EThere has been a lot of talk about the fact that a World Cup is taking place in Qatar, which is more of a tournament for the players than a tournament for the teams, which probably has less to do with the performances on the pitch and more to do with the growing need for heroic epics. The audience celebrates Messi, Mbappé, Neymar or Hakimi and experiences Ronaldo’s tragedy.
At the latest when the quarter-finals begin, however, this World Cup can also be viewed as a competition for coaches, some of whom are great virtuosos of tournament football: Dutchman Louis van Gaal, for example, who has already reached the World Cup semi-finals and a final. Lionel Scaloni, under whom Lionel Messi won his only Copa America, the Croatian Zlatko Dalic, who led Croatia to the final in 2018, or Fernando Santos, Portugal’s title coach at the Euro 2016. And of course: Didier Deschamps, the grandmaster of tournament football, the World Cup Winner of 2018, who had already become world and European champion with the French as a player.
