Announced today.
Coach in disguise
Domenico Tedesko’s resignation from the Belgian national team suggested. The specialist started vigorously, but the initial momentum dried up before the first big tournament. But the choice of Rudy Garcia As an alternative, it’s very confusing. This is a huge and unjustified risk. In the career of a French specialist, a decline has long been a decline.
In fact, the peak of his career came in the first half of the 2010s. Rudy started by lifting Lille from the middle of League 1 to the European Cup participant, and then made the champion. The work of the specialist liked Roma- “yellow-red” during this period fell out of the top five, it was necessary to return to the top three. Three seasons for a row in the top-3 is an excellent result for a stagnant major.
Success in European competitions with Marseille (final THE-17/18) and “lion” (semi-final Champions League-19/20) is the last thing Garcia could bring to his asset. After that – Saudi Arabia, in fact, a football pension. Usually they don’t come back from there. The Frenchman had a chance in the form of Napoli, but he didn’t use it.
The Neapolitans did become champions of Italy, but after the quarrel and the departure of Spalletti, this champion bark had to stand. Rudy quickly simplified football – Napoli lost its charm and rolled down the standings. Under his leadership, the team was remembered only by the fact that it almost took the score from Real and tied with Milan, and Osimkhen’s conflict with the club’s press service occurred. For more than a year, Rudy sat without work.
A mistake with Tedesco
As they said above, Tedesko’s resignation Absolutely understandable and comprehensible. His entire career confirms that the German is a coach for one season. He got a quick result for Schalke. Then the team fell to the second Bundesliga, but it was attributed to the loss of leaders. It was impossible to judge Spartak, because Tedesko brought the quick result – but he left at the top before the stability test.
But the work in Leipzig and in the Belgian team confirmed the theory. In Leipzig, the manager had a stable selection of high-quality players and leaders. He brought the team to the top for six months, took the German Cup. But the following season, the effect of Tedesko dissipated – after the first five rounds of the team falling out of the top 10, and in Champions League The defeat of Leipzig began.
The Belgian Domenico also gave a quick result. For all of 2023, the “Devils Red” have never lost. And even the period before Euro 2024 was good (two wins, two draws) – but during the tournament the Belgians dispersed. For four matches – one victory and two goals. Perhaps Tedesko would have given the necessary effect on the Euro if he was appointed shortly before the start of the championship. But the country of football did not guess the coach nor with the timing.
Change of generations
For the Belgian national team Euro-2024 is not a simple failure. The situation is complicated by the fact that the most talented generation in the history of the national team is on the verge of leaving. More recently, the Belgians have led the rating FIFA And they had one of the strongest lineups. Just name the names: Tibo Courtois, Vincent Company, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Azar, who goes to his first Torgan Azar, Romelu Lukaku.
Eden lost his form for a long time and ended his career, the company hung boots on the nail and the company, Torgan is no longer the level of the national team. Kevin, Thibault and Romelu are the last representatives of the talented generation – and they are also losing their old level. The forward at the Euro showed that he should not hope for big tournaments – the goose instinct was cut off, Romelu left the tournament without goals. Kevin loses at speed and Tibo was not called up to the national team while coaching Tedesco.
They’re over 30 years old, they still haven’t won World CupNot the euro, the status of talented losers is growing – there are no successors of a comparable level to continue the fight for trophies. Every big tournament for them is like the last, and therefore the last failures are not just ordinary failures, but a tragedy.
A finger in the sky
Nearest major tournament – World Cup-2026. There is no need to hope for anything – but at least purely nominally this is the last chance for the remnants of the star generation of “Devils Red Devils”. There is still a hint of logic in Garcia’s choice – the coach showed quality work not so long ago – his qualities could not disappear so quickly. The latest failures have simply made it possible to dictate the most favorable conditions for cooperation. Rudy can be blamed for putting a simple football – not offering a bicycle. But in the context of the national team, it’s for the best. There is no time to refine interactions, you have to rely more on the individual qualities of football players. From this point of view, a 60-year-old specialist is suitable.
On the other hand, besides Garcia, there are enough coaches on the free agent market. Not so old Joachim Lev – The German created a “German car” and could make a gift to Belgian veterans. However, Eric Ten Hag, Havi, Massimiliano Allegri, Edin Terzich, Roger Schmidt, Kasper Yulmand, more recently, entered the market, Paulo Fonseca and Julen Lopetegi, did not find themselves. Not all of them are at least no worse than Rudy Garcia.
When Spain took the risk of De La Fuente, it was explained – the specialist grew up in the national team system and knew the young people who were brought into the main team at that time. The appointment of Garcia is an inexplicable risk, the hope of the level he has shown.
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