Pele edges Eusebio as Santos defend title
Rarely in the history of football can a team have been so closely associated with one player as Santos FC are with Pelé. For two decades, Santos and 'O Rei' weaved dreams together as the incomparable forward demonstrated his insolent mastery of the game across the planet. Their legend is all the more staggering considering that Santos FC represent a town of less than half a million inhabitants, 70km to the south-east of the all-consuming megalopolis of Sao Paulo.
A brief history...
Rarely in the history of football can a team have been so closely associated with one player as Santos FC are with Pelé. For two decades, Santos and 'O Rei' weaved dreams together as the incomparable forward demonstrated his insolent mastery of the game across the planet.
Their legend is all the more staggering considering that Santos FC represent a town of less than half a million inhabitants, 70km to the south-east of the all-consuming megalopolis of Sao Paulo.
The club were officially born at 11.33pm on 14 April 1912 upon the instigation of three players from modest club Americanos. The founding members originally put forward three possible names for the new outfit: Africa Futebol Clube, Asociaçao Esportiva Brasil and Concordia Futebol Clube. Santos FC eventually won the day, though, and the team disputed their first official match on 22 June 1912, which they won thanks to goals from Ferramenta and Ribeiro.
Santos joined the Campeonato Paulista (Paulista championship) four years later, but it was only with the arrival of Pelé in 1955 that the club began to grab headlines. For the next 15 years, they were not only untouchable but seemingly insatiable, giving the impression that no amount of goals would ever quench their thirst for more.
The titles began to pile up without the players' sheer enjoyment ever fading, and the biggest stars of the day seized the chance to join in the fun alongside Pelé. Zito, Dorval, Jaïr, Coutinho, Ze Carlos, Pepe, Toninho, Edu, Clodoaldo and Brazil captain Carlos Alberto all rallied to the cause as Santos became the 'Harlem Globe Trotters' of football.
In fact, when Brazil faced Germany on 5 May 1963 no fewer than eight of the Seleçao's starting eleven were Santos players (Gilmar, Lima, Zito, Mengalvio, Dorval, Coutinho, Pelé and Pepe).
Even after Pelé retired, the club's unique delight in scoring continued unabated, and on 20 January 1998 they became the first team in football history to pass the 10,000-goal mark. But Santos only really returned to the forefront again in 2002, when they collected another Brazilian title thanks to a teenager who brought memories of Pelé flooding back. Short, fragile and only 17 years of age, Robinho was already the soul of the team. Unlike Pelé, though, he left Santos in 2005 to join one of the giants of European football, Real Madrid.
Santos Futebol Clube
City: Santos, Sao Paulo state
Founded: 14 April 1912
Official website:www.santosfc.com.br
Honours:
* 2 Intercontinental Cups: 1962, 1963
* 2 Libertadores Cups: 1962, 1963
* 1 South American Super Cup: 1968
* 2 Brazilian Championships: 2002, 2004
* 5 Taca Brasil: 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
* 1 Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa: 1968
* 1 Conmebol Cup: 1998
* 5 Rio-Sao Paulo Tournaments: 1959, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1997
* 17 Paulista State Championships: 1935, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1978, 1984, 2006, 2007
Legendary players:
Araken (1922-29, 1935), Feitico (1927-33), Zito (1952-67), Pepe (1954-69), Pele (1956-74), Coutinho (1958-70), Mauro (1960-67), Gilmar (1962-69), Toninho Guerreiro (1963-69), Carlos Alberto Torres , Edu (1965-76), Clodoaldo (1966-78), Robinho (2002-05)
Records:
Pele - 1,115 appearances
Pele - 1,091 goals
Vittorio Pozzo - 'Old Master' helped make Italian football
Name: Vittorio Pozzo
Date of birth : 12 March 1886
In a brilliant four-year period, Vittorio Pozzo led Italy to two FIFA World Cups TM crowns and an Olympic gold medal, duly cementing his place in the coaching pantheon.
In a brilliant four year period, Vittorio Pozzo led the Italian national team to two FIFA World Cups TM and an Olympic gold medal, establishing himself as one of the greatest coaching figures in football history. Not only did il Vecchio Maestro ('the old master') build a side largely considered on par with any in the first half of the century, he was also a central figure in establishing many of the traditional characteristics of Italian football - steely pragmatism melded with sophisticated precision.
Known as a tactical wizard, Pozzo was also successful leader of men. Authoritarian but paternalistic and attentive, he demanded that his players pay any price for an Azzurri victory, even if many of his charges were not Italian. The Commissario Tecnico and his 1934 team won as hosts with an entire country (not to mention fascist dictator Benito Mussolini) watching their every move. It was an iron-willed, if fortunate, performance. However, the extraordinary France 38 team was the true culmination of Pozzo's footballing vision.
A vision takes hold
An unrepentant Anglophile, the adventurous young Pozzo discovered football while studying in England. After leading the Italian teams to the 1912 and 1924 Olympics in Stockholm and Paris - the latter time winning a bronze medal - Pozzo was named the first head coach of the Azzurri not to be shackled by the decision-making of a technical committee in 1929.
At the second FIFA World Cup finals in 1934, the hosts looked well on their way after uncomplicated victories over Greece (4-0 in qualifying) and the United States (7-1 in the first round), but a rugged quarter-final battled with Spain could not be decided after 120 minutes of 1-1 football, and a replay was ordered for the following day. Four Italian and seven Spanish players were unfit to play, including Spain's inspirational goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora, and legendary inside-right Giuseppe Meazza, eventually carried the day with the only goal in the relatively deadened rematch.
A high-profile semi-final against fellow tournament favourites Austria in the semi-final was a lacklustre affair. On a muddy pitch, the only thing separating the two was a dubious 10th-minute strike from one of the team's many oriundi (South American-born Italian nationals), Enrico Guaita. Pozzo's playmaking centre-half Luisito Monti - another oriundi, who actually played for Argentina in the 1930 FIFA World Cup final - was in fantastic form pre-empting attacks by the aging Wunderteam, led by Pozzo's friend and rival Hugo Meisl.
In the final, Italy met a dexterous Czech team, who took the lead in the 70th minute and by all rights should have carried away the trophy. Motivated brilliantly as ever by Pozzo, the hosts nevertheless managed to triumph almost through willpower alone as another oriundi, Raimondo Orsi, hit a spectacular, swerving shot to even the contest in the 81st minute. In extra time, a hobbled Meazza, all but left alone to drift in and out of the match, picked out Guaita from the wing. The Roma midfielder slid the ball to Angelo Schiavio, who just managed to poke in the winner five minutes into the extra period.
Amid the grandiloquent jubilations for Italia, riding atop his players shoulders, Pozzo was undoubtedly overjoyed as well as relieved. Despite being given the title Commendatore for greatness in his profession after the event, Pozzo made it clear that he still had much to do to form the team that he wanted.
Playing his football
After claiming a historic Olympic gold medal at the 1936 Olympics, Pozzo and Italy were amongst the shortlist of favourites in 1938, though the team was almost completely different from the side four years earlier. More refined and technical, the side now completely revolved around the inside forwards Meazza (now captain) and Giovanni Ferrari -- the only two players to feature in both finals. Up front with them Pozzo had inserted the deadly tandem of striker Silvio Piola and winger Gino Colaussi, who would go on to score five and four goals respectively in the finals.
Italy's toughest match of the 1938 finals actually came in the first round against a determined Norway side. Piola managed an extra time winner, and Pozzo adjusted the team for the daunting second round match up with France in Paris. As usual, the Maestro made all the right moves and Piola scored a brace to see off the hosts. In the semi-final, Brazil coach Ademar Pimenta famously rested his first choice strikeforce of Leonidas and Tim and paid the price 2-1 to an undeniable Italy.
Lucky four years before in the final, Pozzo's men stole the show from Hungary in France. They opened the scoring in just the sixth minute with a flowing, length-of-the-pitch move that culminated in a Colaussi strike. A Pal Titkos equaliser stemmed the tide, but Italy were mouth-watering. Meazza made goals for Piola and Colaussi before the half was up, as Hungary's more deliberate style and outdated tactics were cruelly exposed by the Azzurri.
Gyorgy Sarosi pulled one back for the Eastern Europeans, but Amedeo Biavati's backheel set up Piola with eight minutes remaining, and Italy's third all-time leading goal scorer thumped his left-footed blast into the net. Unpopular to the French fans and Italian expatriates in attendance, Pozzo and his team celebrated more intimately than four years before. But, the look on Pozzo's face is one of the complete satisfaction.
The demanding coach and his devoted team had played themselves into the record books as the first to successfully defend a FIFA World Cup as well as the first to win it on foreign soil. With war looming on the horizon however, Pozzo and his men never got the chance to defend their FIFA World Cup run as there would not be another finals for 12 years.
Pozzo struggled on against social and political forces as coach of the Azzurri until the summer of 1948 when he retired at the age of 62. In all, he led the national team to 63 wins, 17 draws and 15 losses in his 19 year career. The 63 victories and the total number of 95 matches coached in are both Italian national team records.
He resumed his previous career as a football journalist after retiring, but his standing as a football manager was compromised by what many saw as capitulation with Mussolini's fascist regime. He eventually faded back to his beloved Turin and died four days before Christmas in 1968. A popular figure or not, Pozzo's place in FIFA World Cup history is enshrined with his team.
Tactics
While in England watching Manchester United's centre-half Charlie Roberts, Pozzo was won over to the idea of a system featuring two backs and a playmaking centre-half. Inspired by Austria's Hugo Meisl, Pozzo developed his own tactics, known as the Metodo. Pozzo's teams typically relied less on the centre-half and more on the inside forwards, Giuseppe Meazza and Giovanni Ferrari, to break down defences, and thus combined the previously used 2-3-5 and W-M formations.
In the 1940s, the centre-half became a stopper, and the revised strategy was called the Sistema ('the system'). The new style was the grandfather of the unyielding defence and quick counterattacks typical of Italian football and it proved ultimately useful in the ever-quickening international game.
Coaching career
National team
1912: Italy
1924: Italy
1929 - 1948: Italy
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner in 1934 et 1938
Olympic champion in 1936
97 matches, 64 wins, 17 draws, 16 defeats
Club
1912 - 1922 : Torino (Techincal director)
Playing career
Clubs
1905 - 1906: Grasshopper-Club Zurich (Switzerland)
1906 - 1911: Torino
Classic XI: the victorious team at Italy 1934
Combi, Shiavio, Allemandi, Bertolini, Ferrari, Ferraris, Guaita, Meazza, Monti, Monzeglio, Orsi
Classic XI: the victorious team at France 1938
Olivieri, Foni, Rava, Serantoni, Andreolo, Biavati, Colaussi, Ferrari, Locatelli, Meazza, Piola
Alf Ramsey - England's Anonymous Hero
Name: Alfred Ramsey
Country: England
England have won just one FIFA World Cup and they owe that success to Alf Ramsey. Loyal to his players and an astute tactician, this former England full-back led the 'wingless wonders' to glory on home soil in 1966.
Not even Queen Elizabeth II could contain her joy on 30 July 1966 when England, recognised as the birthplace of modern football, finally captured the FIFA World Cup TM. As wild celebrations erupted inside Wembley Stadium and scores poured onto the streets up and down the country, it seemed there was just one man able to remain calm. Alf Ramsey, who had masterminded the nation's greatest-ever sporting triumph, raised a warm smile but, remarkably, kept his composure as well as his seat on the bench.
Like Nobby Stiles' jig and Bobby Moore's lifting of the Jules Rimet trophy, the image of a restrained Ramsey sticks with every Englishman even 40 years after the famous event, underlining the importance of the role played by their coach and the quiet dignity that he personified. The 'General' also possessed an astute football brain, was flexible with his tactics, yet a strict disciplinarian, and as a technician was well ahead of his time. But perhaps his greatest talent was his ability to get the best out of his players.
"We will win the World Cup," the Essex man announced with uncharacteristic bravado as he took the national-team reins in 1963. Never at ease among the press but nevertheless widely respected, a 5-2 loss to France in a European Nations' Cup qualifying game had many within the media questioning the appointment. But Ramsey, who in his playing days as a right-back won 32 caps for England and a league championship with Tottenham Hotspur, was willing to take a major gamble by dispensing with the wingers English football had become identified with. He replaced them with an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation, which led his side to become known as the 'wingless wonders.'
Whatever criticism he took from the media, Ramsey's loyalty to his players was always returned. "It worked both ways," explained midfielder Nobby Stiles, who, despite a vicious tackle on French playmaker Jacques Simon during England's 2-0 group win, was backed to the hilt by his manager amid calls for him to be dropped for the quarter-finals. "Because he was loyal to you, you'd run through brick walls for him. And it wasn't just the players. Everyone concerned with England was doing it for Alf. Before the Argentina game I was in the bathroom putting my contacts in when Harold Shepherdson [Ramsey's assistant] came in. He grabs me by the throat, pushes me against the wall and says, 'Don't you let Alf down'."
Despite Ramsey's bold prediction, most football experts did not think England, even as hosts, could win the tournament. After all Ramsey himself was in the England team that suffered a humiliating defeat by the United States at the 1950 finals in Brazil. His last cap, three years later at Wembley, came on the day Hungary's magical Magyars famously destroyed the home team 6-3. In three subsequent FIFA World Cups - Switzerland '54, Sweden '58 and Chile '62 - England had failed to go beyond the last eight.
There was little reason to suspect that Ramsey's men could dethrone Pele and Co, but England were about to wake up to the world. A goalless draw against Uruguay kicked off the finals for the hosts, which was followed by an unconvincing 2-0 win against Mexico. However, a confident 2-0 victory over France showed the team were moving in the right direction, and after vanquishing Argentina in a rugged 1-0 match - Ramsey infamously referred to the Argentina players as "animals" after the contest - the nation began to believe in the coach and his 'wingless wonders'.
With Gordon Banks in goal and captain Bobby Moore majestic in front of him, England had not conceded a goal in the tournament to that point. When their net did bulge for the first time, it came just eight minutes from time in the semi-final against Portugal, and Eusebio's penalty was too late to undo the damage of two Bobby Charlton strikes. That 2-1 success put England into the final where they would face West Germany, a side they had never lost to.
While the form book was in England's favour, few could have predicted the full drama of the 1966 FIFA World Cup final - Germany's last-gasp equaliser for 2-2, England's controversial 'third' goal, Geoff Hurst's hat-trick and finally the jubilation - all with Ramsey sitting resolutely on the bench. Hero Hurst related how Ramsey convinced the team to fight on before extra time: "You've won it once. Now go and win it again."
Alf became Sir Alf a year later and under his charge, the 1960s continued to swing for English football fans. Many commentators believed the team Ramsey took to Mexico '70 were even better than the champions of four years before, and the paternal England coach seemed to instinctively know what his players needed to perform at their best. Together with this psychological insight into the machinations of the modern professional, Ramsey's hand extended as far as travel arrangements, diet and fitness. His planning and control were even more exact for the Mexico finals.
"Alf's preparations for Mexico were incredible," remembered Stiles. "They'd be reckoned obsolete by today's standards but in those days they were revolutionary. No stone was left unturned. He even took HP Sauce to Mexico. I'll always remember that - HP Sauce on the tables."
But the world champions were hit by incidents off the field that would test Ramsey's managerial abilities to the full. First, his captain and great ally, Bobby Moore, was falsely arrested for stealing a necklace from a shop in a Colombian hotel. And, before the quarter-final rematch with West Germany, Banks - who made a miraculous save from a Pele header in the 1-0 group defeat by Brazil - fell ill. The resulting quarter-final in Leon was a turning point in the England coach's reign.
An error from Banks' replacement Peter Bonetti gave the Germans a lifeline at 2-1 in the second half, and Ramsey's decision to take off Charlton just minutes before Uwe Seeler's goal brought the contest level has been viewed as the moment when the boss' messiah-like reputation was lost for good. Gerd Muller's winner in the second period of extra time left England toppled in the most dramatic of fashions.
By the early 1970s football was transforming, and the change from black-and-white TV was accompanied by more colourful coaches who were more engaging with the media. Ramsey's momentous feats in the 60s found little currency when after a one-sided home draw with Poland, England failed to qualify for the 1974 finals in West Germany. "If Bobby Moore had wept, we would have all wept with him," said the deflated coach whose dozen-year reign came to an end. In all, Sir Alf's England teams registered 69 victories, 27 draws and 17 losses.
"It was the most devastating half-hour of my life," Ramsey later said of his sacking. "I stood in a room almost full of staring committee men. It was just like I was on trial. I thought I was going to be hanged." The 53-year-old son of a smallholder remained the people's champion, though, and with every passing year his unique feat of leading England to victory in the game they gave to the world appears more and more remarkable.
Hugo Meisl - The banker's son who masterminded a Wunderteam
Name: Hugo Meisl
Date of birth: 16 November 1881
In the 1930's Austria laid claim to a team whose quality and verve sent legitimate shockwaves throughout Europe. The mastermind and father of this Wunderteam often mentioned in the same breath as the great Hungarian side of the 1950s and Brazil of 1970, was Hugo Meisl.
In the 1930's Austria laid claim to a team whose quality and verve sent legitimate shockwaves throughout Europe. The mastermind and father of this Wunderteam often mentioned in the same breath as the great Hungarian side of the 1950s and Brazil of 1970, was Hugo Meisl. The ingenious football innovator and connoisseur was one of the game's leading authorities of his era, governing the Austrian Football Association as General Secretary in the 1920s and 1930s and coaching the Alpine nation to initial prominence on Planet Football at the 1934 FIFA World Cup.
Born to a wealthy family, Meisl moved to Vienna as a child where he attended a commercial academy, training for a career in business before securing a position as a clerk with the L䮤erbank. However, young Meisl had always harboured a passion for football and duly sacrificed a lucrative banking career to dedicate himself to perfecting the art and building a much-needed infrastructure for the sport. His knowledge earned him a reputation as an outstanding expert in his field.
As General Secretary of the Austrian Football Association, Meisl was a driving force in making football a professional sport not only in Austria, but throughout Europe. The shrewd expert in the burgeoning international game, he was the inventor of the Mitropa Cup, a precursor to the European Champions Cup. However, Meisl's greatest success came as coach of the fabled 'Wunderteam' that made footballing history in the 1930s.
On 22 December 1912, Hugo Meisl made his debut as national coach of the Alpine Republic at just 31 years of age. And it turned out to be a winning start, as his side overcame bitter rivals Italy 3-1 in Genoa.
Keeping it on the carpet
Meisl was in charge of the national team for just under two years before embarking on a five-year tour of service in the First World War. Heinrich Retschury subsequently took over the helm, but Meisl remained in relatively close contact and resumed sole control of the team at the beginning of 1919 after returning from the conflict.
Football enjoyed a golden era in the wake of the war, and Meisl was one of those in favour of professionalizing the sport. And in his position as General Secretary, he also played a major role in building the national team, along with his English friend Jimmy Hogan, who is largely credited with bringing what was then known as 'Scottish-style' football to the continent. His 'keep-it-on-the-carpet' philosophy particularly influenced Austria in the 1930s and Hungary's Magical Magyars in the 1950s - two teams regarded very highly for their controlled, technical style of play.
The Austrian Wunderteam, regarded by most as the greatest pre-World War Two team in Europe, was born in the early 1930s. A 2-1 victory against Czechoslovakia on 12 April 1931 would herald an unbeaten run of 14 matches for the Austrian team, consisting of eleven victories and three draws. This remarkable series of results also included two emphatic routs of Germany, who were outclassed 6-0 in Berlin and 5-0 in Vienna. However, the highlight of the run is traditionally seen as the 5-0 drubbing of Scotland on 16 May 1931 in Vienna, as it was the first time Scotland tasted defeat on the continent. Hungary were also humbled in an 8-2 thrashing, while Switzerland were swept aside 8-1 in Basel.
Playing with the Paper Dancer
Meisl's proxy on the pitch was the magical Matthias Sindelar, one of the greatest footballers of his generation and a genius of a playmaker who inspired the team to success. Nicknamed der Papierene on account of his lean, delicate stature, and 'The Mozart of Football' because of his virtuosity, Sindelar was the flamboyant, free-spirited soul of this well-drilled team.
The impressive run finally came to an end on 7 December 1932 when Meisl's charges were defeated for the first time in 15 tries by the game's English inventors. The upstarts went down bravely 4-3 in the birthplace of football at London's Stamford Bridge and even in defeat, the continentals' flair and strength was very much on display. It was an ironic return of Hogan's British methods that was a foreshadowing of Hungary's watershed 6-3 demolition of England in 1953.
Austria lost just one more game until the semi-finals of the 1934 FIFA World Cup' on 9 April 1933, when they were defeated 2-1 by Czechoslovakia. Between April 1931 and June 1934, the Wunderteam lost just three out of 31 games, scoring 101 goals.
Slouching into history
Austria's glory days were due to come at the 1934 FIFA World Cup in neighbouring Italy. Though they were a few years past their high-water mark, the Wunderteam confirmed their very real chances of winning the second global showpiece by thumping the hosts 4-2 in a friendly at the brand new Stadio Mussolini in Turin on the eve of the finals.
After their incredible run of form, Meisl's team understandably arrived at the finals with high expectations, but it was to be an unlucky competition all around. After a 3-2 extra-time win over France in Turin, Austria went on to eliminate Hungary in a 2-1 quarter-final triumph in Bologna to set up a semi-final clash with hosts Italy at Milan's San Siro stadium. The particularly bruising encounter with Hungary led Meisl to call it 'a brawl, not a football match,' and his team would rue the lingering injuries they picked up there.
Before the semi-final against Italy, coached by old friend and fellow innovator Vittorio Pozzo, Meisl remarked, 'We have no chance.' And, almost as if on queue, the heavens opened and a deluge of rain swamped the pitch. The conditions were a crushing blow for the fatigued Austrians who loved to play on the grass, as was the loss of injured dynamo Johann Horvath. And though Austria had their fair share of chances - some reports have Italian goalkeeper Giampiero Combi saving almost two dozen shots - Enrico Guaita's 10th-minute Azzurri goal held up 1-0, and Meisl, Sindelar and the Wunderteam would never truly cement their status in FIFA World Cup history.
Two years later Austria reached the final at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. However, once again it was Italy who denied Meisl and his men. The final, which ended in a 1-2 defeat remains to this day, the only time Austria have reached the ultimate match of a major international football tournament.
On 24 January 1937, Hugo Meisl took his place on the Austrian bench for the last time. And his team gifted him a farewell victory, defeating France 2-1 in Paris. Just weeks later, Hugo Meisl died at the age of 55. No Austrian national coach has been able to replicate his great success, and the subsequent German Anschluss of the Austrian team destroyed much of what the great man had created -- including der Papierene Sindelar, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after the Nazi occupation began. It was a quick and tragic end to a beautiful Viennese tale.
Tactics
Jimmy Hogan's tactical ideas about football found little purchase in his native England, but he was openly accepted as both coach and tactician in Austria, Hungary and Germany among other places. One of the first men to take to Hogan's short-passing style was Hugo Meisl. The Austrian football administrator and Hogan adapted their ideas to the pitch, giving unprecedented emphasis to the creative centre half in a 2-3-5 'W-M' formation. The Austrian Wunderteam was an important step between the forward-thinking ideas of Herbert Chapman and Jimmy Hogan from England and Vittorio Pozzo's two-time FIFA World Cup champions Italy.
"Coaching career"
National team
1912-1914: Austria
1919-1937: Austria
International achievements
Fourth place at the 1934 FIFA World Cup Italy
Silver medalist at the 1936 Olympic Football Tournament
Playing career
1900-1905: Vienna Cricket and Football Club
Herberger: Miracle worker for a new Germany
Name : Joseph 'Sepp' Herberger
Date of Birth: 28 March 1897
Mastermind of the 'Maracle of Berne', Joseph Herberger is widely accepted as a founding father of the new Germany after the Second World War. He was transformed by the seminal victory over prohibitive favourites Hungary into a social and cultural icon for the fledgling Federal Republic.
Labelled the 'Miracle of Berne,' Germany's first FIFA World Cup TM triumph in 1954 is inextricably linked with Joseph Herberger, a man whose achievements transcended the conventional boundaries of football coaching. Indeed, he is widely accepted as a founding father of the new Germany after the second World War, a sportsman transformed by the seminal victory over prohibitive favourites Hungary into a social and cultural icon for the fledgling Federal Republic.
'Sepp', as he was affectionately known, was the youngest of six children in a working-class family. When his father died, Herberger was sent out to work at the age of 14, taking odd jobs on building sites before entering employment in a metalworking factory.
Even as a young child, however, he was only really interested in football, and he made his senior debut for home town club Waldhof Mannheim at the tender age of 17.
Army, internationals and university
Herberger was drafted into military service in 1916 and served two years in the army before returning to play for Waldhof, where he earned rave notices as a gifted striker with battling instincts and hard-running stamina.
He received his first international call-up in 1921 and made his Germany debut in a 3-3 draw against Finland, although he was to win a total of only three caps. In his club career, Herberger moved across town to bitter rivals VfR Mannheim but was accused of accepting an illegal payment and received a year-long ban for contravening the game's amateur statutes.
With VfR, the 28 year-old scored the winner in the 1925 South German championship final, appearing for the third and final time in a Germany shirt against Holland that year.
He moved to Berlin in 1926 and embarked on a four-year stint with Tennis Borussia. At the age of 30 he began studying for a coaching diploma at the University of Physical Education in Berlin, graduating top of his class. His thesis was entitled 'Towards peak performance in the sport of football'. He subsequently spent four years with the Western Germany Sports Association in Duisburg as a senior coach.
Rebuilding Germany
After Germany's poor showing at the 1936 Olympics, Herberger was named Reichsfussballtrainer, succeeding Otto Nerz. He fashioned a team widely expected to do well at France '38, but his work was undone by the ugly politics of the age. The regime in Berlin forced him to field players from annexed Austria, and Germany were knocked out ingloriously in the preliminary round.
International competition was suspended during the devastating war years, but the determined Herberger made every attempt to maintain contact with his players. At the cessation of hostilities he began the tough task of rebuilding the national side and was officially named national coach again in 1950.
Germany were excluded from the FIFA World Cup that year, but in November a national side again took the field after an eight-year absence. It was Germany's first game since the war and ended in a 1-0 win over Switzerland in front of 115,000 spectators in Stuttgart, ushering in an inspiring era in German football.
Herberger assiduously crafted a team around legendary captain Fritz Walter, but his men were still considered rank outsiders at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in neighbouring Switzerland. The all-conquering Hungarians were rated as nearly invincible as an 8-3 first round victory over Herberger's men appeared to prove. The boss was battered by a storm of criticism, but he later claimed that he had chosen to field a weakened side and saw the defeat as part of a broader strategic plan.
The football strategist par excellence
'Sepp' had calculated that he needed two first-round victories to progress. His men defeated Turkey in their opening match but the coach knew even his strongest side had little chance against Hungary. Thus he accepted there would be a defeat, sent out his reserves and rested his best players for the decisive match, once again versus the Turks.
Strength of character enabled him to ignore the barrage of hostility, but further events proved him right as a full-strength side duly disposed of Turkey a second time and progressed to the next round. His critics were silenced and suddenly he was hailed as "an outstanding football strategist."
His fame spread, partly due to a trademark notebook with details of upcoming opponents' strengths and weaknesses, but largely thanks to a gift for unforgettable pearls of wisdom. "The ball is round" and "A match lasts 90 minutes" have passed into the standard German football vocabulary.
For Germans, the 4th of July 1954 is written in indelible ink in the history books. Their national team, back on the world stage after a long, cold winter, would have to face Hungary in what seemed a lopsided final. Instead the event would be immortalised in the annals of German history as the 'Miracle of Berne.'
The Chief masterminds German triumph
Always a fighter, Herberger knew how to motivate a team. He was an authoritarian, but had a real feel for his players, highly aware of the effect of his words and how to stoke up his men's ambitions. The dressing room, and later an entire nation, respectfully addressed him simply as 'Chief'.
The football world may still be looking for his equal in terms of getting the best from individual players. His teams were superbly prepared, bristling with stamina, strength, discipline and fighting spirit, the virtues generally classed as typically German to this day.
Of all these attributes, interpersonal restraint was the most important, as he believed a side must be primarily functional as a group of people. He lived by his motto, "You have to be 11 friends." Captain Fritz Walter, Herberger's only real confidante, executed the Chief's instructions on the field, taking a key role in both sporting and personal terms.
The rain poured down as Germany defeated Hungary 3-2 after trailing by two early goals at the Wankdorf stadium in Bern. Herberger's tactics paid off: it was Hungary's first defeat in four years.
But the triumph in Bern meant far more than the prestige associated with a first FIFA World Cup success. It was a signal for renewal in devastated post-war Germany, restoring national pride and confidence, and sparking a powerful determination to rise from the ruins. It was the first sign of hope for a battered and bruised people.
Founding father of a new generation
Likewise, Sepp Herberger's influence stretched far beyond the role of FIFA World Cup-winning coach. He helped create the foundations for a new generation of Germans. In Germany, the 'Miracle of Bern' had a psychological effect greater than any other sporting success, and his achievement was recognised with the National Order of Merit First Class in 1962.
Herberger remained in the job of national coach until 1964. In 1958, Germany finished fourth at the FIFA World Cup in Sweden, before losing to Chile in the 1962 quarter-finals. His last match as German national coach was a victory over Finland on 7 June 1964.
He handed over his position to Helmut Schon and retired. Herberger died after a lung infection in 1977 in his hometown of Mannheim at the age of 80.
Tactics
Herberger was a shrewd tactician. After his team started the 1954 FIFA World Cup with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Turkey, he made eight changes, resting his best players for the second game against favourites Hungary. Only captain Fritz Walter, Jupp Posipal and Werner Kohlmeyer remained in an otherwise second-string 11.
Inevitably, Herberger's men were handed a merciless 8-3 defeat. However, the manoeuvre would later be acknowledged as a stroke of genius as the fully recuperated German team cruised to a 7-2 win in the deciding game against Turkey to progress to the next round. "I believe we would have lost today, even with our strongest team," claimed Herberger defending his actions, which caused wide resentment in his homeland.
Coaching career
National team
1936 - 1964 Allemagne
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner in 1954
Club
1930 - 1932 Tennis Borussia Berlin
Playing career
National team
3 international caps, 2 goals
Clubs
1914 - 1921 Waldhof Mannheim
1921 - 1926 VFR Mannheim
1926 - 1930 Tennis Borussia Berlin
The brains behind the Magical Magyars
Name: Gusztav Sebes
Born: 22 January 1906
Gusztav Sebes was the brains behind Hungary's 'Magical Magyars' of the 1950s. His revolutionary attacking tactics - a prototype of total football - inspired a golden generation of players who, for four years up to the 1954 FIFA World Cup, proved unbeatable.
Sometimes referred to as the 'Match of the Century', Hungary's 6-3 demolition of England at Wembley Stadium in 1953 is seen by many to mark the birth of football's modern age. If so, then Gusztav Sebes, the manager of the 'Magical Magyars,' was the man most responsible for the game's shaping place in football history.
Though rightly remembered for the beauty of their play and the brilliance of the world-class players in their ranks, the feats of Hungary's Aranycsapat (Golden Team) also marked a turning point in tactics, group dynamics and on-field fluidity. Sebes's side have come to be regarded as a precursor for the most skilled and intelligent teams in the sport's subsequent history. As Hungary's inspirational captain Ferenc Puskas once said: "When we attacked, everyone attacked, and in defence it was the same. We were the prototype for Total Football."
Given the central concept of 'Total Football', it is no surprise that Sebes, the son of a cobbler, was attracted to the philosophy; the notion of every player pulling an equal weight and able to play in all positions fitted neatly with his famous socialist ideals. He even described it as "socialist football", and his history as a labour organiser in Paris and Budapest no doubt honed his equally celebrated ability to inspire his men.
"If we beat the English at Wembley, our names will be legendary," said Sebes. His masterful motivating job in the build-up to the friendly match on 25 November 1953 often drifted into political terms - the unsung eastern Europeans playing in the home of the empire against the aloof inventors of the game themselves. Hungary's goalkeeper of the time, Gyula Grosics, later recalled: "Sebes was very committed to socialist ideology, and you could sense that in everything he said. He made a political issue of every important match or competition, and he often talked about how the struggle between capitalism and socialism takes place on the football field just as it does anywhere else."
The communist government in Hungary allowed Sebes, whose official title was deputy minister of sport, complete control of team planning and, inspired by the Italy side that won two pre-war FIFA World Cups, he duly built his squad around two clubs, Honved and Red Banner (formerly MTK). He developed a tactical system centred on the strength of his best players - Puskas and fellow inside-forward Sandor Kocsis formed a majestic attacking partnership supported by the elusive elder statesman Nandor Hidegkuti.
If Sebes' political language was taken to its logical conclusion, one could fairly say that the 1953 victory under Wembley's Twin Towers was akin to a chilly afternoon revolution. The 6-3 score line barely did justice to Hungary's dominance as the visitors' skill and tactics left their hosts helpless and the watching supporters stunned. They had 35 shots on goal to England's five and their final goal, a Hidegkuti volley, followed a sublime ten-pass sequence. One of England's greatest-ever players, Sir Tom Finney, was on the field that day and summed up the match as "race-horses against cart-horses". He continued: "They were the greatest national side I played against, a wonderful team to watch with tactics we'd never seen before." Another English legend, Sir Stanley Matthews, echoed the sentiment, saying: "They are the best team I ever faced. They were the best ever."
Hungary lent further weight to these words by inflicting further humiliation on England the following May, routing Walter Winterbottom's men 7-1 at Budapest's Nepstadion. The result firmly established Sebes's side as clear favourites to lift the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland following their impressive displays in winning gold at the Olympic Football Tournament two years earlier. The Hungarians had triumphed in Finland by overcoming four fellow European sides to the tune of 18 goals for and one against. The gold medal was theirs after defeating a high-quality Yugoslavia team 2-0 in the final.
The 'Magical Magyars' also registered what was the longest unbeaten streak in international football history until the 1990s when they went four years and 31 matches (27 victories) without losing. That run continued into the 1954 FIFA World Cup as they thrashed South Korea (9-0) and West Germany (8-3) in the group stage before dismissing the top two teams from 1950, Brazil and Uruguay, 4-2 in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
Sometimes even fairy tales have an unhappy ending, however. Hungary were undone in the final by a significantly improved German side from the one that they drubbed in the first round. After the favourites went 2-0 ahead in the first eight minutes, West Germany took over, evening the match in just ten minutes before finding the winning goal six minutes from the end. Sebes, his team and an entire country were crushed. It was "bad luck" the manager explained, and it was hard not to argue given the torrential rain in Berne, the injuries afflicting key players after a pair of bruising knockout round matches and the equaliser that Puskas saw cancelled out moments before the final whistle.
Speaking before the final, the 48-year-old Sebes had warned of the challenge facing his team. "Our greatest enemy is not so much physical fatigue as nervous tension. I never suspected that the World Cup could be such a test of nerves." Their nerve failed them at the decisive moment and that 3-2 defeat at the rain-sodden Wankdorf Stadium was to prove the beginning of the end for the Hungarians, even if they subsequently went another 18 matches unbeaten until falling to Turkey in early 1956. That loss was followed by a draw and two more defeats, and Sebes was duly relieved of his duties. Later that year, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest, Puskas and others defected, and the Cold War slowly swallowed up the lives of many of the Aranycsapat. Sebes stayed active in football, coaching Hungarian club sides until the late 1960s and assuming administrative roles with UEFA and the Hungarian Olympic Committee. Yet for both him and Hungarian football, the golden age was at an end.
Tactics
Hungarian football was at the vanguard of tactical innovation in the 1950s. The traditional 3-2-5 formation (or WM) was turned upside down as club sides and Sebes's national team adopted a prototype of the 4-2-4 system. Where the old WM incorporated two attacking inside-forwards, two wingers and a centre-forward, this new approach saw the centre-forward withdrawn behind two attacking inside-forwards. A midfielder was pulled back to strengthen the defence, while two midfield half-backs helped both the defence and attack. Sebes adopted the tactic and brought it to the international game using Nandor Hidegkuti as the deep-lying forward and Sandor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskas as the central attackers. Sebes also encouraged his defenders to attack and his goalkeeper, Grosics, to act almost as a sweeper. (Grosics was even referred to sometimes as the 'fourth back'.) Interestingly, another Hungarian, Bela Guttman, travelled to Brazil where he turned the nation on to the values of a more standard 4-2-4 with which the Selecao won the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
Coach Detail
National team
1949-1956: Hungary
International honours
1954 FIFA World Cup TM runner-up
1952 Olympic Football Tournament gold medal
Clubs
1940-1941: Szentlorinci AC
1942-1943: WMKASE
1943-1944: Weiss Manfred SE
1945-1946: Budafoki MTE
1957-1960: Ujpesti Dozsa
1960-1961: Budapesti Honved
1968-1968: Diosgyori VTK
Playing career
International honours
1 full international cap
Clubs
1919-1920: Muszaki Doldozok SE
1920-1924: Vasas FC
1925-1926: Sauvages Nomades
1926-1927: Club Olympique Billancourt
1927-1929: MTK
1929-1940: Hungria FC
1945-1945: MTK
Club honours
Three Hungarian Championships with MTK
Mario Zagallo - None hungrier than Brazil's lone wolf
Name: Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo
Date of birth: 9 August 1931
The great history of Brazilian football is inextricably linked with one Mario Zagallo. The 'Professor,' as he is known to his players, is a legend not only in his homeland but in virtually every outpost of Planet Football, having played a role in four of the five FIFA World Cups TM won by the Seleçao.
The great history of Brazilian football is inextricably linked with one Mario Zagallo. 'The Professor,' as he is known to his players, is a legend not only in his homeland but in virtually every outpost of Planet Football, having played a role in four of the five FIFA World Cups TM won by the Seleçao. And yet, despite once sharing a locker room with such creative geniuses as Pele, Garrincha , Didi, Vava and Gilmar, Zagallo has often faced the wrath of dissenting voices who deem his style of management too defensive. If there is one thing that silences all the critics, though, it is the long list of honours El Lobo (The Wolf) has accumulated over the years.
Indeed, Zagallo's fingerprints on four FIFA World Cup trophies speak for themselves. A true icon of the Brazilian game, he won two of them as a player (Sweden 58 and Chile 62), one as national manager (70) and another as assistant manager (94). Only German legend Franz Beckenbauer in the history of world football can match Zagallo's boast of having been crowned world champion as both a player and a coach.
A great player in his day
Nowadays better known as a legendary manager, Zagallo first made quite a reputation for himself out on the pitch. In the early 1950s, he played amateur football for America Football Club and then Clube de Regatas de Flamengo, where he shone on the left wing. Whatever he lacked in physical stature, Zagallo compensated with exquisite technique and by always being the first man back to defend if his team lost the ball.
His emergence on the professional scene came in 1953, and with Flamengo, followed by Botafogo, Zagallo picked up five Rio de Janeiro State titles ( cariocas) before becoming an ever-present fixture in the Seleçao starting eleven from 4 May 1958 to 7 June 1964.
World championships and a new role
It was during Sweden 58 that the rest of the world discovered Zagallo and his illustrious team-mates. As the Seleçao headed to their first world title, he featured in a role rarely seen at a time when midfielders were expected to concentrate on defensive duties. Zagallo liked nothing more than moving forward to join the attack, and his runs from deep often ended with a Brazilian breakthrough. Along with Garrincha, he was Brazil's key to unlocking a defence and scored his side's fourth in the final against Sweden, before setting up Pele for the fifth.
By the time Brazil retained their world title in 1962, Zagallo had evolved into a genuine forward, prowling out on the left. His goal during the must-win match with Mexico in the group stage proved vital in booking the Auriverde a place in the quarter-finals, where his performances took on even greater importance as injury kept Pele out of the side. Zagallo finally called time on his playing career in 1964, but was back in the game just two years later, this time as a manager.
And it was in this new role that Zagallo really expressed his passion for the game, revealing a depth of tactical awareness the world had already seen glimpses of in his playing days. His first job was on the bench of his old club Botafogo, whom he led to two cariocas and two cup victories.
Success on the international stage followed soon afterwards, with yet another global conquest for the Seleçao, this time at the mythical 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Blessed with an exceptionally talented squad, Zagallo now looks back on the tournament as his "greatest memory as a manager."
It is easy to understand why. His side won all six of their matches, scoring 19 times in the process, but above all it was the sheer quality of their play that stood out. Football experts all tend to agree that Brazil's FIFA World Cup triumph was the most spectacular and unquestionably deserved of all.
Attacking backs and the beautiful game
Having such fantastic players at his disposal was a great place to start, yet the game-plan conceived by Zagallo himself undoubtedly made a difference in the end. His system was able to incorporate Jairzinho, Tostao, Gerson, Rivelino, Carlos Alberto and the incomparable Pele, a wealth of individual stars that Zagallo fashioned into a team.
Many in Brazil were sceptical that Pele and Tostao could play together, but Zagallo waved off their doubts. It turned out to be a masterstroke and, as if that were not enough, the licence to get forward he accorded full-backs Clodoaldo and Piazza proved a resounding success. It was the first time football had witnessed a 5-3-2 formation that could seamlessly transform itself into a 3-5-2 and back again.
Zagallo's system worked like a dream, granting freedom to individual genius within a well-drilled unit. Everything about the Brazilians' play was both efficient and pleasing to the eye, from the dribbling and powerful strikes of Rivelino to Jairzinho's explosive runs, from Gerson's drives out of midfield to the unparalleled inspiration of 'O Rei' himself.
The final against Italy provided the ultimate expression of their spellbinding abilities as an excellent Italian outfit were brushed aside. Pele opened the scoring with a ferocious header, Gerson fired in after being set up by Jairzinho, who in turn netted the third before Carlos Alberto added a memorable fourth, with Pele instrumental in the last two goals. On 21 June 1970, Zagallo therefore became the first-ever manager to win the FIFA World Cup having already experienced the honour as a player.
Beyond Mexico 70
Hungry for more success, Zagallo carried on coaching, picking up yet more titles with Fluminese and Flamengo. His next port of call was the Persian Gulf. He managed a Gulf Cup success in the Kuwaiti hot-seat, followed by a spell in charge of Saudi Arabia and then qualification for Italy 90 as manager of the United Arab Emirates.
Four years later, Zagallo was sharing his experience at the very highest level again, as the Seleçao's technical director for USA 94. Together with his protégé, national coach Carlos Alberto Perreira, Zagallo help steer Brazil to another world title after a dour final with Italy.
In 1995, Zagallo took over the reins from Perreira and set about preparing the national side for a potential fifth FIFA World Cup triumph. With midfield stalwart Dunga as his captain, and talented footballers including Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Taffarel integrated into the team, Zagallo took the Copa America back to Brazil in 1997 and arrived at France 98 with his charges hot favourites for the greatest prize of all.
It was not to be, of course, with the hosts inflicting a heavy 3-0 defeat on Zagallo's men in a final marked by the mysterious illness picked up by Ronaldo a matter of hours before kick-off. Zagallo's decision to play an unfit Ronaldo caused unrelenting controversy back home, as did the choice to leave behind outspoken but in-form striker Romario before the tournament had even begun.
Zagallo indestructible
Having overcome typically flamboyant Brazilian criticism and fairly serious heart arrhythmia problems, Zagallo is nothing if not durable, and one might even say he has become part of the furniture in the Auriverde set-up. That is certainly how it looked in November 2002, when Zagallo was the automatic choice to oversee the national side in a friendly against Korea Republic after Luiz Felipe Scolari had masterminded Brazil's fifth world title and stepped down.
A bronze statue of Zagallo now adorns the main entrance to the Maracana Stadium, but El Lobo is not content with settling for that. Highly superstitious, he sees himself as belonging nowhere else but on the Seleçao bench, where he sat alongside Carlos Alberto Parreira in the role of technical director during Germany 2006.
If he has become a symbol, though, Zagallo is hardly the shy, retiring type and makes sure his opinions are heard on the evolution of the beautiful game. "The current trend in modern football is to favour physical power at the expense of technique, which allows the managers of smaller teams to erase the gulf in quality with bigger teams and prevents talented individuals from expressing themselves," he maintains. "Muscle has overtaken skill, which explains why the traditional favourites in European football have encountered so many problems recently."
"But here in Brazil, we still love the same kind of football. My own approach is to set out a plan and then leave the players complete freedom. I'm not a dictator, and how could I be with players who don't need to be told how to play football in the proper spirit?"
Time clearly has no hold on Zagallo. As determined as ever, it is easy to forget that the aging man collected 37 caps as a player, winning 30 times with a mere four draws and three defeats. He has also coached the national side for some 154 encounters, 110 of which ended in victory, along with 33 draws for just 11 reverses - impressive figures that attest to the legendary achievements of Brazil and Mario Zagallo.
Tactics
Despite his successes, Zagallo has often been criticised for his tactical choices. The indisputable quality displayed by the 1970 team shielded his system from the slightest reproach, but the 'defensive' mindset of the teams he coached alongside Carlos Alberto Parreira in 1994 and alone in 1998 provoked stinging attacks in the Brazilian press.
In those two FIFA World Cups, the Seleçao played in a classic 4-4-2 formation with two defensive midfielders - a concession to the principle that not losing possession has become the priority in the modern game. In Brazil, this was received as heresy and players like Dunga, Cesar Sampaio and Branco never really stirred the passion of the crowds. However, they all fulfilled crucial roles for Zagallo, who could point to results for all the justification he needed. And the Professor was one of the first managers to introduce attacking full-backs, a concept he has always remained loyal to - as the importance of Cafu, Leonardo and Roberto Carlos to the Seleçao's forward play in 1994 and 1998 stands to prove.
Playing career
37 senior caps for Brasil, four goals.
International achievements
FIFA World Cup TM winner in 1958 and 1962
Clubs
1946-1950: America
1951-1957: Flamengo
1958-1965: Botafogo
Club achievements
Winner of the Torneo de Rio in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1961 and 1962
Winner of the Torneo de Rio-Sao Paulo en 1962
Coaching career
National teams
1970-1974: Brazil
1976-1978: Kuwait
1981-1984: Saudi Arabia
1989-1990: UAE
1993-1994: Brazil (as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira)
1994-1998: Brazil
Nov. 2002: Brazil
2002-2006: Brazil (as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira)
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner in 1970 and 1994 (as assistant)
Gulf Cup winner with Kuwait
Copa America winner in 1997
FIFA World Cup Finalist at France 1998
Clubs
1966-1970: Botafogo
1971-1972: Fluminense
1972-1973: Flamengo
1978-1979: Botafogo
1979: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
1980: Al Nasr (Saudi Arabia)
1980-1981: Vasco da Gama
1984-1985: Flamengo
1986-1987: Botafogo
1988-1989: Bangu
1990-1991: Vasco da Gama
2000: Portuguesa
2000-2001: Flamengo
Club achievements
Brazilian championship winner in 1986
Rio State championship winner in 1967, 1968, 1971 and 1972
Saudi Arabian league winner in 1979
A happy ending for quiet man Jacquet and Les Bleus
Name : Aime Jacquet
Born: 27 November 1941
After being criticised, lampooned and even insulted before being acclaimed and eventually adored, Aime Jacquet can truly say he traversed the full spectrum of managerial experiences during his four years in charge of the French national team.
After being criticised, lampooned and even insulted before being acclaimed and eventually adored, AimeJacquet can truly say he traversed the full spectrum of managerial experiences during his four years in charge of the French national team. He took up the reins at a time when the position was regarded as something of a poison chalice, with Les Bleus having spectacularly botched their attempt to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA TM.
Once in charge, he soon set his sights on world supremacy and duly accomplished his mission. And then rather than use his success to tout his services to the highest bidder, he simply moved upstairs and took control of France's national training system before a well-earned retirement came in 2006. Fitting for a quiet man who sent an entire nation into ecstasy in 1998 and whose dignified appearance conceals an intense and studious passion for the game he has made his life.
A natural ability
Long before that unforgettable summer when he guided his country to the top of the world, Jacquet had already enjoyed the sort of playing career that many only dream about. A resilient defensive midfielder, he was part of the great Saint Etienne team of the late 1960s and earned his place in French footballing lore by helping Les Verts win five league titles and three French Cups in his eleven years at the fabled club. In 1973, he finally left the Forez and signed for bitter regional rivals Lyon, with whom he ended his playing career.
Having been heavily influenced by the legendary coaches he worked under at Saint Etienne - men such as Jean Snella, Albert Batteux and Robert Herbin - it was only natural that Jacquet sought to turn his hand to management. His first chance to impose his vision of how football should be played came by the banks of the Garonne, where he took over at Bordeaux. He promptly guided the Bordelais to the most successful decade of their history, during which they were crowned champions three times, picked up the French Cup twice and reached two European semi-finals and one quarter-final. Unsurprisingly, Jacquet became a highly respected figure among both players and peers.
Right man for France
After his stint at Bordeaux, Jacquet opted to fine-tune his theories and training ideas with less illustrious clubs, starting with Montpellier before moving on to Nancy, where a certain Michel Platini first captured the attention of the football world. However, as someone who is by nature discreet, he then decided it was time to withdraw from the limelight and, in 1991, accepted a post with the National Technical Training Centre (Direction Technique Nationale), where he worked to develop French football more or less behind the scenes. On 15 July 1992, however, he was appointed assistant to then national team manager Geard Houllier.
Les Bleus had just completed a disastrous venture to the European Championships in Sweden and one year later would embark on a nightmarish run that saw them blow qualification for USA 94 by capitulating at home to Israel (2-3) and Bulgaria (1-2). After that disaster, public confidence in the team fell to almost subterranean levels, and few believed France would achieve anything of note despite hosting the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. A new manager was needed, someone who would build afresh and infuse a crestfallen squad with renewed confidence. A mighty task, one that not many could be expected to accomplish. The French Football Federation decided the best course of action would be to hire someone from within their own ranks: Aimé Jacquet stood head and shoulders above anyone else.
He took to this sizable challenge with relish, slowly but surely overhauling the wounded French squad. He showed he knew how to be tough, but also that he was capable of putting a comforting arm around players when required. Whatever approach he opted for, the goal was always the same -- to build a better team. The fruit of the new boss's labours were discernible as early as his first match in charge (versus Italy in Naples on 16 February 1994), when a side playing with new-found heart and verve triumphed 1-0 thanks to a Youri Djorkaeff strike.
Zidane becomes the one
The major foundation of this new French team's success was, however, laid in late summer of 1994 when, in the 63rd minute of a friendly match that the French were losing 2-0 to the Czech Republic, Jacquet gave an international debut to a 22 year-old Bordeaux player by the name of Zinedine Zidane. Thirty minutes and two goals later, Zidane had untangled Les Bleus from a decidedly sticky situation, turning probable defeat into a creditable draw and introducing himself on the international scene in spectacular fashion.
At that time, the team's play-making duties were still falling to Eric Cantona, a gifted maverick but one whose character tried the patience of more than one boss. On 18 January 1995, Jacquet took a bold decision and, in the face of much criticism, handed Zidane the place that had hitherto been the preserve of the man Manchester United fans called Le Roi.
At the Euros, building up to 1998
Having topped their qualifying group, France went in to EURO 96 as one of the favourites for overall glory. Though his side somewhat failed to live up to that billing - going out on penalties in the semi-final to the tournament's surprise package, the Czech Republic - Jacquet learned enough from the English expedition to put out an even stronger side for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
He used the following two years of friendly matches to do just that. His focus was clear and his moves deliberate, yet a sceptical media poured scorn on his "tinkering"; some press commentators went even further and rather than concentrate on his decisions or technical merits preferred to assail the man for his quiet and introverted personality. Jacquet never sunk to this baiting, and instead continued to work towards his target, which was not just to perform well in "France's" FIFA World Cup, but to win it.
All the right moves
When the big competition came round, the French had no trouble negotiating their way through the group stage, sweeping aside South Africa (3-0), Saudi Arabia (4-0) and Denmark (2-1). The records may show that they only squeezed past Paraguay in the second round thanks to a Laurent Blanc's golden goal (sealing a 1-0 win), but the fact is that the hosts controlled the match from start to finish and would have won far more comfortably had their finishing been better. The French steamroller then carried on relentlessly, overcoming Italy (0-0, 4-3 on pens) and Croatia (2-1) to set up a final match showdown with Brazil.
Once there, Les Bleus could not have dreamed of a better outcome, and while it is true that the Seleçao may have been knocked out of their stride by the mysterious affliction that struck Ronaldo on the morning of the game, France's emphatic 3-0 victory came courtesy of the most complete 90 minutes of football of the Jacquet era.
By guiding his homeland to the top of the world, Jacquet sent all of France into a month-long celebration and then, ever the quiet man, returned to his beloved DTN until retirement in 2006, satisfied with the knowledge that he had achieved what he had set out to do. Without ever shedding his dignity, he had served up the perfect answer to all those who had been so acerbic in their criticisms over the previous years. His finest achievement, however, was to have succeeded in unifying not just a team, but an entire country.
Tactics
By France 98 Jacquet had honed his innovative 4-2-1-3 system into one of the most solid in the history of the French national team. In front of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez stood a fantastic four-man defence consisting of Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Laurent Blanc and Bixente Lizarazu. These 'four musketeers' deployed a zone-marking method, with Blanc operating as an old-fashioned sweeper. Sitting in front of this four-man blockade were Didier Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit, who mopped up incalculable amounts of possession before knocking the ball to the team's one central playmaker, Zinedine Zidane. The three attackers consisted of one centre-forward (Stephane Guivarc'h or David Trezeguet) and two wide men (Thierry Henry and Youri Djorkaeff). Jacquet controlled Italy and Brazil in the finals by reverting to the same system he used at the European Championships in 1996 - three ball-winners (Christian Karembeu, Petit and Deschamps) across the midfield.
Coaching career
National team
1992 - 1993 : France (jointly with Gerard Houllier)
1993 - 1998 : France
1998 - 2006 : France (as technical director)
International achievements
Semi-finalist at UEFA EURO 96 in England
Winnner of the 1998 FIFA World Cup
Clubs
1976 - 1980: Olympique Lyon
1980 - 1989: Bordeaux
1989 - 1990: Montpellier
1990 - 1991: AS Nancy-Lorraine
Club achievements
Ligue 1 champion in 1984, 1985 and 1987
Coupe de France winner in 1986 and 1987
European Cup semi-finalist in 1985
European Cup-Winners Cup semi-finalist in 1987
European Cup quarter-finalist in 1988
Playing career
2 senior French caps
Clubs
1961 - 1973 : AS Saint-Etienne
1973 - 1976 : Olympique Lyon
Club achievements
Ligue 1 champion in 1964, 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970
Coupe de France winner in 1962, 1968 and 1970
Classic XI: France's 1998 winners
Barthez, Thuram, Blanc, Desailly, Lizarazu, Karembeu, Deschamps, Zidane, Petit, Djorkaeff, Guivarc'h.
El Flaco Menotti raised Argentina's game
Name: Cesar Luis MenottiDate of Birth: 5 November 1938
Strong-willed and with a flair for attacking football, Cesar Luis Menotti suffered slings and arrows for leaving Diego Maradona out of the 1978 Argentina squad. In the end, though, he had the last laugh as Kempes and co lifted the FIFA World Cup for a first time.
Argentine football, recognised among the finest in the world, owes its lofty standing in no small measure to Cesar Luis Menotti. The arrival of El Flaco ('The Thin One'), as he was known from an early age, was a turning point in both the organisation and planning of international football in Argentina. Under his expert tutelage, the Albiceleste won both their first FIFA World Cup TM and their first FIFA World Youth Championship.
A well-spoken leader, Menotti's name is synonymous in Argentina with the concept of stylish, forward-thinking football. "A goal should be just another pass into the net," became one of his favourite expressions. Before his era at the helm of the national side, Argentine football was known for its systematic turnover of coaches and the refusal of its top players to travel overseas on international duty. Post-Menotti, the side not only continued to chalk up titles but managers were also allowed to see out their contracts. Playing for the national side nowadays is an honour coveted by all the country's top players.
Menotti's crowning achievement as manager was in leading Argentina to the 1978 FIFA World Cup title when they hosted the competition. Menotti's first big gamble, which is still much discussed to this day, was to prefer veteran striker Mario Kempes in place of a promising youngster from Argentinos Juniors named Diego Maradona. That decision sparked a furious debate, but subsequent events were to prove Menotti's intuition impeccable. Kempes was the inspirational leader and goal scorer of the 1978 FIFA World Cup winning side, while Diego Maradona became the star of the following year's FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan, which Argentina also won under his guidance.
Scaling new heights
After hanging up his playing boots, Menotti threw himself into his new career as coach. In 1973, after just two years in management, he led modest club side Huracán to the only league title in their history. The Parque Patricios club produced a side that will be long remembered for being one the most stylish outfits ever to grace the Argentine league. This was all down to the inimitable touch of El Flaco and players like René Houseman, Miguel Brindisi and Carlos Babington, who all flourished under his watchful eye.
After Argentina's gloomy exit from Germany '74, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) offered Menotti the chance to manage the national team. His heady task was to prepare a team capable of winning the world's premier football tournament when it came to Argentina four years later. In building his side, Menotti went immediately for experienced players like Ubaldo Fillol, Daniel Passarella and Kempes, men who could fulfil the coach's enigmatic philosophies.
"The effectiveness of our tactics depended greatly on how clear the players were on what was being asked of them," the coach remarked later about his well-disciplined side. "Someone without a clear idea of what he is looking for will never find anything."
At the event, the Albiceleste beat Hungary and France in the first round but then lost to Italy, which forced the team to leave Buenos Aires. In Rosario for the second phase, Argentina won against Poland, drew with continental rivals Brazil, and then destroyed Peru to set up a mouth-watering final against Holland.
And so it was that on 25 July 1978, Menotti's side beat the Dutch 3-1 after extra time, with two goals from Kempes and one added by Daniel Bertoni. Praise for El Flaco was justifiably lavish, and the coach himself proved ecstatic: "Not many people know that after the game, I went to the Obelisk to celebrate with the rest of the supporters," Menotti confessed later. "I put on a disguise so that no one would recognise me, and I went incognito in the back of a pick-up. I was keeping a promise I'd made earlier. Although there weren't many people left when I arrived, I still enjoyed my own celebration."
Winning with Maradona
A year later, Menotti personally asked to coach the youth side at that year's FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan. Gabriel Calderon, a member of that side before becoming a full international, takes up the story: "Just to see him there in front of us talking about football was an incredible experience," related the player. "He told us that he was coaching us because he believed in our potential. The best thing about him was that he never lied to us. Instead, he put special emphasis on the strengths of each individual. Every player ran out on the pitch crystal clear on what they had to do, and determined to do it."
The 1979 youth side that travelled to Japan seamlessly applied Menotti's ideas of attacking football and were soon showing impressive results. With Maradona, Ramon Diaz and Calderon leading the charge, the Albicelestes had the watching public back home glued to the TV in the early hours of the morning. Nobody was complaining though, and after lighting up the tournament with their glittering play, Menotti's youngsters found themselves in the final against the USSR.
The subsequent 3-1 win over the powerful Soviets was unquestionably one of the golden moments in the history of youth football in Argentina. Maradona recalled years later: "I never enjoyed myself so much on the field of play as I did with that team. That was all down to Menotti's work."
An inauspicious performance by Maradona and the entire national team at Spain '82 marked the end of Menotti's term in charge. Despite having the nucleus of the cup-winning side from four years earlier, the Albiceleste took a relatively early flight home after second round defeats to Brazil and Italy.
Clear concepts
Astute ball-movement, swift passing and motivation were concepts that Menotti instilled in all his teams. It surprised nobody that the savvy Argentinean found the winning formula as manager of some of the finest club teams in Europe and South America, and also in his subsequent work for the media.
As time went by, Menotti became something of an ambassador for attractive football. In Argentina, where everyone has an opinion on the game, the camps are divided between those who value the result above everything else, and those who think that good football is the best way to get results. The latter are referred to as Menottistas.
Of the teams Menotti managed, the most famous were River Plate, Boca Juniors, Independiente de Avellaneda, Rosario Central, Peñarol de Montevideo, Atlético de Madrid and FC Barcelona. At the Catalan club, reunited with Maradona, the Argentine won major honours including the Copa de la Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Supercopa. With his international track record, it came as no surprise that he was later offered the job of coaching the Mexican national side. In 1992, however, with Mexico in the second qualifying round for USA '94, Menotti stepped down to pursue a career in sports commentary.
After further short spells in Argentina and Italy, where he briefly coached Sampdoria, Menotti retired from football management altogether to concentrate on his work with the media. At the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan and again at 2004's Copa America in Peru, he worked as a commentator for Mexican television.
Tactics
From his early days in coaching, Menotti always advocated attacking football over the risky business of defending deep and waiting for chances. Although he accepts that "everyone plays to win," he was always known for deploying his team's resources to maximise goal scoring chances. His sides were all about teamwork, with quality players in midfield and technically gifted individuals up front.
One of his calling cards was, paradoxically enough, his most criticised trait - the offside trap. His defences used the trap systematically as the back four pushed up quickly, but the system was far from perfect and caused its share of headaches over the years. Menotti was always quick to defend his tactics: "It's always better to push up and go at your opponents, so that you can recover the ball as far up the field as possible." As for tactical formations, the Argentine normally opted for four across the back and a holding midfielder. The other midfielders would have licence to push forward and be responsible for supplying the two or three front men.
Management Career
National team
1974 - 1982 Argentina
1991 - 1992 Mexico
International honours
1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina TM Champion
1979 FIFA World Youth Championship Champion
Clubs
1972 - 1974 Huracan
1982 - 1984 Barcelona (Spain)
1986 - 1987 Boca Juniors
1987 - 1988 Atletico Madrid (Spain)
1988 - 1989 River Plate
1990 - 1991 Penarol (Uruguay)
1993 - 1994 Boca Juniors
1996 - 1997 Independiente
1997 - 1998 Sampdoria (Italy)
1998 - 1999 Independiente
2002 Rosario Central
Club honours
1973 Torneo Metropolitano
1982 Spanish Copa del Rey Champion
1982 Spanish League Cup Champion
1984 Spanish Supercup Champion
Playing Career
Clubs
1960 - 1963 Rosario Central
1964 Racing Club
1965 - 1966 Boca Juniors
1967 New York Generals (USA)
1968 Santos (Brazil)
1969 Juventus (Brazil)
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Name: Rinus Michels
Born: 9 February 1928
Rinus Michels was the innovative thinker whose concept of 'Total Football' helped first Ajax and then the Netherlands break new ground in terms of both tactics and success - as well as capturing the imagination of football lovers the world over.
Rinus Michels - The watchmaker behind the Clockwork Oranje
If the Netherlands teams of the 1970s were the 'Clockwork Oranje', then Rinus Michels was the genius watchmaker behind the machinery. A man of few words, this innovative thinker was the guiding hand behind the brilliance of Total Football's finest.
Born in 1928, Michels enjoyed a fine playing career, scoring 121 goals in 269 appearances for Ajax and appearing five times for the Dutch national team. It was after his subsequent step into coaching, however, that Michels truly made a name for himself - first on the European club scene with Ajax from 1965 to 1971 and then on the global stage with the Netherlands at the 1974 FIFA World Cup TM. Led on the pitch by the immaculate Johan Cruyff, the losing finalists were admired the world over for their style of play, which reflected Michels' belief in fostering both team coherence and individual imagination.
Though his coaching career also took him to the United States, Germany and most notably Spain, where he established a Dutch connection with Barcelona that still exists today, Michels is linked most closely to his hometown club Ajax and the Dutch national team. It was with those two that the 'total football' movement that he fostered would flourish in the late 1960s and early 70s.
When Michels was appointed Ajax coach on 22 January 1965, he took charge of a team embroiled in a battle against relegation. Within a few seasons he had turned them into European contenders and by 1971 they were crowned continental champions in what proved his last match at the helm. The team he built would go on to win two more consecutive European Cups but Michels - a bright and serious man, nicknamed 'The General' for his uncompromising manner - sought a new challenge in the heated world of Spanish football with Barcelona.
By that point Michels was well known for his emphasis on intelligent movement and versatility on the field. He won a league title with the forward-thinking Catalan club but, as the natural choice to lead the Netherlands at the FIFA World Cup in West Germany, it was with a different team that he made his definitive statement that same year.
The figure most closely associated with Michels' achievements is the magical Cruyff, the playmaker who put into effect his coach's ambitious game plan with his uncanny ability to read a match. Amid a kaleidoscopic shifting of players, switching in and out of defence and swarming about the ball, Cruyff was the on-field organiser who brought Michels' ideas to life. The pair worked together at Ajax and Barcelona, but it was with the Oranje, in Michels' first stint in charge at the age of 46, that Cruyff and a band of willing accomplices showed the world a new kind of football.
Ironically, not much was expected of the 1974 Netherlands team and Michels, appointed post-qualification, had only three friendly matches to prepare before the finals. However, a team comprised mostly of Ajax and Feyenoord players came together quickly under their new coach, who did a remarkable job building multifarious factions into a whole. They breezed through their opening group, beating Uruguay 2-0, drawing 0-0 with Sweden and then crushing Bulgaria 4-1. In the second group phase, the likes of Jonny Rep, Johan Neeskens and Rob Rensenbrink helped Cruyff demonstrate the gulf in class between Michels' side and rivals Argentina (4-0), East Germany (2-0) and even the holders Brazil (2-0).
Although the Netherlands fell 2-1 to hosts Germany in the final, they remain widely regarded one of the greatest teams never to have won a FIFA World Cup. If they had triumphed that famous day in Munich, that 1974 Dutch team would surely be uttered in the same breath as Brazil circa 1970.
Michels wrote later in his life about that fundamental task that he seemed to do so well: "It is an art in itself to compose a starting team, finding the balance between creative players and those with destructive powers, and between defence, construction and attack - never forgetting the quality of the opposition and the specific pressures of each match."
After the 1974 finals, Michels went back to his club career with Barcelona, though he never strayed too far from Ajax or the national team subsequently. Nor did he ever achieve as much elsewhere as he did with the Netherlands. In his four stints in charge, he coached the Dutch to 30 victories and 14 draws in 54 contests. Most remarkably he led an entirely new generation of players to European glory in 1988.
Michels gained a measure of revenge for 1974 when his side beat hosts West Germany 2-1 in the UEFA European Championship semi-final, en route to a 2-0 victory in the final over the Soviet Union. This new team featured a spine made up of the lethal Marco van Basten in attack, the magnificent Ruud Gullit in midfield and the composed duo of Frank Rijkaard and Ronald Koeman at the back.
Though he had mostly adapted his concept of 'Totaal Voetbal' to fit the times, Michels' team still featured skilled players all over the pitch and a commitment to playing creative attacking football. His decision to field Rijkaard and Koeman in the centre of defence was proof of that. A thankful world applauded appreciatively as the Dutch finally lifted their first major trophy under the watch of their 60-year-old coach.
Four years later, Michels almost repeated the trick, leading his team to the semi-final of the European Championship where they were only eliminated by tournament darlings Denmark in a penalty shootout. It was the final chapter of a compelling story.
Tactics
Michels is best known for what are essentially the anti-tactics of Total Football, a strategy legendary for allowing players to adjust their positions and runs in order to exploit the space afforded them by the opposing team. His 1974 team ostensibly lined up in a 4-3-3 with Jonny Rep charging down the right flank and Rob Rensenbrink doing the same down the left. Charges from full-backs Wim Suurbier and Ruud Krol added further options in an attack that seemed to swell and recede at will, while Cruyff was given licence to roam the pitch looking for ways to unlock opposing teams. The key to Michels' concept was intelligent movement, understanding and fitness.
Coaching career
National team
1974: Netherlands
1984-1986: Netherlands (Technical Director)
1986-1988: Netherlands
1990-1992: Netherlands
International achievements
1974 FIFA World Cup TM runner-up
1988 UEFA European Championship
Clubs
1965-1971: Ajax
1971-1975: Barcelona
1975-1976 Ajax (Technical Director)
1976-1978: Barcelona
1978-1980 Los Angeles Aztecs
1980-1983: FC Cologne
1988-1989: Bayer Leverkusen
Club achievements
1966, 1967, 1968, 1970 Dutch league championship
1967, 1970, 1971 Dutch Cup
1969 European Cup runner-up
1971 European Cup
1974 Spanish league championship
1978 Spanish Cup
1983 German Cup
Playing career
5 full international caps
Clubs
1946-1958: Ajax
Club achievements
1947, 1957 Dutch league championship
269 matches and 121 goals for Ajax
Name: Enzo Bearzot
Date of birth: 26 September 1927
Enzo Bearzot, who remains Italy's most beloved coach, led the Azzurri to a third FIFA World Cup title in 1982 playing an attacking brand of football with the accent on technique and individual expression.
The scene unfolds aboard the President of Italy's private jet. It is 12 July 1982, and we have just taken off from Madrid heading for Rome. Around a table at the front of the cabin, four men are playing cards. Just to one side, the FIFA World Cup stands like a glorious elephant atop a small table. Crowned champions of the world the previous night, Dino Zoff and Franco Causio are coming off worst - since the President of the Republic, Sandro Pertini, and the national team boss Enzo Bearzot, trademark pipe dangling from his mouth, are no mugs when it comes to scopone.
The scene nicely illustrates the savoir-faire personality of Bearzot, who easily remains Italy's most beloved coach. Endearingly human and still very close to his players, Bearzot has always favoured the celebratory side of life, without ever allowing himself to be swayed by the size of the stakes in what, for him, was only ever a game of enjoyment.
A coach with flair
A native of the Udine region, Bearzot enjoyed an honest if unromantic professional footballing career, playing at the highest level for over 15 years and earning a solitary cap in 1955. A defensive midfielder, he spent the majority of his playing days with Inter Milan and Torino, after making his league debut in 1946 for Serie B side Pro Gorizia.
He hung up his boots in 1964 to fill a goalkeeping coach vacancy at his club, before soon becoming assistant coach. After a brief spell at the helm of Prato (Serie C), he was then appointed coach of the Italian youth team (under 23 at that time). Continuing his rapid ascension, he was soon the right hand man of national team coach Ferrucio Valcareggi, whom he assisted at 1970 and 1974 FIFA World Cups TM in Mexico and Germany respectively.
After Italy's demoralizing group stage exit in Germany, and after the brief reign of caretaker coach Fulvio Bernardini, Bearzot himself took charge of Italy's national team in 1975, a post he occupied until 1986. In that time, he obtained 51 wins, 28 draws and 25 defeats in 104 matches at the vanguard of the Squadra Azzurra.
Keeping faith
Looking to lay the foundations of a new squad, the coach quite naturally turned to a phalanx of players from Juventus, as the Turin outfit were dominant in Serie A at the time. At Argentina 78, the world saw another side to Italy, who displayed a much more attractive style due to the influence of promising young talents such as Paolo Rossi and Antonio Cabrini.
Bearzot built his side with meticulous patience, indifferent to the critics who had railed against him for the Squadra's dismal showing at the 1980 European Championships on home soil. Despite disappointing results in their warm-up games, Bearzot ignored their cries for major changes, standing by his players and refusing to bring in media darlings such as Inter Milan's attacking midfielder Evaristo Beccalossi or Roma striker Roberto Pruzzo.
The pressure on Bearzot grew further when he again showed his apparent blind faith in his side by reintroducing Paolo Rossi to top-level football only two months after the player had served a two-year suspension for his involvement in an infamous match betting scandal.
The brickbats intensified after the opening round of Spain 82 when Italy scraped through to the last 16 after a trio of boring draws against Poland, Peru and Cameroon, and only by dint of having superior goal difference to the Africans. The press were baying for blood, especially since Rossi was yet to tally once. At their Vigo hideaway, the Azzurri dodged further debate by refusing to talk to the media (FIFA regulations still allowed this at the time), taking advantage of the three-day break to bond his squad still tighter and work hard on their mind-set.
Believing in miracles
Yet, brave was the Italian that gave the side any hope, particularly as, to go all the way, the team were going to have to knock out Argentina, the reigning champions now reinforced by a young sensation named Maradona, and Brazil, who at the time were fielding one of their strongest sides of all time -- featuring such legends as Zico, Falcao, Socrates, Cerezo, Junior and Eder.
But reinvigorated to perfection by their wily coach, the Italians were about to rediscover their lost touch in style. With the safeguard of the seemingly unbeatable Dino Zoff in goal, the Azzurri set about exploiting the slightest space as they launched deadly counter-attacks to stun an Argentine side guilty of over-confidence (2-1). Still no goals from Paolo Rossi, but little matter. Bearzot stuck to his guns, giving one last chance to the striker with no lead in his pencil.
And on 5th July, in what many regarded as the real final in Barcelona's Sarria Stadium, the tifosi suddenly began to believe in miracles. That because no less than three times, 'Saint' Paolo Rossi scored against Brazil (3-2), totally vindicating his coach, who had never ceased to back him in the face of a torrent of criticism. The goal machine had been activated and nobody could find the off switch.
Rossi netted twice more in the semi-final against Poland (2-0), and on 11th July in the final, he set Italy on the path to victory with the opener in an easy win (3-1) over a Germany side jaded after their thrilling semi-final win over France.
When the final whistle sounded in the final, Bearzot was borne aloft in triumph by the entire team, in scenes reminiscent of Vittorio Pozzo 44 years earlier.
Italy's long-awaited third FIFA World Cup
The 1982 championship crowned seven years of tactical planning, and it is Italy's only FIFA World Cup crown in over six decades. Bearzot deployed every ounce of his charisma and committed himself unstintingly to build a team with two interchangeable players in each position. In 11 years at the helm of the Squadra Azzurra, he left a profound mark which has served as the working basis for generations of coaches, not merely his successor, Azeglio Vicini.
After a second round exit at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, Bearzot opted to make way for a new man. "For me, coaching Italy was a vocation which, as the years have passed, has become a profession. The game's values have changed since my day. Due to the development of football and the arrival of powerful sponsors, it seems as if money has moved all the goalposts.
"The player profile has also changed, especially regarding loyalty to clubs, which have themselves become profit-making businesses. What's more, football has now become a science, if not always exact, but for me, it's still first and foremost a game."
Bearzot left the football scene to concentrate on his beloved collection of classic literature. But on 22 January 2002, at the age of 75, 16 years after retiring, he agreed to take charge of the technical section of the Italian Football Federation.
"Bearzot was a great - Italy's best-ever coach after Vittorio Pozzo. I am happy that's he back in the fold, as he and football should not be parted," declared Claudio Gentile. Bearzot finally stepped down in 2005.
Tactics
While not ignoring football's practical side, Enzo Bearzot always placed an accent on fantasy and technique. "For me, football should be played with two wingers, a centre forward and a playmaker. That's the way I see the game. I select my players and then I let them play the game, without trying to impose tactical plans on them. You can't tell Maradona, 'Play the way I tell you.' You have to leave him free to express himself. The rest will take care of itself," Bearzot explained commendably.
At the 1982 FIFA World Cup Italy generally played a 4-3-3 formation with Zoff in goal; Gentile, Collovati, Scirea (allowed a great deal of freedom for an Italian libero) and Cabrini at the back; Antognoni, Tardelli, and Oriali in the middle; with Conti, Rossi and Graziani up front. Cesare Maldini, Dino Zoff, a fellow native of Frioul, Marco Tardelli and Claudio Gentile have been amongst the ones to claim significant influence from his ideals.
Coaching career
National team
1969-1975: Italy U-23
1970: Italy (assistant to Ferrucio Valcareggi at the FIFA World Cup)
1974: Italy (assistant to Ferrucio Valcareggi at the FIFA World Cup)
1975-1977: Italy (Responsible for coaching alongside Fulvio Bernardini)
1977-1986: Italy
International achievements
FIFA World Cup winner at Spain 1982
Clubs
1964-1967: Torino (youth team)
1967-1968: Torino
1968-1969: Pro Prato A.C.
Playing career
One full cap for Italian national team
Clubs
1946-1948: Pro Gorizia (Serie B)
1948-1951: Inter Milan
1951-1954: Catania
1954-1956: Torino
1956-1957: Inter Milan
1957-1964: Torino
