The failures piled up.
Shined brighter than other foreign coaches in RPL
At the turn of the 2020s, fans fell more in love with Sandro Schwartz and Domenico Tedesco than with other foreign coaches. Experts came RPL almost simultaneously and left the league a year apart. There was also Marko Nikolic, Ivica Olic, Daniel Farke (if it’s worth calling him). But it was Domenico, as coach of Spartak, who achieved great success with the team and then jumped above the rest. After winning silver against the Rouge et Blanc, Leipzig drew attention to the specialist. There is no need to describe the status of the team again: it is Krasnodar, but German. The club tried to revive itself after saying goodbye to Julian Nagelsmann. But the team, as expected, went to the bottom.
When Domenico joined the team, it was even outside the top ten. The coach quickly reconfigured the team – Leipzig gradually returned to the top 5 and even entered the Champions League zone, and also won the German Cup. In just six months, Tedesco turned a disappointing season into triumph
And after that he climbed even higher – he led the Belgian national team, which was recently considered one of the three strongest. As of February 2023, Domenico was one of the most successful foreign coaches to have worked in RPL.
In Belgium, he is remembered for the conflict with Courtois and the “dry” Lukaku
And with the “Red Devils”, Domenico again gave rapid results. He was invited after the team’s failure World Cup-2022 and didn’t even qualify for the playoffs. A German came to join a team torn apart by conflicts and managed to get the struggling big man back on his feet. Throughout 2023, the Belgians have not lost once and have only dropped points twice – they are tied with Austria and Sweden.
At the same time, the specialist had a major conflict: he quarreled with the main goalkeeper and team leader Thibaut Courtois. It all started with the choice of captain in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne. The choice did not fall on the goalkeeper, but on Romelu Lukaku, with whom the first was not satisfied. It was also noted that Thibault was not satisfied with the rotation of the squad. According to the coach, Lukaku would have received the armband for the next match and the goalkeeper would have had it for the next match – he said this was agreed with the players. As a result, the Real Madrid goalkeeper became unavailable for the national team.
And then other difficulties began. An undefeated year is cool, but Tedesco was going to be evaluated based solely on a major tournament. And the Belgians and Domenico failed. At Euro 2024, it was not without difficulty that they managed to reach the playoffs – at the same time, the team lost to the Slovaks and stumbled against Ukraine. In the 1/8 finals, they were eliminated by the French. In four Euro matches, they have scored only twice and Romelu Lukaku, the team’s leader and main scorer, has become one of the main disappointments of the tournament.
Brings results only over a short distance
Even Tedesco, licensed, has, in essence, nothing to complain about. At 39, the specialist had built a very successful career. At 32, he achieved his first big success with a major project (replacing Schalke in the top 3 from 10th place). Then he revived the Spartak crisis, received a call to a stable top club in the Bundesliga, dragged it to the Champions League – and went to work with the top team. Each of these columns in a resume will forever remain a dream for someone. And Domenico lived for it.
But there is another way of looking at things. We will not take Schalke and Spartak (the first is a crisis project, the second is a club that is not from the top championship) – but next to them the German had two chances to take foot in the status of high-level coach. Both failed. The manager has never been able to do anything with his peculiarity – he only gives results over a short distance. He plays simple vertical football, to which they gradually adapt. And even more so, his football is inconvenient for the giants – other clubs give them the ball and close their doors, and Tedesco’s best ideas are related to playing in free space. Time and time again, the specialist hit the ceiling which he still could not cross. There will always be demand for Domenico – but it is estimated that his career will now decline. To gain a foothold in the upper echelons or climb higher, you had to take advantage of the opportunity.
The Red Devils restart with a controversial coach
For the Belgian national team, the reality is the same: this team is long past its peak. They won the titles by tearing apart De Bruyne and Lukaku, both of whom now lack speed. And the rest of the lineup became poorer in terms of bright names. The Red Devils must accept the new reality and work on renewing their core.
They’re going to bring in a new coach in February – and judging by the names, it would be better to keep Tedesco. The favorites are Thierry Henry, Rudi Garcia, Mark van Bommel. All are rather controversial candidates for the recently champion team. The former got his chance at Monaco, but never “killed the player in himself” – he didn’t succeed with the team. Except that with the French Olympic team, he won silver at the 2024 Olympics.
The second’s career has been in decline for a long time. He had the chance to restart it in 2023, when he was appointed to Naples, but he did not take advantage of this opportunity either. It quickly became clear that he was not leading the team.
Both have not reached the level of Belgium. Although, to be frank, the Belgians themselves have long since lost their level. It is no longer a competitor to France or Spain. Just a problematic team.
About the Author
