Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Friday, 17 September 2010
Portugal Seek Mourinho Help
Spanish sports daily, MARCA, is reporting that Real Madrid coach, Jose Mourinho, has been seen with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation, Gilberto Madail, and his agent, Jorge Mendes, at a dinner in a Madrid restaurant this week.
MARCA reports that Gilberto Madail is looking to "loan" Mourinho for the Portuguese national team and have him take charge of matches in October against Iceland and Denmark.
The former coach Carlos Queiroz was sacked last week after a poor start on the road to Ukraine and Poland with no replacement names in the offing other than Paulo Bento. It seems the Federation have designs on Jose Mourinho.
The Director of Institutional Relations of Real Madrid, Emilio Butragueño, said the club has no record of the Portuguese Football Federation's (FPF) interest or confirmation that Jose Mourinho wants to manage his national team in the next two qualifying matches of Euro 2012.
"I just spoke with the club management and they do not have any information either, so there is little to say," said Butragueño.
"I will not say something about a matter that we do not know is even true." he reiterated during his participation at the meeting of Technical Committee of the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro).
Courtesy of MARCA
Monday, 13 September 2010
Mourinho Returns to Champions Action
 |
| Getty Images |
Last May the Santiago Bernabeu stadium hosted the UEFA Champions League final which saw Jose Mourinho secure the third title of the season for the Inter Milan trophy cabinet when the Italian side deprived Bayern Munich President, Franz Beckenbauer, of taking the title back to Germany.
This Wednesday night a new Champions League season kicks off with the “Special One” back at the same stadium but this time in charge of Real Madrid, with whom he will be seeking his third Champions league Title – having won his first with Porto FC in 2004.
The Champions League has eluded Real Madrid in recent years with their only win in the 21st century back in Hampden Park in 2002. Since then there have been some promising campaigns, much money spent, lots of upheaval but not the major European trophy in their side board.
Mourinho’s sole purpose in being lured to Madrid by Club President, Florentino Perez, is to change that record and bring the same glory that the Portuguese supremo has brought to Porto, Chelsea and Milan.
In Real Madrid's first meeting of the qualifying group they face another legendary European Club, Ajax, which brings Mourinho face to face once again with a rival from his Premiership days and seven London derbies between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur – Martin Jol.
After rejecting an offer from Fulham earlier this season, Jol has guided Ajax through the qualifying stages and the club remains unbeaten after wins against PAOK FC and Dynamo Kyiv. They also arrive in Madrid with little form to guide them as 1995/96 was the last time both teams met in the Champions League.
Ajax did appear in the Bernabeu against AC Milan in 1969 losing the European Cup final when Cruyff and company were unable to contain the Italian side. But that history will not weigh too heavily this time as Ajax remain unbeaten away from home in Europe under Jol, who oversaw three wins and two draws as they reached the UEFA Europa League round of 32 last season
For Real the start of the season has been positive with an away draw to Mallorca in the opening game, followed by a one nil victory at home against Osasuna last Saturday. Having started the change over in players Mourinho has seen the departure of Rafael Van de Vaart to Spurs, Raul Gonzalez to Schalke 04, Guti going to Besiktas in Turkey with Royston Drenthe on loan to Hercules in La Liga - with a few more earmarked for pastures new undoubtedly in due course.
Christoph Metzelder had already left in late June when his contract expired and Mourinho has already plundered the impressive German World Cup team bringing in the talented duo of Sami Khedira and Mehmet Oezil - along with his old sparring partner from Porto and Chelsea, Ricardo Carvalho.
In the opening games Karim Benzema has made two appearances already which is an improvement from last season when he failed to figure in the former manager, Manuel Pelligrinni’s, game day plans.
Already the players know that times are different at the club, which goes beyond the visible departure of some of the clubs legends such as Raul. On Monday morning Mourinho changed the traditional post match recovery training to a full blown ball session – anxious that the players take the start of the Champions League seriously from the outset
There is much expectation in Madrid about Wednesday night’s match as fans and club experts look on with anticipation to see if the “Mourinho Magic” can be applied at a club that has not tasted Champions League glory since the soft spoken and understated Vicente del Bosque was moved on in 2003 by Perez - in favour of former Manchester United Assistant Manager and recently fired Portugal manager, Carlos Queiroz.
Undoubtedly even Florentino Perez has nightmares about the wisdom of that decision which was made even worse following Spain's victory at the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg in July under Del Bosque.
This week all that will be forgotten as Mourinho and company embark on another journey that he hopes will bring winning ways back to Real Madrid that will at least match - and hopefully outdo – those achievements of arch rivals, Barcelona FC.
Real Madrid and Ajax are both in Group G along with AC Milan and FC Auxerre.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Portugal Sack Queiroz
Former Manchester United Assistant Manager,Carlos Queiroz has been sacked as coach of the Portuguese national side.
The Portuguese Football Federation confirmed the news this evening, just two days after the national team suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at the hands of Norway in the latest round of Euro 2012 qualifiers.
Queiroz is currently serving a six-month ban for his alleged misbehaviour during an anti-doping testing session at a training camp in the run-up to the World Cup, and was not on the bench for Tuesday's defeat.
Portugal were also held to a 4-4 draw with Cyprus in their opening qualifier last week, and the team's lack of performance on the pitch, allied to Queiroz's alleged misdemeanour off it, has forced the Portuguese federation to act.
The former Real Madrid manager had two years remaining on his contract with the Portuguese federation.
A federation statement read: 'Given the recent events, and after reviewing the current situation concerning the national coach, the directorate of the FPF decided unanimously [to end] the contract... with the national coach, Carlos Queiroz, with immediate effect.
'This decision was communicated to Carlos Queiroz.'
The statement added that the search for new coach would begin immediately with a view to having a new man in place in time for the team's next qualifier at home to Denmark on 8 October.
The statement added:
'[The FPF will] start immediately contacts and talks with a view to hiring a technician who performs the functions of national coach in time to prepare and lead the team in the forthcoming qualifying matches for Euro 2012.'
Queiroz has been in charge of Portugal since 2008 and led them to the World Cup in South Africa, where they lost out to eventual winners Spain in the last 16.
This year has been dogged by controversy for Queiroz, with the 57-year-old involved in a physical altercation with a Portuguese journalist in February, while there were reports of a World Cup spat with Deco prior to his alleged run-in with Portugal's anti-doping authority.
Agostinho Oliveira has deputised for Queiroz in Portugal's opening two Euro 2012 qualifiers, with the stand-in coach presiding over the country's worst start to a qualifying campaign since 1996.
Portugal are currently second from bottom in Group H and already trail leaders Norway by five points.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Queiroz sacked by Portugal (skysports.com)
- Queiroz sacked as Portugal boss (news.bbc.co.uk)
- Portugal confirm departure of coach Carlos Queiroz (soccernet.espn.go.com)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)