Mad Brit Diary

New breed of national coaches comes from former world stars.

(Friday, September 10, 2004) -- A new breed of coaches is rising up in the international game. They are young and talented, with proven star quality on the field. They are former World Cup stars with fans worldwide. Now, they have hung up their boots and are coaching national teams on the long road to the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Dutch great Marco Van Basten, who was a genius as a player and led the Netherlands to the 1988 Euro title, won his first game at the helm of his national team in a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, courtesy of two strikes from Pierre van Hooijdonk.

Former German ace and 1990 World Cup star, Juergen Klinnsman, got a win over neighbor Austria and a decent 1-1 tie in Berlin with world champ Brazil in two recent exhibition games, proving he still has a touch for the game after a very long vacation in California.

Bulgarian 1994 World Cup star Hristo Stoitchkov won his first game leading his nation's team prevailed 3-1 over Iceland on the road. So far, it appears, the Mad Bulgarian, who has a reputation of stomping on referees, punching teammates and breaking young legs, is behaving himself.

And it doesn't end there. Former Brazilian star and Pele's teammate in the 1970 World Cup, Carlos Alberto Torres, who at 59 is no longer a youngster, is now coaching Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan earned a 1-1 tie at home to Wales, which is coached by former Manchester United star Mark Hughes but lost 2-0 to Austria.

German ace, and 1990 World Cup winner, Lothar Matthaeus, is also patrolling the sidelines these days, coaching the once great Hungarian team, which opened its World Cup qualifying account with a 3-0 loss at Croatia, but beat visiting Iceland 2-0.

Meantime France, coached by Raymond Domenech -- did this guy ever try on boots? -- could only tie Israel 0-0 and win 2-0 at the tiny Faroe Islands. What's going on with the former World Cup champion? Domenech is now blaming Arsenal star Robert Pires for Les Bleus poor start, saying he lacks effort. Has Domenech seen Arsenal play lately?

Those lucky Yanks are grave robbers. The U.S. team played a scrappy game against El Salvador in New England, but won the deserved three points with a 2-0 victory. Landon Donovan's goal was a touch of magic. The 22-year-old is such a talent when he is on form.

That can't be said about the Americans in Panama on Wednesday who walked out of Panama City with a 1-1 tie which was daylight robbery. But that's soccer. The U.S., after being outplayed for 45 minutes in the second half, persevered and got the lucky goal in the last minute from that old fighter Cobi Jones playing in his 163th game for the U.S. Give that man a big bonus and a haircut.

MLS Wrap is one of the better soccer programs on Fox Sports World TV, but boy do we miss former Sheffield Wednesday star John Harkes when he is not on the show. Harkes' replacement Chris Sullivan knows his game and is pretty clever, but does he talk, on and on and on. We know you speak Spanish, Chris, with a lovely accent, but we don't need a Spanish lesson every time you're on TV. Just stick to the Queens English which we all barely understand.

The best guy on TV these days in America, as Gladiator Russell Crowe -- "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius" -- would say, is the great Max Bretos on Fox Sports World. The guy is lively, unpredictable, funny, broad-minded, fair and just plain "daft as brush," to quote Sir Bobby Robson, which Mad Brits just love. Keep up the good, and goofy work, Maximus.

The president of the West African nation of Guinea awarded the national soccer team two tractors and land after the team beat Botswana 4-0 to move to the top of Group 5 in World Cup qualifying. Meanwhile, Wales is considering a protest to world governing body FIFA after a 1-1 tie in Azerbaijan. The Welsh players' bags were looted at the airport in Baku and heavily armed military, in and around the stadium, created an intimidating atmosphere.

Bob Brown writes: "The Rooney saga appears inevitable. When I was in Liverpool last February, the taxi driver taking me to Anfield lamented that their lad at Everton was on his way to full-blown Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) status. The taxi man said, 'This is a small town. Wayne is running with the gangsters and will be in trouble soon.' I don't think that Manchester United) will be able to control him, not with the temptations of Manchester nightlife and Merseyside home life still around. He's a disaster waiting to happen."

Patrick Ward writes: "I realize that you are going to think this is naïve. Nonetheless, I think the U.S. has to be embarrassed by its performance in Panama City. At this point, with our current level of talent and depth, we need to have the swagger to walk into places like Panama and simply demand three points. Unfortunately, we played down to (Panama's) level and looked both lethargic and listless. We couldn't string passes together. We couldn't win 50-50 balls. We weren't running. We weren't marking. We weren't tackling. We were damned lucky to draw."

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