Ivory Coast in 2010, Algeria in 2014, Japan in 2018 and now Morocco. King Mohammed VI called him immediately after the sweeping play-off against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Bosnian coach to the sovereign: “It is a victory for all the people of him, I hope he is happy about it”
A hero of two worlds, to all intents and purposes. So much so that, at the final whistle of the match with the Democratic Republic of Congo which sanctioned Morocco’s qualification for the World Cup, Vahid Halilhodzic received a phone call directly from King Mohammed VI. The sovereign wanted to compliment himself personally and immediately. “It is a victory for all his people, I hope they are happy about it” replied the technical commissioner, who is not new to this type of enterprise. Indeed, he is the specialist par excellence. In fact, he is the only one to have led four different national teams to the most prestigious tournament in the world: Ivory Coast in 2010, Algeria in 2014, Japan in 2018 and now Morocco.
Fear and re-foundation
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At the helm of the Ivorians, he was exonerated before the world review, because he had not won the African Cup. An edition marked by the attack suffered by Togo just before the start. “Drogba and Yaya Touré didn’t want to take the field, they were afraid. I think they were almost relieved to be eliminated. I understand them, they were right, but it cost me my job after hitting an exceptional qualification. He was disgusting: sent away with a fax, without the president or the secretary having deigned to tell me to my face. The players called me sorry during the World Cup ”Halilhodzic will later tell, replaced by Sven-Goran Eriksson. He then arrives in Algeria in 2011 with the task of re-founding the national team and focuses on players of the caliber of Slimani and Mahrez, not without criticism at the beginning. At the World Cup he managed to scare Germany who will become champion, taking them to extra time in the round of 16: “It’s a good memory, but also one of my biggest regrets”. The test offered in Brazil is worth the popular acclaim and a lot of satisfaction.
Breakup and rebirth
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As happened with the Ivory Coast, Japan also cuts off relations before the World Cup. The qualifying path is almost perfect, hitting the goal with one round to spare. But some internal fractures, made deeper by a friendly defeat with Ukraine, make it impossible “to establish a relationship of trust and communication with the players” as explained by the Japanese federation, which decides to sack him three months from the World Cup, replacing him with Akira. Nishino. In Morocco, the circle comes full circle. It was there that his coaching career took off, when in 1997 he won the African Champions League at the helm of Raja Casablanca. An opportunity that saved him from ruin: “I had no work and the war in Yugoslavia had taken everything away from me (he was born in Bosnia, ed). Michel and Hidalgo called me offering me this opportunity. I didn’t know the reality, but I discovered an extraordinary club “. After an interlude at Nantes in 2018, who was coached by Claudio Ranieri a few months earlier, he was called up from Morocco with the usual mission. He takes the place of Renard, the only one to win the Africa Cup with two different nations, Zambia and Ivory Coast. In the continental tournament he was eliminated by Egypt in the quarter-finals for Trezeguet’s extra time goal (where we have already seen him), but there is no lack of qualification for the World Cup.
The other “heroes”
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The name of Halilhodzic enters by right among those of the football masters in the most disparate latitudes. This is the case of Serbian Bora Milutinovic, who holds the record for teams led at the World Cup, no less than five (including two hosts): Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, United States in 1994, Nigeria in 1998 and China in 2002, succeeding to get through the group stage with the top four. Unforgettable also the achievements on the Pacific of the Dutch Guus Hiddink, on the South Korea bench at the 2002 World Cup where he reached the semifinals and on that of Australia in 2006, qualifying against Uruguay in the play-offs and finishing second in the group. In the second round, however, he will cross Italy, succumbing only in the final thanks to Totti’s penalty. A key moment in the path that will lead us to an epic victory, already so far away.
March 30 – 18:04
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