Cuba stakes its hopes on German coach

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The island stakes its hopes on German coach and dreams of FIFA World Cup

BY ANNE-MARIE GARCIA —Special for Granma International—

• CUBA, the land of strikes and home runs, has staked its hopes on German coach Reinhold Fanz to realize the dream of seeing the national soccer team classify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
"Fanz is going to give us the support we need to reach a higher level, improve our tactical discipline and gain the experience that we need so much," explained Luis Hernández, president of Cuba’s soccer association.
"We had to strengthen the national team’s leadership and we looked for someone with experience," Hernández added during a conference with sports reporters.
Fanz, 54, has been a coach for Hanover ‘96 and Eintracht Frankfurt, clubs in the Bundesliga (a German league), and in 2006 he coached Bonner SC, a German fourth division club.
"It’s an attractive position. The goal, of course, is to win the classification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa," Fanz stated, in an interview published on the website of Germany’s soccer federation.
Hernández, for his part, explained that Fanz is coming to Cuba on March 2, having previously visited for 15 days in January to meet the local players and attend several of the championship games.
Gerd Demann, vice president of Bonner SC, said during a visit to the island that "the players have potential and talent that is similar and sometimes superior to [players from] Brazil and Argentina. They need experience, better organization of their game on the field, training with more intensity, playing harder and international competition."
"THEY COULD CLASSIFY"
Demann was optimistic about Cuba’s soccer potential, affirming that the 2010 World Cup was not a pipe dream: "They could classify," he said.
More realistically, Hernández said that "Cuban soccer has a new face, new expectations and new ambition, but we know that the road ahead is long and difficult, and that we have to work very hard."
But the Cuban sports official and former player added, "Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago went to a World Cup — why shouldn’t Cuba be able to do it?"
It is not the first time that Cuba has hired a foreign coach. Peruvian Miguel Company was the coach for the national team when it sought to classify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Cuba was eliminated by Costa Rica after tying 2-2 at home and tying again 1-1 in Costa Rica.
Cuban coach Raúl González has been leading the team to date.
"None of the teams in the region from CONCACAF that have classified for a World Cup have done so with national coaches," Hernández noted. "There has always been a foreign trainer, and Cuba is going to let Fanz show us what he knows."
No financial details of Fanz’ contract have been released, but Demann explained that the Cuban Soccer Association has had an agreement with Bonner since 1998. "We guarantee the coach, as well as the training matches and training visits by the island’s team in May and July in Germany and Austria."
Fanz was a First Division winger in his country, winning the German Cup in 1979 with Fortuna Dusseldorf, and as a coach, he has trained Sebastian Kehl, Asamoah Gerald and Mario Gómez, among the best players in the world.
Cuba will compete in the second CONCACAF World Cup elimination round in June against the winner of the elimination round between Aruba and Antigua-Barbuda.
The third elimination round will be played from August 20 to November 19, with a format of three groups of four teams. If Cuba and the United States advance as expected, they would face off in an elimination round for the first time since 1949.
Cuba, a country where baseball is king, has never classified for a FIFA World Cup, but it did participate as a guest in 1938 with José Tapia, a Galician émigré, as coach.
Throughout Cuban soccer history, the national team has had a number of foreign coaches: Czech Frantisek Churda (1963-64); Hungarians Karoly Kocza (1996), Laszlo Mohaczy (1967) and Tibor Ivanicz (1980-81); North Korean Kim Young Ha (1970-71) and Italian Geovani Campari (1990-92). •