Time was when World Cup outsiders opted for the cheap option in hiring journeymen coaches to take them through a World Cup finals.
BERLIN: Time was when World Cup outsiders opted for the cheap option in hiring journeymen coaches to take them through a World Cup finals.
Nothing could be further from the truth these days. The likes of pioneers Bora Milutinovic and Philippe Troussier would struggle now to get onto a shortlist when federations come to hire the man they feel can garner the necessary results.
Milutinovic and Troussier worked wonders with limited resources but whereas their unorthodox approaches went down well at one point - Troussier earning the nickname 'the white witch doctor' - now they look to be passe.
They trawled the globe, mainly Africa, the Gulf and Asia but while their successors here may have more gilded reputations, several could just as well be termed as the football equivalent of guns for hire.
Even Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has not been averse to some lucrative trips to the Gulf before taking on the more stressful business of handling the Brazilians.
However, if one was to have an outside bet on the teams most likely to spring a surprise then on the coaching formbook it would have to be Australia's Guus Hiddink and Ivory Coast's charismatic Frenchman Henri Michel.
The suave Dutchman has twice got as far as the semi-finals, in 1998 where the Dutch side lost on penalties to Brazil and then remarkably with South Korea in 2002.
The Aussies, finally fed up with near qualifying misses under Terry Venables and Frank Farina, appear to have had their gamble on paying a fat salary to the former PSV Eindhoven handler pay off - the salary is not known but the fact he is staying in a 380 euro a night chalet here indicates it is not small.
“I have told the players that our goal is to reach the second round and I am convinced that we are going to do it. We haven't come to Germany to make up the numbers," said Hiddink, who will not be around for the next try as he is off to take on the challenge of coaching Russia.
While Hiddink is a relative novice at the international coaching merry go round, Michel, another man who got to within touching distance of the World Cup final, is a veteran.
From Morocco to Cameroon to Tunisia, 57-year-old Michel has plied his talented wares, in fact having taken France to the 1986 World Cup semi-finals and then a spell at Paris Saint Germain the former France international has not coached in his homeland since 1994.
“Only a particular type of person can do this sort of job. African countries like to have experienced foreign coaches but you have to be tough to get through it," he said.
Michel had to have four bodyguards when he was in charge of Morocco, but things deteriorated even further when the Moroccans crashed out of the 2000 African Nations Cup at the first hurdle.
“It was crazy. I came back and found a police car outside my house to protect me," he said. "For two days I didn't go out. I thought: 'Damn this, I'll leave'."
Amongst other foreign coaches, Dutchman Dick Advocaat, who took the Netherlands to the 1994 World Cup quarter-finals, is unlikely to survive if South Korea fail to progress.
Compatriot and three-time Spanish title winning coach Leo Beenhakker may also leave his Caribbean idyll of Trinidad and Tobago after the finals.
Roger Lemerre faces a tough task to progress to the second round with Tunisia this time than he did the previous disastrous occasion with then champions France in 2002.
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