As promised, the official site of the Russian Football Union revealed the list of potential candidates for the manager of the National Team. (Note that Roberto Mancini is not on the list despite fervent claims that his contract with the Russia NT has been discovered in a safe. Mancini has officially renewed his contract with Manchester City until 2017):
*indicates former Russia NT manager
Rafael Benitez
Anatoliy Byshovets*
Marcelo Bielsa
Valery Gazzaev*
Josep Guardiola
Fabio Capello
Andrey Kobelev
Yuri Krasnozhan
Marcello Lippi
Valery Nepomniachi
Nikolai Pisarev
Harry Redknapp
Yuri Semin*
Stats:
The list includes 6 active managers and 5 managers who have previously worked with a Russia NT.
3 of the managers previously coached the main Russia NT.
4 of the managers have never coached a National Team.
7 of the 13 managers listed are or have been managers at the RPL.
Anatoliy Byshovets has managed the most teams (13).
Marcello Lippi and Valery Nepomniachi both managed 12 teams in their careers.
Marcello Lippi is the manager with the most years of coaching experience (30 years), and Nikolai Pisarev with the least (2 years coaching Association Football).
Marcelo Bielsa coached a National Team for the most number of years (6 years at Argentina).
The oldest manager is Valery Nepomniachi (68 years old) and the youngest Josep Guardiola (41 years old).
Rafael Benitez
Current position: N/A.
Best record at: Liverpool FC
 |
| Proof of Benitez's special powers. |
Likelihood: 8/10
Current position: N/A.
Despite leading the USSR Olympic team to winning gold and managing three national teams (including Russia), Byshovets's management has been short-lived, producing at most a 2-year spell at any team. He had disappointing results at Lokomotiv Moscow in the RPL, leading the team to 7th place in the league.
Byshovets had a go at managing the Russia NT in 1998. He was sacked after poor results in the qualifying games for the UEFA Euro 2000, where Russia lost out to Ukraine, France, and Iceland in their group. Though the manager who took over led Russia to more wins, the team made third place and therefore failed to qualify for the Euro.
Likelihood: 3/10
Marcelo Bielsa
Current position: Manager at Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Best record at: Athletic Bilbao, Argentina NT
Likelihood: 7/10
Current position: Club President at Alania Vladikavkaz (RPL)
Best record at: FC Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow
A former Russia NT manager, Gazzaev has worked with clubs like Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow, and Dynamo Kiev. Most of his success has been with Dynamo and CSKA Moscow. He led Dynamo to four major trophy wins in the course of eight years during the Soviet era. Three seems to be his lucky number - he had success both at the League and international levels with CSKA, leading them to three RPL championships, three Russian Cups, and three Russian Super Cups. The club also won the '04-05 UEFA Europa League. Gazzaev has previously managed Russia (2002-2003), but his stay was rather short.
Likelihood: 6/10
Current position: N/A.
Best
record at: FC Barcelona
Undoubtedly one
of the most interesting candidates, Pep has been nothing but
legendary at Barca. With an astonishing win percentage of 72%,
Guardiola used his four years at Barca wisely. The club went from
lackluster seasons devoid of trophies and losing both the Champions
League and FIFA Club World Cup to becoming the first club ever to win
six major consecutive tournaments (Barcelona defeated Champions
League winners Manchester United, who they lost the final to under
manager Frank Rijkaard). Interestingly enough, most of Barcelona's
former managers did very well with the team. It was the Champions
League title that was so coveted by the club's management, and
Guardiola made sure he got two of the three trophies (the team was
eliminated in the semi-finals of the '09-10 tournament by Italian
club Inter). In just four seasons at Barca, Guardiola managed to win
14 trophies. That's more than most managers win in 14 seasons. Though
it is unlikely that the RFU will have enough funds for both his
salary and the acquisition of new players, any team should be honored
to have such a specialist on board.
Likelihood: 5/10
Current position: N/A.
Best
record at: AC Milan
Although
largely unsuccessful as a NT coach, Capello has had a respectable
amount of success at AC Milan and Real Madrid. Milan had an unbeaten
streak of 58 games in the early 90's. The team even defeated Cruyff's
Barcelona 4-0 in the 1994 Champions League final (back when Pep
Guardiola was a Barca player himself!). Under Capello, Milan were
4-time Serie A champions, had 3 consecutive Supercoppa wins, won the
Spring Italian Cup, and had won two international tournaments.
Capello had two spells each at Milan and Madrid. Unlike his stay at
Milan, Capello's Madrid became La Liga champions during both of his
spells. It is difficult, however, to overlook his recent setbacks
with England at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Likelihood:
5/10
Current position: Manager at Krylia Sovetov (RPL)
A
manager unadorned with stellar results in his 8-year career,
Kobelev's longest tenure was at FC Dynamo Moscow. His best result
with the team, however, was a 3rd place spot in the
Premiership. Considering the fact that his one-season stay at Krylia
Sovetov hasn't been long enough to truly paint a picture his coaching
skills, this manager remains an unsolved puzzle.
Likelihood:
3/10
Current position: Manager at Russia-2 NT
Best
record at: PFC Spartak Nalchik
Having
been unfairly accused of participating in match-fixing while at
Lokomotiv and unable to play a single game as Anzhi manager due to the management's acquisition of Hiddink, Krasnozhan is another manager who has yet to
fulfill his true potential. His success at his native club, Spartak
Nalchik, was in promoting the team to the Premier League. He also got
the financially-challenged club to 6th place in the
League, coming close to Europa League dreams. Had he not resigned to
head Lokomotiv, who knows what wonders Krasnozhan might have created.
He is clearly a victim of his circumstances. If not selected for the
post, he'll continue to manage the Russia-2 NT, whose next game is on
August 15th, an international friendly cup against
Belgium.
Likelihood:
7/10
Current position: Manager at Guangzhou Evergrande F.C. (CSL)
Best
records at: Juventus, Italy NT in 2006
Though
largely successful at the club level, Lippi is not a very stable NT
manager. Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup final in a penalty
shootout against France, but didn't make it to the knockout stage of
the 2010 tournament. Nevertheless, it should be noted that he won
various coaching awards, including the IIHF award for World's Best NT
Coach and World's Best Club Coach (you can guess what year he won the
NT one). He is also a 3-time Serie A Coach of the Year winner, and
rightfully so. Lippi led Juventus to victory in seven different
tournaments, including five Serie A championships, four Supercoppa
wins, a Europa League win, and the 1996 Champions League (Juventus
went on to be runners-up three times after winning the latter). It's
likely that his conservative outlook on the game simply works better
at the club level, where veteran players are a valuable asset,
something that can't always be said for a National Team.
Likelihood: 6/10
Current position: Technical Consultant at CSKA Moscow (RPL)
Best
records at: Cameroon NT, Jeju United FC
The
oldest candidate for the managerial post, 68-year-old Nepomniachi has
a very interesting managerial record. His first major coaching
experience was with the Cameroon National Team. One of the only two
NT's he has ever managed, Cameroon qualified for the 1990 World Cup
and made the quarter-finals, where they lost to England due to a Gary
Lineker penalty in extra time. The other NT he managed was
Uzbekistan, who were less successful, losing out in the qualifying
stage of the 2006 World Cup. From then on, he coached an astounding
variety of Asian teams, earning him several awards for both his
coaching and contributions to football. His most successful spell was
at South Korean Jeju United, a club that won the K-League Cup and
became a first-time Korea FA Cup semi-finalist under his management.
There is no doubt he'd do a good job with the Russian team, provided
he'd be given the opportunity to assist in obtaining a few new
players. If he does take the post, he will be close to matching,
though not surpassing, the record for Oldest Coach at a FIFA World Cup
(Greece's manager in 2010, Otto Rehhagel, was 71 years old during the
tournament).
Likelihood:
6/10
Nikolai Pisarev
Current position: Manager at Russia U-21 NT
Best
record at: Russia National Beach Soccer Team
Aside
from coaching Russia's National Beach Soccer Team and leading them to
6 titles and five years of award-winning play, Pisarev is relatively
new to the scene. He worked as an assistant at Krylia Sovetov in the
RPL, and recently led Russia's U-21 NT to the qualifying round of the
2013 UEFA U-21 European Championship. The team has two more games to
play to ensure they qualify, so until early September, we won't
really know how well Pisarev has managed to translate his beach
football knowledge to the pitch. Unless the RFU decides to take the
plunge and hire him pronto!
Likelihood:
3/10
Current position: N/A.
Best records at: Portsmouth, Tottenham
All
criticism aside for now, Harry Redknapp has done pretty well at two
of the clubs that he's managed, one of which currently plays in the
English Premier League. Portsmouth was fairly successful during both
of his spells, becoming First Division champions and winning the
'07-08 FA Cup. More recently, Redknapp was the fifth most successful
manager at Tottenham, winning nearly 49.5% percent of the time with a
total record of 98-50-50. The Spurs were Football Leage Cup finalists
in '09 and finished in 4th place last season.
Despite
Mr. Redknapp's stable results with Tottenham, he would be the worst
choice for NT manager. His poor decisions were evident from his stay
at West Ham United, where he was sacked in 2001. Though he had had
disputes over how transfer money was being spent and apparently left the club “by mutual consent”, he mentioned in
a 2007 interview that there was more to the story. Apparently, the
Hammers' chairman was about to renew his contract, but Redknapp had
spoken with an online fanzine in an unprofessional manner, and the
job at West Ham was no longer his for the taking. If you look really
closely at Mr. Redknapp's record, you'll see that he was usually
sacked not for a club's results, but for negative interpersonal
relations with the staff. He is a decent though average manager, but
a bad negotiator, and cannot spot talent that's right in front of
him, what with his constant benching of Roman Pavlyuchenko during his
Spurs spell. There is probably no worse candidate for this position
than Redknapp. There is no way the NT would even get to the Round of
16 at the next World Cup under his supervision.
Likelihood:
4/10 (Hopefully that's zero!)
Current position: Manager at Dynamo Kiev (UPL)
Best
records at: Lokomotiv Moscow, Dynamo Kiev
Semin
has worked with the Russia NT before, though very briefly. When the
team failed to qualify for the '06 World Cup, Semin left for Dynamo
Moscow, where he had little success. He had three spells at
Lokomotiv, totaling 18 years. Under his management, Loko won two
Premier League championships and were always at the head of the
leader board. The average club became five-time Russian Cup champs
and two-time Russian Super Cup winners. His success at both clubs
went beyond the Premier League and into the realms of international
tourneys. Loko were two-time Cup Winners' Cup semi-finalists. His
other club, Dynamo Kiev, were Premier League champions as well as
UEFA Cup semi-finalists, losing out to longtime rivals and eventual
winners Shakhtar Donetsk. Though Kiev would be reluctant to let him
go, there's no denying Semin would love to prove himself at the
National Team level.
Likelihood:
8/10
According to my in-depth analysis, the top 4 candidates are Rafa Benitez, Yuri Semin, Yuri Krasnozhan, and Marcelo Bielsa. It'll be quite the surprise if the Union picks someone who is not on this list.
Let's see who the RFU chooses!
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