Managers as players: World Cup edition

[WhiteJC]

http://cravencottagenewsround.wordpress.com/2010/10/20/managers-as-players-world-cup-edition/?

Managers as players: World Cup edition
Filed under: General — rich

Here's a terrific guest post from long-time reader Josh Herman:

Inspired by Rich's post yesterday ranking the current Premier League Managers as players (and, specifically TimmyG's post there wondering what a similar ranking of World Cup managers would look like) and, in turn, by Joe Posnanski's post looking at current NFL head coaches under the same criteria, I decided to take a look at this past summer's World Cup managers and rank them by their playing careers.  For starters, I thought this group, as a whole, was a bit less accomplished as players than the Premier League managers, though (obviously) stronger at the top end.  Here goes...

Tier 1 – The All-Time Great

1.  Diego Maradona (Argentina)

Well, this part was easy.  Diego Maradona is among an elite handful of men who could reasonably called "the greatest player of all time".  His interesting combination of exuberance and incompetence would seem to prove that being a great player doesn't make you a great manager, though.

Tier 2 – Excellent Players

These two are an interesting pair, in that we have one player who had remarkable success as an international player but a somewhat less distinguished club career, and another who enjoyed great league success but never made much impact on the international stage.  In the end, I gave the edge to the man who lifted the World Cup as the captain for his country.

2.  Dunga (Brazil)

Dunga, a defensive midfielder from a country renowned for its attacking talent,  amassed 91 caps (tied for 11th all-time) for Brazil and captained the Selecao to victory in the 1994 World Cup.  He played much of his club career in Brazil before stints in Italy (most notably wit Fiorentina), Germany and Japan (where he was the J-League Most Valuable Player at the age of 34; however, he never won a trophy in European club football.

3.  Vicente Del Bosque (Spain)

Vicente Del Bosque appeared in over 300 matches with Real Madrid between 1970 and 1984, winning nine domestic trophies (La Liga five times, the Copa Del Rey four times).  Del Bosque, also a defensive midfielder, played 18 times for Spain including appearing in Euro 80.

(continued below – it's a long post, this!)


Tier 3 – Good Players

Here's where it starts to get tricky; next we come to a pretty large group of men who are a bit difficult to distinguish from one another.  They all had nice careers as players, but (obviously) never rose to the levels achieved by our top three.

4.  Fabio Capello (England)

Don Fabio, a midfielder by trade, had a long career in Serie A, playing for Roma, Juventus and Milan, winning four Scudetti (three with Juventus and one with Milan) and the Coppa Italia.  He also was capped for Italy 32 times, including Italy's first-ever win at Wembley (in which he scored the only goal of the match) and played in all three matches in Italy's (unsuccessful) 1974 World Cup campaign.

5.  Morten Olsen (Denmark)

Morten Olsen played for Denmark over 100 times between 1970 and 1989, and was twice the Danish player of the year.  In his youth, he was known for his ability to play almost anywhere on the field, eventually settling in as a central midfielder before gradually migrating backward to defensive midfielder and then libero as his career progressed; at the time of his playing career, Olsen was described as the most important player in the history of Danish football.  He also won three Belgian First Division titles and the UEFA Cup during his stint with Anderlecht between 1980 and 1986.

6.  Javier Aguirre (Mexico)

Javier Aguirre's club career was spent almost entirely in Mexico, winning the Primera Division with Club America in 1984.  He also had short stints in the USA with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League and in Spain with Osasuna.  Aguirre, a midfielder, played 59 times and scored 14 goals for Mexico, including appearances in the 1986 World Cup.

7.  Paul Le Guen (Cameroon)

Paul Le Guen, a defender, played in almost 250 league matches for Paris Saint-Germain and over 150 with Brest; while with PSG, he lifted the 1996 Cup Winners' Cup.  Le Guen was capped for France 17 times between 1993 and 1995, but never played in the World Cup as France did not qualify for the 1994 tournament.

8.  Raymond Domenech (France)

Raymond Domenech, like Le Guen, was a defender who had a long career in Ligue 1, primarily with Lyon and Strasbourg.  He won the league title once (with Strasbourg in 1979) and the Coupe De France twice (with Lyon in 1973 and with Bordeaux toward the end of his career in 1984).  However, he was never more than a fringe player for the French national team, appearing in 8 matches between 1973 and 1979.

9.  Huh Jung-Moo (South Korea)

At the conclusion of his service with the Korean Marine Corps, Huh Jung-Moo moved from South Korea to the Netherlands in 1980, during an era when Korean players were rare in Europe.  Midfielder Huh spent three seasons with PSV Eindhoven before returning to Asia.  He appeared in 84 matches for South Korea and scored 29 goals (sixth all-time), including scoring against Italy in the 1986 World Cup.

10.  Bert van Marwijk (Netherlands)

Bert van Marwijk, who played as a midfielder and a striker, had a long career in the Eredivisie, playing for Go Ahead Eagles, AZ, MVV and Fortunia Sittard between 1970 and 1987 (winning the KNVB Cup with AZ in 1978) before joining Belgian Second Division club FC Assent for his final professional season in 1987-88.  He played in one friendly match for the Dutch national team.

11.  Joachim Low (Germany)

Joachim Low played 11 seasons in German club football, including three stints with SC Freiburg.  However, found his most success in the 2.Bundesliga.  Low, an attacking midfielder, ended his career with six more seasons in Switzerland and was never capped for Germany.

12.  Gerardo Martino (Paraguay)

Gerardo Martino had a long career in Argentine club football, interrupted by a short stint with Tenerife in 1991.  An attacking midflielder, Martino played in over 500 matches in all competitions for Newell's Old Boys from 1980 to 1995, and was voted as the best player in the club's history in a fan poll.  Martino was capped once for Argentina.

13.  Vladimir Weiss (Slovakia)

Vladimir Weiss spent much of his playing career with Inter Bratislava (from 1986 to 1993) and Artmedia Petrzalka (from 1996 to 2000), with shorter stints with four other Czech and Slovak clubs in the intervening three years.  The midfielder was capped 19 times for Czechoslovakia and 12 times for Slovakia.

14.  Otto Rehhagel (Greece)

Rehhagel, a defender, played nine Bundesliga seasons for Hertha Berlin and Kaiserslautern.  He never played for Germany.

Tier 4 – Fair Players

Most of the men in this group spent their playing careers in weaker domestic leagues, or in lower divisions in countries with stronger top-flight leagues.  Many of them (Lippi, Lagerback, Eriksson and Hitzfeld especially) have become accomplished coaches, despite not having excelled as players.

15.  Radomir Antic (Serbia)

Spent the first half of his playing career (1968-76) with Partizan in Belgrade, winning the Yugoslavian league championship in his last season at the club.  Subsequently moved abroad, playing two seasons with Fenerbahce (winning the Turkish league in 1978), two seasons with Zaragoza, and four seasons with Luton Town (winning promotion to the First Division in 1982 and scoring an important goal that saved Luton from relegation in 1983).  Antic, a defender, was capped once in a friendly match for Yugoslavia.

16.  Ottmar Hitzfeld (Switzerland)

Spent most of his playing career in the Swiss league; however, at his peak, scored 38 goals in 77 matches as a striker for Stuttgart from 1975 to 1978, helping the club earn promotion to the Bundesliga in 1977.  Played for West Germany in the 1972 Olympics, but never at senior level.

17.  Marcelo Lippi (Italy)

Lippi, a midfielder, spent most of the 1970s as a player for Sampdoria, then in Serie B; played briefly for Pistoiese at the end of his player career and helped the club earn promotion to Serie A.  Played for Italy's youth teams but never at senior level.

18.  Matjaz Kek (Slovenia)

Kek, a center back, played ten seasons in the Austrian Bundesliga with Spittal/Drau (1985-88) and GAK (1988-95); started and ended his playing career with his hometown club, Maribor (1979-84; 1995-99).  Won three Slovenian league titles with Maribor during his second stint with the club.  Was capped once for Slovenia after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

19.  Takeshi Okada (Japan)

Okada was a one-club man, spending his entire playing career (spanning 1980-1990) as a defender for Furukawa Electric.  He was capped 24 times for Japan between 1980 and 1985, scoring one international goal during that period.

20.  Ricki Herbert (New Zealand)

Herbert, a defender, spent most of his playing career in the New Zealand and Australian domestic leagues (most notably during three separate stints with Mount Wellington AFC), leaving Oceania for two seasons with Wolves (1984-86).  Won three league titles and two cups during his time in New Zealand.  Made 61 appearances for the New Zealand national team, scoring seven goals, and played in the 1982 World Cup.

21.  Rabah Saadane (Algeria)

Spent his entire playing career as a defender in Algerian domestic leagues, most notably appearing in 150 matches for MSP Batna between 1964 and 1968 before spending 1968-1973 with three other clubs.  Ended his playing career at the age of 27 due to injuries sustained in a car accident; was rumored to be headed to the French league before that happened.  Played for Algeria at youth levels but never appeared as a full international.

22.  Oscar Tabarez (Uruguay)

Tabarez played as defender for various lower-level Uruguayan, Argentine and Mexican clubs between 1967 and 1979.

23.  Sven-Goran Eriksson (Ivory Coast)

Played nine seasons as a right back for various clubs in the lower levels of the Swedish league, making the most appearances (109) for Torsby IF.  Was forced to retire at 28 due to a knee inury.

24.  Milovan Rajevac (Ghana)

Played as a defender for seven different clubs between 1973 and 1986, but never appears to have been a regular starter for any of his clubs.  Played for Yugoslavia in the Olympics but never at senior level.

25.  Lars Lagerback (Nigeria)

Played for lower-level Swedish club Gimonas CK from 1970-74 before returning to school to study sports management at the age of 26.

26.  Pim Verbeek (Australia)

Played domestically in the Netherlands, primarily with Sparta Rotterdam from 1974-1980.  Retired as a player at 24 and became Sparta's manager in 1981, at the age of 25.

27.  Kim Jong-Hun (North Korea)

Not surprisingly, "little is known about Kim's playing career" (this is a direct quote from his official bio on the FIFA website, other than that he spent his playing career as a defender with April 25 Sports Group in North Korea's domestic league.  He was capped 4 times for North Korea.

28.  Marcelo Bielsa (Chile)

The defender who was nicknamed "Loco" played three seasons in the Argentine league, one each with Newell's Old Boys, Instituto and Argentino de Rosario, before retiring from playing in 1980 aged 25.

Tier 5 – Never Played Professionally

And last, we come to the four men who never played professionally but still went on to coach in the World Cup this past summer.  Interestingly, this group includes two of the most experienced coaches in the whole tournament.

29.  Carlos Queiroz (Portugal)

Queiroz played briefly in Mozambique (maybe professionally, information is unclear) before turning to coaching in his early 20s; he has since had two stints as Portugal's manager, two stints as an assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and has also managed Real Madrid, Sporting CP, and South Africa.

30.  Reinaldo Rueda (Honduras)

Rueda, who managed Honduras at this past summer's World Cup and now manages Ecuador, played collegiate and amateur football in Colombia.

31.  Bob Bradley (United States)

Similarly, Bradley played collegiate soccer for Princeton University but never beyond that level; he first was named head coach of a collegiate team at the young age of 22.

32.  Carlos Alberto Parreira (South Africa)

Last, Carlos Alberto Parreira has managed five different national teams in past World Cups, including Brazil twice and, most recently, South Africa, and has also managed numerous clubs including Valencia, Fluminense (four separate stints, and Fenerbahce; yet, there are no easily accessible records of Parreira playing organized football at any level, but rather he got his start as a fitness coach, first with Brazilian clubs Sao Cristovao and Vasco Da Gama in the late 1960s and then for Brazil's World Cup-winning side in 1970.

What have we learned from all this?  Well, personally, I found the positional breakdown to be more interesting than looking at whether good players become good coaches.  The list includes sixteen players who were defenders or defensive midfielders (Dunga, Del Bosque, Olsen, Le Guen, Domenech, Rehhagel, Antic, Kek, Okada, Herbert, Saadane, Tabarez, Eriksson, Rajevac, Kim, Bielsa), whose jobs we have come to understand (especially during/after the Hodgson era at Fulham) are about coordination and communication – in short, coaching.  Another nine (Maradona, Capello, Aguirre, Huh, Van Marwij, Low, Martino, Weiss, Lippi) were described midfielders, attacking midfielders, or midfielder/forwards. 

Only one (Hitzfeld) was a true striker, and none* were goalkeepers.  Add to that the six whose playing positions were not listed (Lagerback, Verbeek) or not relevant (Queiroz, Rueda, Bradley, Parreira) and we have our 32.  The takeaway, though small sample size caveats apply here, would seem to be that players whose positions involve teamwork and coordination (defenders, midfielders) become better coaches than players whose positions involve individual skill (strikers, goalkeepers).  You can draw whatever conclusions you like, of course.

* It should be noted that Carlos Queiroz was a goalkeeper, but I'm not considering him as such above because he did not play professionally.

[FC Silver Fox]

Great post JC. In the Excellent player category, I'd also add that Italian munchkin, Zola (not Emile, the other one)