Klinsmann and 4 Other International Managers Feeling the Heat

Being an international football manager is a pretty sweet gig. You only coach 12 or 13 matches per year, and the rest of the time is spent traveling the world to scout players ahead of the next call-up. It is sport at its most glamorous.

But it’s also a rather volatile profession. An international manager’s tenure is rarely longer than two-and-a-half years (the length of a qualification cycle), and there are no cup competitions or secondary achievements to fall back on if you can’t win the big one. There is only one winner, which is why Vicente del Bosque has been with Spain more than five years while Italy have had Roberto Donadoni, Marcello Lippi and Cesare Prandelli at the helm over the same period of time.

Prandelli is coming off a second-place finish at Euro 2012, and we all know about del Bosque’s accomplishments, so it’s no surprise that both managers are safe in their jobs and will take their respective sides to the 2014 World Cup in less than 15 months’ time. Some of their colleagues, however, aren’t so lucky.

The next five slides will reveal five international managers who are feeling the heat as World Cup qualification enters the home stretch, and here’s guessing at least two of them will be out of a job when the 32 names are picked from the pot on December 6.

James Appiah, Ghana

Ghana have been to the knockout stages at each of the last two World Cups and progressed to the quarterfinals in South Africa where they went out on penalties following the Luis Suarez handball incident.

The Serbian Milovan Rajevac was the Black Stars’ manager in 2010, but after he tabled his resignation in September of that year the Ghanaian Football Association hired his countryman Goran Stevanovic as his successor. Stevanovic was sacked last March following a fourth-place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations, leaving James Appiah to take over as 13th Ghana boss in 10 years.

While Appiah’s was a popular appointment, especially as he became just the third Ghana-born manager since 2004, he once again failed to take the Black Stars past the semifinals at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and after a pair of World Cup qualifiers has his side second to Zambia in Group D. Only the top side in each bracket moves on to the next round, so the former left-back has some catching up to do in a pair of matches against Sudan if he hopes to keep his job.

Gerardo Pelusso, Paraguay

Paraguay have been to each of the last four World Cups, and in 2010 they even gave eventual winners Spain a run for their money in the quarterfinals. Popular manager Gerardo Martino was in charge of that team, and after considering an exit from La Albirroja was persuaded to stay on until after the 2011 Copa America where he took his side all the way to the final against Uruguay.

Former international right-back Francisco Arce succeeded him, but it was a disastrous appointment as Paraguay stumbled out of the blocks in World Cup qualifying where they still sit dead last in the single CONMEBOL table.

Gerardo Pelusso succeeded Arce in June 2012, and while it took until October for him to win his first match in charge of the national team, he has guided them to three successive wins going into Friday’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Uruguay.

Win that, as well as the match against Ecuador on March 26, and Paraguay could well move some distance off the bottom. But at this point Pelusso probably needs at least four points from the two matches for Paraguay to retain any hope of a fifth straight World Cup appearance and for him to stay on as manager.

Sinisa Mihalovic, Serbia

Serbia may have been to each of the last two World Cups (in 2006 as Serbia & Montenegro), but following the resignation of Radomir Antic in 2008 they went through two managers in just 18 matches as their Euro 2012 qualification campaign went sour until Vladimir Petrovic.

Radovan Curcic was appointed caretaker manager, but his temporary stint ended up lasting five games before Sinisa Mihajlovic was finally appointed last April.

Mihajlovic, who the Serbian FA fought long and hard to get, hasn’t exactly been working out, either, as his side have just a single win from four matches in World Cup qualifying. They’re six points back of Group A leaders Belgium and Croatia and will visit Croatia, their archrivals, in Zagreb on Friday. Four days later they’ll host Scotland.

Whether or not Serbia qualify for another World Cup will become considerably clearer following the Croatia match. A loss and their campaign is pretty much over. A loss and the Mihajlovic era may come to an end as well.

Paulo Bento, Portugal

Portugal tend to make hard work of qualifying.

They had to contest two-legged playoffs against Bosnia-Herzegovina ahead of both the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012, and if they do end up making it to a fourth consecutive World Cup in 2014 they’ll likely have to go through the playoffs, again. They’ve won only two of their first four qualification matches (scoring only six goals) and sit five points back of Group F leaders Russia, level on seven points with Israel.

Manager Paulo Bento will take Portugal into Israel for a crucial qualifier in Ramat Gan on Friday, and if he can’t coax a victory out of his underperforming side he’ll be facing intense pressure to win four out of the next five matches just to secure a playoff spot.

The 43-year-old was the popular manager of Sporting Lisbon before taking on the national team, and a 4-0 win over Spain in November 2010 only further endeared him to the country’s fans. He came under criticism at Euro 2012, however, when he made talisman Cristiano Ronaldo fifth choice in their penalty shootout against Spain in the semifinals.

Jurgen Klinsmann, United States

On Wednesday the Sporting News published a story claiming several American players were unhappy with manager Jurgen Klinsmann.

About the German’s approach ahead of last month’s hexagonal qualifier against Honduras, one player remarked, “It was one of those things where Jurgen woke up the next day and wanted to try something we weren’t familiar with.”

The article made a case that a scattershot selection policy and supposed lack of tactical nous had combined to create some unrest among the squad, something they could surely do without ahead of their next two qualifiers against Costa Rica and Mexico.

It goes without saying that if the United States take only one of the six possible points from those two matches—which is entirely possible—their chances of reaching the 2014 World Cup will be significantly reduced and Klinsmann’s future will be even more uncertain than it is now, if he is even retained.