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| Karl |
Posted - Mar 11 2002 : 11:31:39 PM
Milutinovic: "China have nothing to lose"
China may be taking part in their first ever FIFA World Cup™, but their coach is well versed in the intricacies of this competition. Velibor Milutinovic, alias "Bora" and now affectionately dubbed "Milu" by the Chinese, will this summer be involved in his fifth consecutive finals, after successively coaching Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the United States in 1994 and Nigeria in 1998. An astute scholar of football and men, the Serb has granted FIFAworldcup.com an exclusive interview.
You have twice coached FIFA World Cup host countries, in 1986 and 1994. Do you feel that China's proximity will give you a similar advantage?
The public is one thing and the team is another. In the US, our strength came more from the 92 friendly games we played over three and a half years than from playing at home. It's no secret: to prepare a team well, it is necessary to play, play and play again. It was the same with Mexico in 1986. We had our work cut out for us, because the Mexicans had finished last at the 1978 Argentina World Cup and failed to qualify for Spain 82. But we arranged 64 friendlies over two and a half years, and we were ready.
Is it the same with China this time around?
China is a world apart. In 1999, the team didn't play a single friendly game, which is a great disadvantage. This was exacerbated by the fact that China hasn't taken part in major international tournaments for a long time, with the exception of the FIFA World Youth Championship Argentina 2001. But the team still managed to qualify for the first FIFA World Cup in its history! And the most extraordinary thing was the manner of this achievement, since we clinched our place at the finals with three qualifiers still to play.
How did the country react?
It is difficult for a Westerner to assess the impact, but I believe a small revolution has taken place. It's a fact that the Chinese sports daily used to have a print run of 500,000 and was published irregularly. But when we qualified more than 2,600,000 copies were printed, and it now appears on an almost daily basis.
How do you communicate with the players?
We don't speak the same language, but there's much more to understanding than that. In my view, it's more important to share the same philosophy. Fortunately, that is the case, and things are going very well. Working with the players has changed me a little, but they have changed too. Their way of thinking has evolved a great deal, because a large part of a coach's job consists of helping the players mentally, getting them to all pull together as a team. Being a good psychologist is crucial.
How difficult do you think your group is, with Brazil, Turkey and Costa Rica?
All groups are hard by their very nature, but Brazil's presence alone makes our task a tough one. It's not impossible for us to qualify, because nothing's impossible in football, but we have to be realistic: it will be far from straightforward. Being drawn with Brazil means that, right from the off, the other three teams are vying for second place. Brazil's qualifying campaign saw them come in for much criticism. This is wrong, because Brazil deserve respect. Turkey, meanwhile, are a team on the up, as their recent results and those of Galatasaray prove. As for Costa Rica, I know better than most what they can do.
You won't be raising the white flag though?
Not a chance. I would even go as far as to say that if we play like we did in the qualifying games, all will go well. We are physically and tactically strong. In fact, my team has few weaknesses. And our big advantage is that we have nothing to lose. Not to mention the fact that every time you have guided a team to the finals, it has reached the second stage.
To what do you ascribe this success?
Luck! Seriously though, I believe that it is very difficult to explain football logically. Take Costa Rica in 1990, for example: I took over the team 70 days before the World Cup in Italy, without ever fielding the same eleven players twice on the trot. And in our first game, I was forced to pick a player who had never played for us before Despite all this, we succeeded in qualifying from a group which contained Brazil, Sweden and Scotland!
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