World Cup Coaches Who Did NOT Play Football

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2010 South Africa FIFA World Cup is fast approaching. Football fans all over the world are no doubt looking forward to the big event that only comes about once every four years. This summer, from 11 June to the final in July, the world will be taken by storm with 32 teams competing and billions watching. 2010 FIFA World Cup is the first ever World Cup Tournament that will take place in Africa. The continent will host the World Cup and will take center stage for a month. So will the 32 teams who will be competitive there to win the world cup and declare themselves the ruler of the soccer world.

Football is played on the pitch for 90 minutes but never starts or ends there. The preparations takes months and forming a good, functioning and effective team does not only depend on players but the also on the coach managing the team. The effect of the coaches on the team and the game is usually a curious discussion point. Some say that the game is played on the pitch and the coach effect is never more than ten percent. Others argu that the coach and his tactics are the maker or the breaker for the team. This will be a never resolving issue. What is true though is that the coaches are the first to blame whenever there is failure.

There are 32 countries participating in the world cup and they will go to South Africa after many qualification games that they have played to eliminate the rest of the world to reach the finals. Each country made their best effort to come to South Africa and when starting the campaign for qualifications, they chose the best coach they think is fit for the job. When you look at the list of coaches of the teams attending the tournament this summer, there is a striking domination of ex football players who are now in charge of the teams. Of the 32 teams, 30 coaches have actually played professional football in their day.

There are of course more famous ones like Diego Maradona, the Argentinian coach, or Carlos Dunga, the Brazilian. There are also less known or local ones like the Honduras coach Rueda or Ricki Herbert the New Zealand coach. But they all kicked the ball in the professional sense. The question that comes to mind is 'Do you have to be an ex player to be a good coach?' or rather 'Are all players also good coaches?' Looking at the list of coaches of the 32 teams, you have to say yes.

However, let's look at the 2 coaches that have always been coaches and not ex players. Namely, the United States coach Bob Bradley and Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira coaching the hosts South Africa. Bob Bradley is 52 years old and has been coaching soccer since 1981, almost 30 years. Which also means that he started coaching when he was 22. His first post was Ohio University. After coaching at the university level until 1997, he started his Major League Soccer career. Until 2006, when he took over as the coach of the United States, he had successful seasons with Chicago Fire, Metro Stars and Chivas USA. Bradley was only named as the interim coach to be the future national manager perhaps for the 2014 finals. When the first candidate, Jurgen Klinsmann talks fell through he was named as the interim coach. Although many saw Bradley as a second choice, he quickly went about building a strong foundation for the team, introducing younger players to the squad and approaching the job as though he already was, or would soon become, the permanent manager.

In 2009, Bradley led the US team to a 2nd place finish in the 2009 Confederations Cup, including a 2-0 victory over the world's number one ranked team and European champions Spain , ending their 35 game unbeaten streak and 15 game winning streak.

The second coach at the world cup who is not an ex football player is Carlos Alberto Parreira. Parreira was born in 1943 and started his coaching career when he was 24. He was only 25 years old when he took charge of the Ghana team. He managed many teams since then and actually participated in 5 World Cups so far. In 1982, he coached Kuwait and lost two games and drew 1-1 with Checkoslovakia. In 1990, he was leading United Arab Emirates and lost all three games. Four years later, he was holding up the world cup proudly with Brazil. 1998 saw Parreira coaching Saudi Arabia without any notable success. At the Last World Cup in 2006, he was back in charge of Brazil but could not put its mark to the tournament. Brazil lost to France and could not reach the final of the tournament.

Now, Parreira is back with South Africa, the hosts. They are playing a fluent game and no doubt they will be raising some eyebrows when June comes. Both Parreira and Bradley did not play football professionally but both are successful coaches and have impressive careers and much more to promise. We will see and follow them both to find out their performance against the other 30 coaches, all ex football players. The world cup is the scene to decide on the discussion point, we will know if you really need to be a football player to be a top coach.

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