The Coaches and their GAME
JOACHIM LOEW ( GERMANY)
While it’s the frisky feet that do the shooting on the football field, the trigger is controlled by brains in the small square outside it — literally thinking out of the box as they pitch wits in an attempt to blow each other to bits. Meet the Managers who actually dictate the game as they calculate moves at rocket speed and holler animated instructions to their foot soldiers on the field.
In Russia there are shrewd and suited strategists from 23 countries — four Argentines, three Spaniards, two from Colombia, France, Germany and Portugal and a man each representing Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, England, Iceland, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia and Uruguay — heading the 32 teams vying for the World Cup.
The youngest of the lot is 42year- old Aliou Cisse of Senegal who has been in charge of the side for three years while Uruguay’s Oscar Tabarez is the grand old man at 71 having steered the South American side for 12 long years.
Here’s a look at some of the men who matter:
The German General walks into Russia with his head held high as the defending champion. In fact he is the only coach in the mix to have won a World Cup, having led his side to triumphant campaign in Brazil four years ago. Under the 58- year- old’s stewardship the Germans have reached at least the semifinals of every international tournament since the 2006 World Cup. Now, they attempt to become the first team in
56 years to successfully defend the World
Cup — Brazil, who won the coveted trophy in 1958 and 1962, were the last team to win back- to- back titles. Should Loew end on a high, he will match Italian Vittorio Pozzo’s feat of winning successive World Cups, in 1934 and 1938. Loew commands a complete set up — an enhanced fitness coaching staff, a relations manager and a mental conditioning coach whose job is to prepare players for stressful situations. During his tenure Loew has increased the pace of the game by getting his players to think on their feet by way of reducing time they held on to the ball before passing. He’d be looking to get off the blocks early in Russia as well.