Thursday, June 12, 2008

Big Phil takes on Big Blue

Chelsea, that is, and Scolari will no doubt collect a big payday.
It's interesting, the gravitation of Chelsea to coaches coming in from Portuguese soccer. Mourinho came from Porto, and Scolari has been the coach of Portugal's national team for five years. I'm sure their credibility is only enhanced by the slew of top players from Portugal these days - notably one Cristiano Ronaldo. It reminds me of how coaches in Holland and Dutch players were regarded back in the days of, well, Ruud Gullit, for one.
Now, the Dutch aren't looking too shabby these days, but has Portugal passed them by as the country regarded as the benchmark for skill in soccer?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought Scolari is Brazilian?

A.C. said...

He is, but he's been coaching Portugal since 2003 - so they're the latest example of his expertise.

Anonymous said...

Scolari is Brazilian. Maybe she thought he was Portuegese because he's the Portugal NT coach.

A.C. said...

I clarified what I meant - though Big Phil won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 - many almost expect any scrub to have a decent chance of winning the WC with Brazil. It's with his recent success with a smaller country like Portugal (just like Mourinho's with Porto), that Big Phil's reputation really increased.

Bob Ramsey said...

So if Gullit coaches successfully here for six years, will that make him American? ;)

A.C. said...

If Gullit wins at least 4 MLS Cups, 3 SuperLiga titles and the CONCACAF club championship twice and finishes at least second in the World Club Championship during those six years, then yes, it will be American soccer that makes his coaching reputation and propels him back to Holland as national team coach.

A.C. said...

That is, if the U.S. doesn't grab him first.

Anonymous said...

Scolari es el tipo perfecto para el chelsea, sangron, agresvio, y muy inteligente.

Quiero saber cuando esperan que el ruso lo despide?

Bob Ramsey said...

Andrea - we can only hope the U.S. would grab him!

CACuzcatlan said...

He'll have basically the same back line (except Pepe) at Chelsea if all the players stay. Since Deco has already said he's leaving Barca, my best scenario would be for him to land at my second favorite European team: Chelsea.

A.C. said...

Reports say that Scolari wants to bring in Kaka and Deco and even Ribery. I think people might just be making all that up, but we'll see.