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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 02 2004 : 12:29:36 AM
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Bora like all coaches who have been around for some time have had a good run...but, has had his terrible failures.
-----Who is Bora?
Milutinovic is known throughout the world as a soccer mercenary able to take a team on SHORT NOTICE, and achieve immediate success. He led Mexico to the quarterfinals at the 1986 World Cup, its highest finish.
He took over Costa Rica just before the 1990 World Cup and stunned many by getting it into the second round. He was introduced by then U.S. Soccer Federation president Alan Rothenberg in 1991 as a 'miracle worker' and proceeded to qualify the United States for the second round in 1994.
He left his post with the U.S. national team in 1995, saying he wasfired for not taking a larger role in player development.
He had qualified Mexico for the 1998 World Cup in 1997 before being fired ….landing with Nigeria for France '98. Once again, he took that team into the second round before it was eliminated by Denmark..
Milutinovic previously coached the Metro Stars in U.S. Major League Soccer, but resigned after one complete year with the club in which it had the worst single-season record in league history (4-3-25).,
Bora Milutinovic's World Cup appearances:
Mexico '86: Mexico
Italy '90: Costa Rica
USA '94: USA
France '98: Nigeria
Korea/Japan '02: China
Interview – World Soccer
Is taking China to the finals the greatest achievement of your career?
That's hard to tell - there have been so many! Beating Scotland 1-0 in Italy with Costa Rica, when I had taken over the team only two months before and they had never been to the finals, was a pretty big achievement. I suppose that managing China to the finals for the first time is a historic event in football terms. But my achievement, for what it's worth, is not what matters most. What's really important is that the players have achieved their ambition and that the Chinese people have something to celebrate.
My point is simple most often Bora has inherited MADE TEAM. Usually stepping into the breach, after TEAM had been made and discord (i.e. coach/players and or players/FA and or coach/FA) had arisen. He lucked into being in charge of a squad for a World Cup.
On 2 occasions he has had a period where TEAM has developed. In those 2 instances he MADE TEAM. US team 1991-1995 and Chinese team 2000 to 2002.
Conclusions:
From FIFAworldcup.com - 1 July 2004
Milutinovic had complained that the atmosphere in Honduras was not conducive to building a solid team; lacking, in his opinion, the necessary support needed to secure one of the region's slots for Germany 2006.
The Serbian-born coach claimed that he was treated almost as a 'delinquent' in Honduras by virtue of the salary he earned and because the team managed just one win in their last nine friendlies.
The above quote from the FIFAworldcup.com site reinforces my suspicions that Bora carefully chooses situations where the groundwork for success had already been laid by other coaches…or as in the case of the US and China there was tremendous ‘back office support’ in terms of support technical expertise and MONEY!
No expense was spared by the countries, namely the US and China, with which TEAM building occurred. The Serb really was the guiding hand as TEAM was made in both countries.
How did he achieve his success with the US (Host ’94 World Cup -
18-JUN-94 Detroit USA : Switzerland
1:1 (1:1) Pontiac Silverdome
22-JUN-94 Pasadena USA : Colombia
2:1 (1:0) Rose Bowl
26-JUN-94 Pasadena USA : Romania
0:1 (0:1) Rose Bowl
Note: Qualified as hosts – Exited 1st round) and China (Qualifiers for World Cup 2002 - Note: China coach Bora Milutinovic has stepped down after his team finished their World Cup finals campaign with their third defeat running, losing 3-0 to Turkey on Thursday.
The result left China without a goal in their first appearance in the finals. )?
Three of the things stand out – i) His TEAMs played a great many preparatory international matches. Ii) All creature comforts and back office technical support was at hand. Iii) MONEY was never an issue - What Bora asked for he got!
The question is; How many coaches are there out there who with that type of back office support could have achieved what Bora did?
Arriving at your descriptive word for the true worth of Bora depends on where on the scale between – “Many! …and, “Not many!” your answer falls!
As I stated previously I have my reservations on whether or not Bora should be classified as one of the many “Competent ” coaches, …or one of the many “Good” coaches. I certainly would not classify Bora as a GREAT coach!
I have no doubt that with similar back office support CB could produce the same results with teams similar to those Bora had…and, certainly in the case of Bora’s work with those Metro Stars, CB could have produced better results.
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Karl |
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Who is Bora Milutinovic? My take!
