It goes without saying that results are key to the game of soccer. Attaining a positive result, no matter how you get there, is the most important part of playing. The 11 players on the field at any one time work together to organize, defend, and score goals to secure their team a victory. Perhaps even more significant than these 11 players is the person guiding and teaching them how to organize, where to defend, and the best tactics that will allow them to score. This person, the team’s coach, is the one pulling the strings in a win, as well as a defeat.
While being the coach of a major country in the World Cup is often coveted and prized, it is also a difficult and sometimes thankless job. Many coaches have the support of their players and country before the tournament, and during, but the moment that team gets knocked out, many of these coaches are dropped and turned on at lightning speed. Dunga, the coach of Brazil, was lauded for getting his team to achieve results when not playing their best soccer. But as soon as Brazil was knocked out by Holland in the quarter finals, Dunga was unceremoniously fired as the national team coach and seen as a major disappointment.
Brazil did not perform completely badly, but the tactics and personnel were called into question during and after that game. Unfortunately, no matter how the team performs, the coach is almost always the one to receive the blame. He is the one that picks the team, the formation, the tactics, and supposedly motivates the team for success. When success is not reached, it can be the players that receive criticism, but often it is the coach. They believe in their methods until the very end, and when they don’t quite come off the way they envisioned, that country’s football federation feels the need to sever all ties before the next round of qualification begins.
The rate at which coaches are changed over in this game is astonishing. Before someone is even given a chance to correct mistakes during a poor run of form, they are axed without sympathy. The old days of sticking with a manager through thick and thin are well gone. The new era of the sport needs results, and needs them quickly. Some deserve to get fired when they are discovered to have run the team incompetently, but many are hampered by situations out of their control, such as injury, poor performances, and unlucky calls. Whatever the case may be, every coach is aware that his job is in no way secure unless the results prove otherwise.
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