The World Cup Was a Coaching Death Sentence for Many | OneFootball

“Pay no attention to the body in the corner.” That’s the current attitude in many national team headquarters this week. This unprecedented World Cup saw the group stage swell to include 48 teams, which had the unintended consequence of generating the largest number of coaching and managerial chances.

25% Lethality

If the World Cup was a disease (and let’s face it, this analogy isn’t that farfetched) coaching it would result in a high lethality. One in four coaches who started out in charge on June 11 are no longer in their positions. The World Cup is as deadly to managers as dengue fever.

Some of these departures were voluntary. Some were planned ahead of the tournament, usually the result of policies rotating staff every tournament cycle. But some were unforeseen, shocking actions. We’ll highlight every coaching change, in chronological order, and try to provide some context.

Tunisia – Sabri Lamouchi (June 15th)

The bloodletting started early, with Tunisia’s gaffer getting his throat slit after a single game! Takl about setting an ominous tone. We wrote about it at length here. 

Czechia – Miroslav Koubek (June 29th)

Czechia was undoubtedly one of the World Cup disappointments. After putting in an effective and stubborn fight to qualify via the UEFA playoffs, defeating the Republic of Ireland and Denmark, they completely crapped the bed. South Korea rallied to defeat them 2-1 in the opener, then they conceded late to give South Africa a point. The final match against Mexico was doomed from the start. The 74 year-old Koubek, who held a three-day record as the oldest person to coach in a World Cup, resigned after that group stage embarrassment.

Netherlands – Ronald Koeman (June 30th)

This was Koeman’s second stint in the manager’s chair, and started off so promisingly. After a terse and well-played 2-2 draw to Japan, the Dutch trampled their next two foes (Sweden and Tunisia) by a combined score of 8-1. Just their luck that Morocco was their next opponent. After conceding a stoppage time header to Issa Diop, Koeman inexplicably had his Netherlands team sit in a low block for the extra time. Of all people, he should have known the Dutch suck at penalty kicks. The federation allowed him to save face by resigning. I’d have fired his ass on the pitch.

Ecuador – Sebastián Beccacece (July 1st)

Affectionally dubbed the touchline Fabio for his less-than-casual resemblance to the famed ‘90s model, Sebastián Beccacece experienced some dramatic highs and lows. The low: drawing minnow nation Curaçao 0-0. The high: engineering La Tri’s shocking 2-1 victory over Germany in the group stage that secured Ecuador a place in the knockout stages. After falling to co-host Mexico 2-0 in the Round of 32, Beccacece brushed back those flowing locks, blew a kiss to his legions of admirers and rode off into the sunset.

Germany – Julian Nagelsmann (July 3rd)

Nagelsmann was supposed to be the cure to Germany’s World Cup malaise. After hoisting the trophy a 4th time in 2014, Germany was knocked out in the group phase in 2018, then failed to qualify for 2022. Despite mostly strong form and solid results, Germany was a question mark for this tournament. A 7-1 thrashing of Curaçao offered no answers, a nail-biting 2-1 win over Ivory Coast raised eyebrows, and a 2-1 loss to Ecuador caused a furor. Nagelsmann’s “relax, I got this” vibe going into Paraguay was stripped away as they lost in a penalty shootout to a clearly inferior team. His resignation came after a nearly four hour meeting the with federation, with the two sides agreeing that $8M severance would satisfy both parties.

Algeria – Vladimir Petković (July 3rd)

Honestly, Algeria wasn’t that bad. They weren’t great, either. But they did put on one of the best games in the group stage, a 3-3 draw against Austria that had two late goal exchanges in stoppage time. Switzerland handily defeated them 2-0 in the Round of 32, and Petković was given his marching orders the very next day.

Ghana – Carlos Queiroz (July 5th)

Quieroz’s sacking was a mercy. Under his guidance the Black Stars of Ghana were one of the most unwatchable sides in the tournament, despite having a plethora of talent. After a 1-0 loss to Colombia whose scoreline graciously flattered them, Ghana’s statistics were the worst of any team that advanced out of the group stage: 36% possession, 1.3 shots on frame from 6.5 attempts and only two corners. Yuck.

Portugal – Roberto Martínez (July 6th)

In my mind, Martínez should’ve been canned the minute he allowed Cristiano Ronaldo on the team. But he also gave that shill minutes. Lots of minutes. So Ronaldo got his goal and his record of being the only male player to score in six World Cups. Whoopee. But Portugal got eliminated by regional rivals and eventual winners Spain. And that was a sin too great; he resigned the next day.

Mexico – Javier Aguirre (July 7th)

Aguirre is the man who broke the ‘penta’ curse. He also coached El Tri to three wins in the group phase. His departure didn’t come as a surprise; he’d even been grooming his successor. Read all about it here.

Croatia – Zlatko Dalić (July 8th)

Dalić left Croatia as its longest-serving coach. In his nine years at the wheel, he had a 51.5% win record, led the team to a World Cup final in 2018, a Bronze medal win in 2022 and UEFA Nations League silver medal in 2023. All this with an ageing ‘golden generation’ who will likely head out to pasture alongside him.

France – Didier Deschamps (July 19th)

We knew this was coming the entire time, as Deschamps made no secret he would be stepping down after this Cup. He lost his mum in June as well, missing their final group stage game to attend her funeral. Only the third person to win a World Cup as player and manager. His four halftime substitutions against England turned what should have been an embarrassing loss (they were down 4-0) into a near comeback for the ages. Merci, Didu. Merci beaucoup.

Belgium – Rudi Garcia (July 20th)

The latest breaking news is Belgium will not be renewing Rudi Garcia’s contract. The sardonic Frenchman will forever make me smile with his comment on American Folarin Balogun’s red card suspension ahead of Belgium’s Round of 16 match likening FIFA’s July 1 decision to April Fool’s Day. Well played.

On the Bubble

The following managers haven’t been formally replaced, but the rumor mill is spinning pretty hard around them: