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The foreigner who beat Boss: how did Tedesco get the position of coach of the Belgium national team? - Walla! sport

2023-03-24T16:11:23.174Z


He has no connection to Belgian football, he has no experience managing stars and no real receipts, but at the age of 37, Domenico Tedesco became the youngest national team coach in the world after beating Peter Bos


Summary: Belgium - Egypt 2:1 (Sport1)

It all started when Club Brugge was looking for a new coach at the end of December.

It was a somewhat puzzling decision, because Carl Hopkens sensationally marched the Belgian champions to the round of 16 of the Champions League at the expense of Atlético Madrid and Berkusen, but the results in the local league did not satisfy the management and they turned to a number of new candidates.

One of them was Domenico Tedesco, who was fired from Leipzig in September and was looking for new challenges himself.

But the job in Bruges didn't exactly intrigue him, he made it clear unequivocally.

"I'd rather advance to England or return to the Bundesliga," said the 37-year-old German, but made sure to mention along the way: "I love your team."



Because Tedesco knows that bold bets can succeed and is not ashamed to follow wild dreams.

On the day that Roberto Martinez finished his role as coach of the Red Devils following the jarring fiasco in the group stage in the World Cup, he sent the news about it to his agent and wrote: "What can I do to get this job?".

The agent immediately made it clear to him that this was an impossible task, but for Tedesco this phrase does not exist in the lexicon.



After all, this is the same agent who advised him in no way to go to Erzgebirge Ava, which was sunk below the red line in the German second division in March 2017. He was then an unknown coach at Hoffenheim's academy, and those around him advised him: "Don't go there, it will end your career even before that she started."

Tedesco went, saved Ava from relegation with some brilliant football and was immediately promoted straight out of the movies to Schalke, who he guided in his first season in the Bundesliga to second place in the table.

He likes to take risks and does not hesitate to act proactively to create opportunities for himself.

So he told the people of Bruges about his desire to coach Belgium - and he got what he wanted.

"Impossible" does not exist in Tedesco's lexicon (Photo: GettyImages, BRUNO FAHY/BELGA MAG)

The resume - Schalke, Leipzig and a trip to Moscow

On the face of it, this appointment is absurd in the extreme.

In order to fit in with the Red Devils, the minimum necessary was actually to work first in Bruges, or something like that.

When they prefer to bring a foreign coach to the team, he must have some connection to football in the country in question, unless he brings proven experience and added value.

For example, the bringing of Fernando Santos to the Polish national team is not far-fetched, because the veteran Portuguese coached his country's national team for many years and marched it to victory in Euro 2016, and before that he worked in the Greek national team.

Why did the Greeks choose him?

Because he had two stints in AAK Athens and another successful period in PAUK Thessaloniki, and he knew the local scene in depth. On the other hand, the previous bet of the Polish association on Paulo Souza, also Portuguese, was extremely delusional, received with great skepticism and ended very badly of all The exams - Souza both failed professionally, and ran away when he was offered a contract in Flamengo because he had no emotional commitment to his employers.



Tedesco does not meet these two definitions at all.

He has no experience working with national teams and, in general, his career on the lines is still very short - after all, he is only 37 years old, and therefore he is the youngest coach in the world of any national team today.

What did he do after the wonderful months in Ava?

The tenure at Schalke started on the right foot, but in the 2018/19 season the club fell into a very deep crisis at the bottom, and the coach was fired in March after losing his temper and the dressing room.



He went on to a surprising appointment at Spartak Moscow in the fall of 2019, where he connected well with the fans thanks to the passion he radiated on the bench, but along the way he clashed with many elements in the management and the media.

The team suffered from extreme instability, the German did not know how to deal with the pressure and already in December 2020 announced in advance that he would leave at the end of the season - while turning the last few months into a too long farewell trip.

Finally, in December 2021, he was called up to Leipzig when Jesse Marsh was fired, won the German Cup with her, but was seen throughout the term as an outsider who did not really connect with the club's managerial culture, and few were sorry when he was let go after only seven months in the job.

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At Schalke he lost his temper and was fired (Photo: GettyImages)

without minimal knowledge of the Belgian mentality and tradition

This is Tedesco's work so far, and it's certainly not bad.

He is involved - with successes and failures - as befits an outstanding trainee of a coaching course, with no prior background as a footballer.

The ambition to continue coaching in the Bundesliga or to try out in the Premier League, which he voiced in the ears of the people of Bruges, was very logical and realistic, but the Belgian national team?

He has never experienced managing stars at the level of Kevin de Brauna and has little connection to the country.

Tedesco doesn't speak Dutch, and doesn't know French either.

He didn't know any Belgian players, he only became interested in the Belgian league when Schalke and Leipzig were looking at purchasing possibilities from it, and he has no minimal knowledge of the mentality, culture and history of Belgian football.



To understand how ridiculous the situation is, it's enough to hear the crazy answer that Tedesco gave when talking about the collaboration with the sports director of the association Frankie Werkautern.

This is one of Belgium's greatest players of all time, the superstar who defined Anderlecht in the 80s and later was also a very dominant coach and won championships with Anderlecht and Genk.



"Do you know Vercautran?"

A Belgian journalist asked him in his first interview as the coach of the national team.

"I heard about him because he coached in Russia. He worked in Samara," replied Tedesco.

Verkauteren did spend a short time at Samara in the Russian second division, but Tedesco knows only that.

Equally, one could declare: "I know Thierry Henry thanks to his time in Canada, he coached Montreal."

It is doubtful whether a person who says this is allowed to coach the French national team.

Tedesco simply said in the job interview what they wanted to hear, Boss didn't (Photo: GettyImages, Eurasia Sport Images)

Henry was not counted, Bos was seen as too aggressive

Speaking of Henry, who worked as Martinez's assistant in the last two World Cups - he dreamed of succeeding the boss.

His relationship with Romelu Lukaku is very close, and the Inter striker did his best to promote his candidacy, but the association believed that the Frenchman did not have the necessary skills.

He also did not submit a CV in an organized email, as was rather bizarrely demanded by the headquarters that was responsible for the selection.

Journalists know how to tell that Jürgen Klinsmann actually sent the required documents, but missed the deadline.

As part of this farce, the final candidates were asked basic questions such as: "What did you think went wrong in the World Cup?", and also "How should the Belgian national team play?".



When you internalize this level of "professionalism", it is easier to understand why Martins was chosen at the time without a suitable background - and the Spaniard did seriously damage the chances of the golden generation to reach their potential.

He simply excels at public relations and charismatic speeches - and that's exactly what happened this time as well, with an even more absurd result.

The candidate who was considered the leader all along was Peter Bos, and to his credit it can be said that as a Dutchman he knows the mentality of the neighboring country very well, of course he speaks Dutch as his mother tongue, he has much richer experience in handling dressing rooms full of ego after working in Ajax, Dortmund, Leverkusen and Lyon, And in addition, he himself played in the Dutch national team, including in the squad for Euro 92 - and this is also absolutely essential experience.



Bos was not the perfect option, but he is a million times better than a 37-year-old German. The Dutchman, who will celebrate his 60th birthday this year, was eventually rejected because of his image as an offensive and unbalanced coach, whose teams tend to concede too many goals.

This is true, by the way, for Tedesco as well - except that he told in interviews how important it is to him to keep a clean net, and that was enough to get priority.

The "conversation" with Alderweireld ended in retirement.

Tedesco is presented in Belgium (Photo: GettyImages, BRUNO FAHY/BELGA MAG)

The stars didn't even know his name

The reactions to the appointment were varied, and Toby Alderweireld's comment stood out in particular.

"I don't know him," admitted the veteran stopper, who emphasized after the World Cup that he intends to continue with the national team.

"It's okay, not everyone follows football in Germany and Russia," said the coach, but this situation is grotesque.

An unknown coach can come to a certain club, but it is not possible that the stars of the team will not know at all the foreigner who is placed to guide them.

This makes no sense, and he will not have authority from the first moment.

Perhaps it is not surprising in light of this that Alderweireld changed his mind after having "conversations" with Tedesco, and at the beginning of the month he announced his retirement from the national uniform.



The German did not call Axel Witsel, who was surprised by the decision, to his first squad, and Leander Dandonker was surprisingly left out as well.

The new coach promised to learn the material quickly, get to know the players and make professional decisions regardless of age, but he also made sure to lower expectations, stating that qualifying for the European Championship from home, which includes Sweden and Austria, will be a "difficult and challenging task".

So tonight (22:45, Sport1) he starts in Stockholm, against the team to which Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is 4 years older than him, has been called up, and the fans of the Red Devils are afraid.

Most of them couldn't stand Martins and thought that it couldn't be worse than the last World Cup, but maybe that was too optimistic a thought.



On the other hand, we will not eulogize Tedesco too soon - after all, no one thought he had a chance to save Ava from relegation to the third division.



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  • Domenico Tedesco

  • Belgium national team

Source: walla

All sports articles on 2023-03-24

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