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Now it’s time for LSTV to take you through five other names who might be dangerous despite not being that illustrious. Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz certainly deserves a lot of attention and respect; this explains his inclusion in the list. Ghana’s Milovan Rajevac has even made the cut although he might not be able to compare his achievements with those of Mexico’s proud boss and Gold Cup winner Javier Aguirre.
1) Bob Bradley - USA
He came so close to sealing a wonderful adventure in South Africa last summer when he took the USA all the way to the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup. Ahead of this mini-competition, Bob Bradley made it clear that his side were using that tournament as a preparation for the big event, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. When the USA lost their opening match to Italy and then followed their miserable start with an emphatic 3-0 defeat in the hands of Brazil, the majority of football fans and analysts confirmed that the Americans were complete outsiders set to bow out from the Confederations Cup.
But against all the odds, Bob Bradley powered his team to do the impossible. They crashed Egypt to eventually reach the semifinals at the expense of world champions Italy. There, they also stunned Euro 2008 winners Spain with a 2-0 score line before making it to the final of the Confederations Cup. In general, the USA certainly had a positive Confederations Cup adventure to prepare ahead of the World Cup.
Bob Bradley has surely taught his young men how to defeat giants. Call them underdogs if you want to, but don’t forget that they have teeth to bite. Bob Bradley is keen to pursue on this successful path, so watch out for his resilience at avoiding an early exit.
2) Sven Goran Eriksson - Cote d'Ivoire
Don’t misjudge the 62-year-old Swedish because he hasn’t won any major title since the year 2000. At the international level, it’s true that Sven Goran Eriksson has a lot to prove to people. In between his torrid time at Manchester City during the 2007/08 season, Eriksson suffered failure over failures with England and Mexico.
Many consider him to be one of the worst high profiled managers on the planet and any El Tri supporters will describe best how much of a relief Sven Goran Eriksson’s sacking and Javier Aguirre’s appointment was. The irony here is that both Sven and Aguirre will feature at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the Swede will be happy to prove his value as a manager.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who will come up against Sven’s Cote d’Ivoire in Group G, depicted the former City boss as ‘a fantastic coach’. Remember how, despite his troubles, he led Manchester City to complete a historic double over Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United during the 2007/08 English Premier League season…
3) Milovan Rajevac - Ghana
Most people don’t even know how to spell his name correctly as he isn’t regarded as a potential successful coach. But Milovan Rajevac do surely deserves more respect than that for letting Ghana become the first African country to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Rajevac also guided a young Black Stars team all the way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Angola.
Only few will consider the aptitudes of the Serbian who manages to inspire his Ghana squad despite having enormous difficulties to deal with the English language. Milovan Rajevac is a coach who has a lot of faith in his players and who remains optimistic no matter the situation. He is always ready to defy his critics, and he has vowed not to give any game away in South Africa – not even the one against his native country Serbia. The fact that Milovan Rajevac is undervalued by the public and the media makes him even more dangerous.
4) Raymond Domenech - France
Ask French fans to number all the good things that Raymond Domenech has offered to the nation and they’ll struggle to find correct answers. Perhaps, the first word that will come out from Les Bleus supporters will be “rien”, meaning “nothing”. It may seem unbelievable how France’s F.A want to stick with Domenech, the man who was more concerned about proposing to his girlfriend Estelle Denis on air the night after France’s Euro 2008 loss to Italy.
Raymond Domenech keeps coming under fire from the media and the French public but this doesn’t seem to make much difference over his work as a manager. The fact that pressure doesn’t seem to be an issue for Domenech somehow gives him an important advantage to use during the 2010 World Cup.
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5) Carlos Queiroz - Portugal
Now this summer could be Carlos Queiroz’s turn to come out from the dark. The former Manchester United assistant manager endured tough moments with Portugal during the European zone qualifiers, but he is now optimistic about his team’s chances.
Carlos Queiroz is yet to make his mark since taking over from Luiz Felipe Scolari. His quiet character and his relation with his players could help the Portuguese to deal with the pressure that will surround the team during the tournament. With luck and more work, you can expect Queiroz to solve Portugal’s goal scoring problem that tarnishes their good football.
Some might suppose that the coach has committed a couple of mistakes by omitting Quim and Joao Moutinho from his 2010 World Cup squad. But the answers will only be answered during the tournament in South Africa. Carlos Queiroz might prove best why he was right to deny these two influential player the right to feature in the World Cup.
