upfront was inspired, and Honda received plenty of support from four midfield runners in a formation that was rigid defensively and fluid upfront. The second round game against Paraguay was awful, but it was the first time Japan had got to that stage on foreign soil.
9. Carlos Alberto Parreira, South Africa
South Africa were written off before the tournament as no-hopers, but Parreira’s job in a relatively short space of time should be respected; when he took over last October, they’d lost their last five games. Under his reign, they were unbeaten in 13 coming into the tournament. They led against Mexico, only capitulated in the final minutes against Uruguay when down to ten men, and they recorded a memorable, if futile, victory over France in the final group game. Not qualifying was regarded as a failure in South Africa, but Parreira did well to even give them a chance.
8. Gerardo Martino, Paraguay
What will you remember about Paraguay’s World Cup in six months’ time? Probably very little, but Paraguayans will remember it forever – the first time in their history they had reached the quarter-final stage. And when they got there, they gave Spain a fright – only going behind the final ten minutes, having missed a penalty. Their 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 hybrid was reasonably interesting, and one bizarre point of note was Martino’s decision to change six players between the second round and the quarter-final – surely a World Cup knockout stages record.
7. Ricki Herbert, New Zealand
Ricki Herbert
7th place for the manager of a team who didn’t qualify for the knockout stages seems ridiculous, but Herbert’s side were the only unbeaten team in the competition. On paper, his squad was the weakest of the 32 teams, and they had the longest odds to win the competition. Herbert’s 3-4-3 system made New Zealand difficult to break down, and levelled the playing field against technically superior opponents. The draw with the reigning World Champions was a genuine achievement – Herbert’s tactics guiding players from the likes of Plymouth Argyle and Motherwell to a point against players from Juventus, Milan and Roma.
6. Bert van Marwijk, Holland
His biggest achievement, of course, was to keep the in-fighting to a minimum. But tactically van Marwijk managed to create a well-organised, functional XI. They defended well from the front, vital since their back four was supposedly their weak link, but often failed to convince going forward. Ultimately, they’ll be remembered for the spoiling tactics they used in the final.
5. Joachim Loew, Germany
It was quite a task for Loew to create a cohesive team. Michael Ballack, the captain, was injured shortly before the tournament, whilst Lukas Podolski and Miroslov Klose were coming off awful domestic seasons, and Mesut Oezil, Sami Khedira and Thomas Mueller were highly-rated but unproven at international level. But Loew’s side worked brilliantly together, producing three of the most impressive displays of the tournament against Australia, England and Argentina. He managed to maintain the positive German stereotypes (ruthless, efficient, well-organised) whilst ditching the negative ones (boring, lacking flair) to create a terrific side that hit greater peaks than any other.
4. Vicente del Bosque, Spain
As the winner of the World Cup, he should probably be number one. But del Bosque was in charge of the most talented squad in the competition, so would have had to do something spectacular to be deemed as furthering the abilities of his players. Spectacular? Probably not, but ruthless and efficient. He never really seemed sure of his best XI – first Spain lost, then Torres struggled for four games, then Villa wasn’t at his best for the final two. Not that it mattered. The use of two holding midfielders worked wonders when it came to ball retention, and not conceding a goal in four knockout games is an incredible record.
Marcelo Bielsa
3. Marcelo Bielsa, Chile
We all knew Chile were a major force after their highly successful qualification campaign, but that shouldn’t detract from the fact that Bielsa was getting the best out of a set of relative unknowns. The first two games against Honduras and Switzerland should have been won by more convincing scorelines than 1-0, and a fully fit Humberto Suazo would have made a huge difference. Chile were unfortunate to come up against the two pre-tournament favourites after that – had they been given the draw of their South American neighbour Uruguay or Paraguay, they surely would have fared better.
2. Oscar Tabarez, Uruguay
Tabarez is a true tactician. He didn’t come into the tournament with a favoured system or a stubborn belief in how his team should set out, he altered his formation and approach according to the opposition he faced. There is a case for saying Uruguay played five separate formations in their seven games – the only constant was the use of two holding midfielders to protect the defence, and they didn’t concede a single goal in the group stage. His tactics in the 1-0 win over Mexico were particularly inspired.
1. Milovan Rajevac, Ghana
Let’s remember, very few Ghanaian players other than Michael Essien were well-known at the start of 2010. And who had heard of their manager? Rajevac’s previous coaching experience consisted of coaching the likes of FK Vojvodina, Borac Cacak and Zeleznik. He created an excellent, disciplined young side that impressed at the Africa Cup of Nations, keeping the same formation and strategy for the World Cup, where they had to do without Essien. The 4-1-4-1 was solid at the back, dominant in midfield, and Asamoah Gyan was a constant threat upfront. Were it not for Luis Suarez’s hand, Rajevac would have been the first ever manager to guide an African side to the semi-finals of a World Cup – and this from a side who were favourites to finish bottom of their group.
Edit:
A Twitter survey of ZM’s followers resulted in the view that the top 8 should be Loew, Tabarez, Bielsa, del Bosque, van Marwijk, Rejavac, Herbert, Martino, in that order.
Top ten managers of the World Cup
I really like the list but would have picked Löw as second. Everyone and especially in Germany expected very little from Germany before the WC. He had talented players but that was about it…
The defeat of Argentinia was IMO a tactical masterpiece, the way this young team defended against the like of tevez, higuain and especially messi was incredible.
Still his subs sometimes seemed to be questionable (especially against spain) nevertheless he had a huge impact on the peformance of his team (more than f.e. del bosque who just had the most talent in his side).
Giving props to Dunga would have been nice but not really deserved when you only get to the quarters with brazil, i just think that people/the media are being really harsh on him.
keep it up
Löw did a great job if you look at the injuries (Ballack, Rolfes, Adler, etc. etc.), Robert Enkes death, the drama around players like Kuranyi and Frings, etc. etc.
But like you wrote, his subs are not tactical masterpieces.
So he was lucky with the injuries. We’ll never know how good Germany would have played with Adler, Rolfes, or Westermann.
ZM, why a top ten? 32 teams -> top 10 managers, that is over 30 percent.
but i like you positive view. no worst manager bashing on this side.
Talking about del Bosque (or Dunga). I think it is easy to do something spectacular with such players. But having the balls to make them ruthless and efficient is a risk.
I think we all know who the worst was. Wake up the French and tell them that their nightmare is over. As for the other African teams I wouldn’t blame their coaches as much as their FAs for creating unrealistic expectations and then doing all that they could to ruin their chances.
I don’t know about German sub’s tactics. But if you look at that Kroos is the most talented player in Germany(if you look only at pure talent). Marin is a brilliant winger for Bremen. The problem is with their strikers.
Marin and Kroos are great. But Gomez?
Germany has no player who can change a game in the last 10 minutes.
I admire Dunga for creating the Brazilian side we have never seen before, with an interesting lopsided formation, but with the attitude being more important. They were quiet yet powerful. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” comes to my mind. I believe the second half against Netherlands was a short momentum of weakness that always has to come at a certain point – it was just fatally timed.
The big downside of Dunga, however, is his behaviour along the sideline that surely didn’t help his players. Has anyone any idea why Dunga seemed so frustrated, etc? And it’s not just about him punching the bench bar in the first half against Holland. He was constantly shouting and reacting nervously towards every single decision of the referee that was bad for his team – for the entire tournament.
Dunga knew, his receipt for a Brazilian side would only defend itself if it got Brazil a gold. Even then, I think he would be sacked. It’s a pity, because I find him at least a good manager. I liked his tough decisions regarding exclusion of “star” players. He knew there was no turning back with what he started. It’s a shame Brazil couldn’t play against Spain.
I think Dunga’s mistake was that he was very stubborn. It’s not a terrible concept to go for a team approach, making sure all the players buy into the system, are fully commited and work hard for their coach. However when the system breaks down it is silly to keep trying to push through. Holland successfully frustrated the Brazilian players and rather than giving in to frustration (i.e. Felipe Melo) they needed to do what Brazilians do best, especially when they have a lead, which is to play with speed and flair and go for the kill as the spaces start to open up.
ZM, who would you say were the ten worst managers of the tournament?
I’m guessing that list would feature features Queiroz, Le Guen, Domenech, Lippi and Maradonna.
Lippi and Le Guen certainly top that list.Queiroz actually did well.
Its Domenech and Lippi
forgot to add domenech!
Quieroz was actually pretty good. They had the best defensive record in the tournament. They may have been too negative in their tactics and approach, but they were hard to beat.
My worst has to be Capello (arrogance in squad selection and tactical ineptness), Lippi (arrogance in squad selection), Le Guen, Domench (just a buffoon), Maradona (tactical ineptitude).
Kim Jong-il via invisible cell phones.
Beware the wrath of our Great Leader Larry. Beware..
I actually found their tactics really good. NZ drew their 3 games, an impressive result, but one that would never qualify them… With a small, weak, physically inept squad and almost no information about the oposition, my best option would be to draw the game against Brazil with a 5-4-0, try to somehow win against Portugal and thew switch again to 5-4-0 against Ivory Coast.
I think you mixed something up. The country playing in Group G was DPRK known also as North Korea. This has nothing to do with New Zealand. Also why would you assume them playing 10 men on the pitch?
Coz TK forgot the keeper’s line as well (ie 2-5-4-0) XD
Capello, Domenech and Lippi have to be on that list due to poor squad selection as well as tactics.
As an American, I would have to add Bob Bradley to the list of the 10 worst. The formation that worked well for the US was a type of the 4-5-1/4-2-3-1 that was used by the other teams. He would switch to that at halftime of most games after wasting the first half and usually using up at least one sub by the start of the second half. He also took out Edu who had been successful for Clark in the Ghana game which the US lost because of that switch.
I’m American aswell, and GOD was Bradley frustrating!!! Everyone knows that the 442 is a dead formation.
I think Bradley could be on both a Ten Best and Ten Worst.
Capello, for playing 4-4-2 instead of 4-3-3, eventhough he had perfect players for the latter – pacey wingers (Joe Cole, Lennon/SWP), even more pacey fullbacks (Ashley Cole, Glen Johnson), Carrick as a DM, Lampard and Gerrard in front of Carrick, and Rooney who is known to be the best when ALONE up front (without a “help” from Heskey).
Bielsa was excellent, but he still got it wrong in the first half against Spain. If he had started with some of those substitutes, Chile would have got past Spain that day. Hence I really think he is placed too high, but he is still among the best 7. Also Leow should be higher up. Here is a manager who made Germany play attractive football, which they never did in all their WC history, and still managed to go all the way up the Semi too.
The US manager also deserves a lot more credit in my opinion, more than Ghana.
“Here is a manager who made Germany play attractive football, which they never did in all their WC history…”
You’re not that old then, are you?
Seriously, come on man. get your facts straight. germany’s entire history is based on attractive intelligent football, since the 30’s in fact. the dull stereotype is only just two decades old, roughly 10% of the nation’s entire history. I suggest you look up these terms ‘breslau elf’ ‘der club’ ’spinning top’ ‘beckenbauer’…
I think most people’s idea of dull Germany football comes from the awful, and dour sides of Euro 2000, World Cup 2002, and Euro 2004. That is at least where my stereotype comes from.
“the dull stereotype is only just two decades old, roughly 10% of the nation’s entire history”
Unified Germany is only two decades old…
*runs*
Oh cmon, who cares about GDR? We know which of the two is the link between the pre-war and past-wall Germany.
Nice one, ZM.
And it reminds me of a Beckenbauer interview just after winning Italia90 – roughly: “With the addition of the East German players we’ll be unbeatable for the years to come!” Well, didn’t exactly work out…
Very good piece and I agree with the general order- though would have had Tabarez number 1 and Loew above Del Bosqué. The only bone I have to pick is that I’m pretty sure Australia and not Ghana were “favourites to finish bottom of their group.”
Hadn’t considered Rajevac, but it’s a good argument you make here.
It’s made me want to big up Del Bosque more, though. Conveniently(!) leaving aside the issue of the quality of players at his disposal, I think he was actually quite proactive by altering his starting line ups and with his substitutions during games, although granted even if he did move players around the team seemed to always have the same shape. But if it ain’t broke…etc. etc. His decisions (Llorente and Fabregas coming on for Torres, for example, or alterations to Iniesta’s position that you highlight elsewhere this week) seemed to pay off on the whole.
I guess had he altered his formation throughout the tournament he may have featured even higher in this list, but he simply didn’t need to. I’ll suggest that rather than any variation in formation/tactics during the tournament the more important input from Del Bosque was ensuring his squad kept the mentality of winners he inherited, fostering what is clearly an excellent squad spirit. A lot of managers in World Cups gone by have struggled to ignite their side or keep their players believing after the shock of an opening game defeat, but Del Bosque deserves credit for doing so. He doesn’t exactly look like the upbeat sort, but from the outside it appears as though his man-management skills are second to none.
Good point about Chile’s poor luck in the draw. Shame we didn’t get to see more of them; had one or two decisions gone differently for them they may have topped the group and avoided such a hard route.
To blame del Bosque for trusting Torres seems wrong to me. For example: German manager Loew trusted Klose, who was also supposed to be out of shape and it worked out great. Often a striker needs just that one goal to build up self-assurance and, from that point, play a great tournament. Del Bosque took the same risk with Torres but wasn’t as lucky. Does that make him a bad manager?
hi,
what about algerian manager rabah saadane, since there’s a big debat about his tactic ????
Do you mean formation or the attitude to play for a draw when he had to win the game?
Although I understand it is a bit harder to attack without strikers in the line-up.
I see your argument regarding Rajevac and Ghana, but I can’t help it – somehow I feel he was a rather “peripheral” figure in their success. While they were poor against Holland in the last pre-WC friendly, they played a very decent tournament, pretty much from the first second of the Serbia match on. As far as I can remember, Rajevac didn’t make any significant changes in personnel or formations, always pressing in midfield and allowing Boateng and Asamoah to support A. Gyan up front. Nice to watch, technically sound as well as modern, athletic football – yet, for some reason Rajevac seemed uninvolved all the way through. Maybe that’s why I’m reluctant to give him the credit he probably deserves.
Must a coach alter his tactics to have a great tournament?I think not.Especially as it was never aboslutely essential.Besides,Ghana had limited options up front.There’s only so much variation that can occur when a team has so few truly attacking players.He did make one vital switch though,dropping Prince Tagoe(had an awful tournament) for Inkoom.That imo was vital. And you mention him seeming uninvolved,you wanted drama?
@Klaus-Dieter: Spain won with del Bosque managing. I thought he looked pretty ‘uninvolved’. Then again, remember the old saying, “Never judge a book by its cover.”
Well, neither have I said that sticking to a (successful) approach was wrong, nor that Rajevac should have made further changes (forgot about Tagoe though). I’ve rather praised them/him for a good tournament from start to end – which should be obvious if you don’t misread the middle part of my above post. All I’m saying is that he appeared strangely “detached” from what was going on on the pitch, admitting that this may lead/have led me to false conclusions regarding his contribution.
I like managerial drama, in fact – and I can find it in Maradona’s antics as well as in Lobanovsky’s stoicism…
The Ghanaians I live with were giving him a lot of stick for disciplining Essien and Muntari some time before the world cup, and for trying very hard to convince Kevin Prince Boateng to join the Ghana camp.
You have to admit, Boateng played extremely well.
Surely it’s time for this Chile love in to end? They played attractive football but beat no-one of note and a 3rd place for Bielsa is something that I could of called on here before the tournament even took place…
You have to remember this is a Chile side that did not make it into the 2006 world cup, which makes the turnaround even more impressive. Sure they didn’t beat Spain or Brazil, but Bielsa still went far beyond what was expected of him.
Plenty of nations did better than Chile to qualify. The question posed was how did they do at the Tournament. For me I expected it to be a close call between Chile and Switzerland in that group, a red card for Switzerland swung it Chile’s way and they were then battered in the last 16. They marginally overachieved at best. Top 10 out of 32 definitely, number 3 seems very high.
I think he is getting all that praise mostly because of his crazy formation and tactics (heavy pressing, high defensive line)
Was very impressed with Chile. If only they had a quality finisher or two (Suarez was not fit). You put some finishers on the tip of that side and those boys would have gone places.
that’s incredibly harsh Echoes. they beat the two weaker sides they came up against, including switzerland who beat spain, then lost to the spanish with 10 men and lost to brazil. luck of the draw should not dictate how managers’ tactics, and ability to get the most out of their players, are assessed.
the bravery and positivity of bielsa’s tactics, with a squad of talented but very limited players, make him wholly deserving of 3rd place
Considering the general ability of the players he had, qualifying for the knockouts is an achievement. Yeah they lost to Spain and Brazil, but they were probably the toughest opponents in the competition.
Not long ago they were the weakest team in South America
Well, I’d say Venezuela is consistently the worst CONMEBOL team. Ocasionally Chile, Peru, Bolivia do worse, but they move up and down. Venezuela never gets better.
Wrong.
Venezuela points and final position in WC qualifications.
WC PTS POSITION
France 98 3 9th out of 9
JP/KR 02 16 9th out of 10
GER 06 18 8th out of 10
SA 10 22 8th out of 10 (just two points behind Uruguay)
See a pattern here? First U20 WC last year( round of 16, beating world cup holder Nigeria), after the tournament from that team have emigrated so far: 2 Players to Italy , 1 to Portugal, 1 to Greece, 2 to Spain , 1 to Argentina.All of them to first division clubs. Add to that, Tomas Rincon in Hamburg SV, Arango in M´gladbach, Miku in Getafe,Rosales probably moving from Gent to Ajax, Vargas playing great football in Club Brugge most probably moving to the Bundesliga soon, excluding Arango all of them are U25, so we will have a very competitive team very soon. In the last 10 years Venezuela moved up more than 50 places in FIFA ranking and keeps the trend. Hopefully LA VINOTINTO (the burgundy one) will be a tough rival in next Copa America and Brasil qualies.
I think that the real test of a manager is what he does proportional to the talent his got and for that, I really think Marcelo Bielsa should be number 1.
Just a personal view tho
PS. Love the site, its absolutely fantastic
Great to see Tabarez and Bielsa in there.
Where does Bradley fit in the Managerial hierarchy? Even more importantly who looks like a good fit for the US? People here are pushing for Klinsmann, but I would prefer either Hiddink or a defensive coach à la Queiroz or an Italian. Also what is the likelihood of Bradley getting a job in Europe? I think he would be better (and better off) as a bench coach (like McClaren or Quieiroz at MUFC) v. being the head man (Fulham), at least in his first stint abroad.
Would have loved to see Dunga in there. He suffered just one bad second half thats it.
For one of the superpowers of the football world, it is a shame to play as if paralyzed after conceding an own goal.
Brazil had won every game in the WC comfortably until the QF with their flawless Plan A: rock solid in defence and lethal on the counter.
Problem is: They did not seem to have a Plan B. And that´s a sign of managerial incapacity.
A list of the top ten managers must reflect a degree of achievement. Chile, Japan & Ghana all came through their group stages when they perhaps weren’t expected to, Chile’s performance against Switzerland was particularly impressive, and New Zealand defied all expectations. But did Uruguay really excell any more than Portugal? The semi final is very much a prestigious landmark but in terms of raw achievement would we be talking about England in this manner had Donovan not scored against Algeria presenting England with an much easier section of the draw? I fully respect Uruguay’s landmark achievement but never once did they look like genuine contenders, unlike Brazil, Portugal, Chile & Argentina.
If, as someone suggested previously, a list of the worst managers is compiled I would find that a great deal more interesting. Sven & Ivory Coast, Hitzfeld, Domenech, Le Guen, Olsen would all be candidates and all for very different reasons.
Seriously?
“never once did they look like genuine contenders, unlike Brazil, Portugal, Chile & Argentina.”
Wow.
I thought Sven did okay. Ivory Coast were better organised in the World Cup than they were in the African Cup of Nation. Granted, he should have gone for a win against Portugal, especially in the last ten minutes, but I have no problems with his overall performance in the competition. Le Guen though should win the worst manager award, Cameroun was terrible and the game between them and Japan was the worst game in the world cup and would be in the all time list as the worst game in all the world cups.
I’m not sure why people insist on belittling Ghana. Almost all the players ply their trade in the big European leagues and the few who don’t certainly don’t lack the quality but just the passport of one of the hype nations in football.
The squad includes several U20 World and African Champions, an UEFA CL winner, an Europa League finalist and a couple of veterans who have seen the 2006 World Cup and several African Cups of Nations.
Yes, even considering the excellent conditions by African standards Rajevac did a very good job. This is not Honduras or New Zealand we are talking about here though, a team with Ghana’s individual quality getting to the quarter final of the World Cup is not much of an upset. If any pundit tipped them to finish bottom of the group, I strongly recommend a career change.
Now if the Black Stars only had a top class finisher…
Gyan had already converted two penalties in the tournament. From time to time, human has to miss. In the context of his display throughout the competition, denying him a “top class” description only because of this penalty is too harsh, if you ask me.
Very true. I personally believed before the tournament that Ghana would qualify for the second round. They were runners up in the African Cup of Nations, for God´s sake, with Rajevac as their coach as well.
However, that does not take away anything from Rajevac. He did an excellent job. Respect where respect is due – to Rajevac, and (just as important) to the people in the Ghana Football Association who let him do his job.
Personally, my Top 6 of managers would include Bielsa, del Bosque, Loew, Martino, Rajevac and Tabarez.
Holland used spoiling tactics through the entired tournament, not just the final. The only difference is it worked through the rest of the tournament, but not when they played Spain. Van Bommel is a hooligan. Had they had more talented 2-way midfielders (i.e. quick and skilled, but still defensively responsible) instead of a bunch of thugs they would have been able to feed Sneijder, Kuyt and Robben better.
ZM, nice shot at Suarez blaming his hand ball for their elimination. Why didn’t you write the fact that Gyan missed the penalty instead.
I agree with what you say here, but we all know that had Suarez not handballed, Ghana would have progressed…I think that’s what ZM’s trying to get at here.
ZM is not blamming him, it’s just a neutral comment. nobody that understands football will blame suarez
It’s not a shot, it’s a fact. Had Suarez not used his hands, Ghana would have been through. Where’s the problem?
Mainly to wind you up.
You are forgetting Suarez played against the rules. Nothing can compensate for what he did. A penalty can be saved or sent wide. And at the point Suarez was touching the ball with his hand, no legal move could prevent the ball from getting into the net.
Give it up Man… Had Gyan scored, who would have been talking of Suarez today! Is anyone talking about Kewel? He also handballed but Gyan scored. Is anyone talking about the Serb who contolled the ball with his hand and gave Ghana a penalty on match day 1? No. Wasn’t that “treachery” as well? Gyan scored – so no problemo… Com’on let’s cut this…Gyan had a wide goal to aim at – he struck the bar…End of story. He should never had had the opportunity because the free-kick that led to the penalty was non-existent! What if Suarez’s hand and the ball striking the bar were simple Karma?
By the way credits to Rajevac for the tactical discipline and focus. He’s among my favourites which include Loew, Tabarez and Dunga !
“Had Gyan scored, who would have been talking of Suarez today!”
You are completely missing the point. Regardless of Gyan scoring or not, Suarez played against the rules. This is not an exchange, like “I play handball and you give me a red card”. Handball is forbidden. Can you understand the meaning of the word ‘forbidden’? This doesn’t mean ‘allowed, but then you will get a red card and a penalty’. Forbidden. Red card and a penalty is just a sanction. Perhaps you should read a bit about the basics of a concept called ‘law’. This is the point most people gloryfying his hand cannot understand, sadly.
Had Gyan scored the goal, we wouldn’t be speaking about Suarez now and that would be fine, cause nobody cares about a cheaters (even now, I speak about him only when provoked by a brainless people writing that it was okay) but still, he played against the rules so blatantly. The difference is, he got away this time.
Another funny argument is that ‘everybody would do that’. Yes! Even I would do that in his place. But still, it was WRONG and against the rules. The number of people who would reproducec his handball does not matter, because handball when disallowed is itself wrong.
Yes, when a player, eg. gets fouled in a penalty area, this is similar. Nobody talks about hundreds of fouls commited daily, because they seem not that much harm for the other team. Most of the time, illegal plays do not influence scores (at least not directly). But what is so frustrating about Suarez’ case is that:
1) it was extremely blatant,
2) Uruguay couldn’t do anything legal to prevent the ball from getting into the net,
3) it was a decisive moment – had Ghana scored, they would probably be through – illegal play influenced the score directly.
What Suarez did is just wrong. I gave you a logical chain of reasoning. If you can’t understand that, you are just like the rest of the mob.
—
PS. Provided that I was glad seeing Forlan with Uruguay through and have no special liking in Ghanian team.
But you miss the point gef already mentioned: The free-kick on the right wing causing the whole situation was a ridiculous present to Ghana from the referee. I was upset when the referee gave it as I thought that such a decision should not decide this match. It would have been highly unjust if Ghana had won just because of a diver. We all would blame now the referee and the Ghanaen player…
Btw, I am not even going into the whole off-side thing…
No, it’s him missing the point I’m making. I’m not talking about anything else than the handball itself, alone, in abstractio. Also, note that the free kick was referee’s mistake, not Ghanian’s fault.
Btw, because there was no off-side.
Oh boy, the Suarez handball. I can count 2 or 3 instances where the Ghanains were in fault leading to that ‘devilish’ incident. Soft free kick, offside players, interference in play etc etc etc.
What?! No Diego?!
Credits to Loew for putting a very young, talented Germany team together and getting most of its potential out. It’s not easy to decide to promote so many young players in the greatest football tournament. The counter attack football he employed suited the team very, very well.
That said, I really think this German team lacks a plan B. Their tactics largely depend on not conceding a goal first, and once they went a goal down, they had trouble breaking down the opposition. For example, Podolski was useless on left wing if opponent defended deep because he was unable to utilize his speed, and his delivery was poor (notice that he liked to cross the ball low). Ozil was not very effective once he was deprived of space. Marin and Kroos would have offered more dimensions to their attacks, but Loew counted on Mario Gomez more often than not.
Spain has no plan B, but the best plan A in the world.
The ‘problem’ for Löw was, that Germany scored early. I think Löws plan A was possession. Against England he decided to give the ball away, because the English players liked to lose the ball. So, when you are 1:0 up and the opponent is happy to give you space for conter attacks, why not using it?
They played a lot counter attacking football because they were in the lead often and the opponents let them play this kind of football.
Playing against Spain is a different problem. Plan A (possession) and plan B (counter attack) are difficult to put into practice.
Spain is the best team in possession and is great in winning the ball back. It’s difficult to play plan A without the ball, and it’s also difficult to play precise counter attacks with an agressiv pressing Spain team against you.
To use plan B was the right idea, but Germany had not their best day against Spain. They had opportunities to score, Spain also. To lose against (this) Spain in a world cup semi-final, through a corner kick (oh no, a set-piece goal) is nothing to be ashamed of.
You have to play the game of your life to beat Spain when they are in form, and Germany was just not good enough.
I would say that Löw is quite good at building a team and setting up strategies that fit the opponents but he lacks fortune and flexibility in short term tactical decisions (in case his masterplan doesn’t work). Maybe the next Euro will show if this was mainly because of a lack of training time with his final team (after a lot of last minute injuries) or a lack of tactical abilities.
But he sure deserves some credit for setting up such a young and fun-to-watch team. Also: his strategy worked out in all but one game (the match against Serbia could have ended as a draw as well – with only ten players, i didn’t see much of a tactical problem because they still created a lot of decent chances). The one match where it didn’t work was against the best team of the past three years – no shame to loose against Spain.
Thats why i think a place in the lower top ten suits him fine.
I think Diego would’ve made the list had he known about or read ZM.
Rajevac also deserves credit for incorporating Kevin-Prince Boateng at such short notice. In the tournament warm-up games, it seemed as if Derek Boateng was set for the box-to-box role.
I believe that Del Bosque deserves the number one spot. You cannot use the talent of the squad against the manager, especially when his team won the tournament. The opinion that Spain did not look “spectacular” comes down to the tactics of the opponents faced, in addition to the Torres injury/form issue. In fact, Del Bosque handled the Torres situation quite well in my opinion. I thought his substitutions were always excellent, who else would have thought to throw on Llorente against Portugal? That move changed the game, as did his choices to bring on of the less celebrated Pedro and Navas as starters, relegating the likes of Fabregas and David Silva to impact sub roles.
Despite intense criticism back home he stayed true to playing Xabi Alonso and Busquets in the midfield. The players believed in him because Del Bosque is a proven winner, a great personnel manager whose achievements as Real Madrid manager are enviable. Additionally, he handled the shock loss to Switzerland very well, and his team became the first in world cup history to win the tournament after losing its first match. Spain only gave up two goals all tournament, and they were both fluke goals! I think a lot of the credit must go to the manager.
“Additionally, he handled the shock loss to Switzerland very well”.
This is very true. Other sides might have panicked, but del Bosque’s Spain managed to keep calm. I believe this is in great part due to the ability of an educated, humble manager who exudes tranquility.
Hey everyone!
Loving ZM for a while now and has inspired the creation of this Facebook page where you can talk about all things Football:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Talk-about-Football/139057039457812
Hopefully many of you guys get involved and hopefully we see some of the guys from ZM get involved too.
Keep it up lads
my top 5:
Tabarez
Löw
Martino
del Bosque
Okada
Nice list, but i thought you would have given Javier Aguirre a mention since it seemed you liked the side and the formation.
I actually think Bielsa made big mistakes with his player selection, you are rating him so highly because you dont know the players Bielsa misused, not starting Valdivia as the attacking midfielder is borderline criminal if you ever saw him play for Palmeiras, not calling Mancilla was also a big mistake.
Why do you think Chile didnt score more against Honduras or Switzerland? Maybe not having a proper striker had something to do with it.
No matter how incredible your system is, its no use if you make such basic and obvious mistakes selecting players.
i think that Gerardo Martino coach of Paraguay deserves a better ranking.
we have seen the best ever paraguaian team in the world cup
they did a great quarter final, and were the closest team after switzerland from beating spain. the team was not violent. they had the courage to attack. they had the confidence and they closed all gaps against spain.
when you watch paraguay, you feel you are watching a coach more than players
Paraguay were awful and boring tactically and aesthetically. They brought nothing to the tournament. If you are going to defend the whole time at least do it in an interesting way. They were involved in three of the worst matches in the world cup. Paraguay and Japan was awful, Paraguay and New Zealand might have been the worst match in world cup history and Slovakia vs. Paraguay wasn’t much better.
Its not like he had a really limited side compared to some of the other managers at this World Cup. He had decent attacking players in Cardozo, Santa Cruz, Valdez and Riveros. They were so negative and I was so happy that Cardozo missed that PK.
How about Ottmar Hitzfeld and Aguirre?
Interesting write-up on VD Bosque from Sid Lowe:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/sid_lowe/07/15/delbosque/index.html?eref=writers
mostly agree. My personal top 10:
1)Tabarez
2)Del Bosque
3)Van Marwijk
4)Martino
5)Rajevac
6)Dunga
7)Loew
8)Okada
9)Parreira
10)Bielsa
Bottom 10:
1)Domenech
2)Rehhagel
3)Maradona
4)Capello
5)Hitzfeld
6)Varebeek
7)LeGuen
8)Lagerback
9)Lippi
10)Bielsa
I realize Bielsa is simultaneously in the top 10 and bottom 10.
Verbeek at 6th worst?! Worse than Lippi? How? The germany game was a disaster but Australia finished third in a far more difficult group than Italy’s. The Ghana and Serbia games made up for the Germany game and saved Verbeek and Australia a lot of face.
just one thing, this should the “Top ten tacticians of the World Cup” instead.
cheers
I like Bielsa, but him being in the top 3 is ridiculous. He was hammered two times by Brazil playing with the exact same tactics in qualifiers, and then he didn’t changed much or anything for the 3rd time and was crushed again. A good manager shouldn’t be that stubborn.
Not to mention that he didn’t even bother to get this team to try and play defense. Chile’s all-out attack strategy might be exciting to some (personally I prefer defense-first football), but it’s not effective at all, especially in the matches they played.
Spain was very susceptible to difficult-to-break-down, organized, smart defensive units like Switzerland, Holland, Paraguay, (and what Germany tried to be but was not used to playing the style well enough). Switzerland I don’t think Chile really dominated, and were massively aided by a dubious at the kindest (ludicrous at the worst) red card to Behrami. Honduras was a should win.
Then as you say, they made the 2nd round and did nothing to change what got them previously slaughtered against Brazil and did so again. So definitely for me Bielsa is a top 10.
Amongst the lowest for me are Bradley (horrible strategist but a good tactician — every change he had to make by naming stupid starting squads and being generally silly in the first half was correctly undone in the 2nd half of the match to glorious effect) and then Hitzfeld. I still think the Swiss were robbed of both progression and their World Cup record of longest stretch without conceding, but that aside his strategic and tactical choices for the match against Honduras were just plain awful. He needed Yakin on the wing, as well as Derdiyok and Frei playing off each other. Instead he continued to name Nkufo who was trying to do the same hold-up style job Derdiyok was doing (better I might add) but further up the pitch, and it was a disaster.
Del Bosque should not be here, he had by far the most talented team in the world and they were favorites going in. The South Korean coach should be here instead.
Great blog.
FIFA 2010 was a huge success and South Africa hosted the event pretty well.
Watch out an interesting video adidas Football The Quest Ends at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYv9BwDRe2M