This one is interesting from Ahram Online According to the Egyptian Fed, Bob Bradley will interview for the head coaching job of the Egyptian NT
-Filipović was Montenegro's manager in 2010 qualifying. -Maturana was Trinidad and Tobago's manager in 2010 qualifying. Bradley's recent managerial tenure is more accomplished then these guys. His competitors are 2 guys who seem to have peaked as managers 10-15 years ago. Maturana won the 2001 Copa America with Colombia, but he got sacked from T&T immediately after the Altidore hattrick WCQ in April 2009.
If I were Bob, and I'm obviously not, I would have avoided this situation for security reasons. Silly? Paranoid? Perhaps, but there are still more than a few people in Egypt who support Mubarrak, and blame the US for his downfall. It only takes one nut....
unfortunate but true. i also think your average soccer fan will feel a little uncomfortable about him coaching another country. Not that they should be of much concern to him, but i do think he is much more likely to get undivided american fan support and positive us media attention if he tries his hand somewhere in europe.
It's interesting that Egypt has the record of a minnow globally (just two World Cup appearances) and a complete powerhouse in Africa (7 ACN titles in 22 tournaments, including the last three). Strictly speaking, they seem like an underachiever. Narrowly missed out on the last World Cup. Don't seem to export as many players as a relatively wealthy nation with 80M people should. I suppose the nature of Egypt's colonial history plays a factor. Of course, the political situation there makes their future hard to predict. I imagine a number of coaches who might otherwise be interested were less enthusiastic.
Egypt definitely have some young Al-Ahly talent to work with and their U-20s look pretty good this year so there is some stuff to work with along with a few European based players, but in my opinion it isn't that they underachieve in WCQ, it is that they overachieve in the ACN..just my opinion. I think he should hold out unless the money is just silly. Also, the political/security implications and all that as others have mentioned.
Good on him, he deserves a job like that. He does well, he can earn a lot of respect with European club teams, he does poorly, he comes back to MLS. I think he's a good coach at that level but has a difficult team to deal with with an odd set of circumstances.
This is almost certainly a package deal as I'd place the odds at around 98% that Zak Abdel would be one of his assistants. B-shred's post suggests he might have been a key in getting him the chance.
Worst thing that can happen is he returns to MLS. If he does a good job he could change how the world views American coaches. Maybe open doors for others. How many Americans are head coaches outside of the US? None. There's been assistants but not head coaches. As Bob would say himself: "this is a great opportunity." Whether you hated the guy or not if this happens you can't help but root for him... unless USA play Egypt.
Steve Sampson, Joe Enochs, Afshin Ghotbi, and Brent Goulet all come to mind as current/former managers of foreign clubs/nations, and I'm sure more existed. I would be very interested to see where Bob goes. Egypt is a very good team, and he stands a good change of taking them to the World Cup (though it is really tough to qualify out of Africa). Would be an interesting prospect.
I forgot about Sampson, you're right. I'm not familiar with the others but I'll take your word. Yeah Egypt are a decent side. It would be interesting for many reasons that's for sure.
Is Steve Sampson (Costa Rica) the only American to coach a foreign national team, at least in modern times? (Also not counting the likes of Guam or Puerto Rico.) EDIT-- didn't read all the way. Forgot about Afshin Ghotbi and Iran although he was an interesting case. Definitely a product of the US soccer system, but given that he was a native of Iran and had coached Persepolis was perhaps less-viewed as a foreign hire for them.
So......... a good many people here believe that a foreign coach could not waltz into the US National Team- with no knowledge of culture, idiosyncrecies of CONACAF/MLS/US Soccer- and do a decent job. And yet some believe Bob could go to a Islamic country in the Africa (with high expectations for their national team) and Bob would successfully overcome these obstacles and lead his side to the World Cup? Hmm... I think it would be a terrible move personally.
1. Most people did cartwheels when JK was named coach. Many more than the "good many" who didn't want a foreign coach. 2. If he is up for the challenge, and the EFA thinks he's up to the challenge, what do we care? It's his life, right? 3. Terrible move? Depends on the salary.
Head coach of the Pharoahs would be a pretty prestiguous job... I imagine he'd receive fantastic security if he were to land the gig. Minus the revolts and whatever hard feelings there were about us supporting Hosni M. not everyone in the world is out to get Americans.
1. please read what I said- I said a foreigner who doesn't know about US Soccer/CONCACAF. That is not Juergen. 2. This is true. I can't prevent bad decisions by others 3. LOL. Let's see if he gets paid on time. Not exactly a booming economy there.
As mentioned Egypt are perennial underachievers outside of the African Cup of Nations. It's not because of a lack of telent. Talent has always been there but for may reasons, like player's revolt, players viewing club over country, and quite frankly some primadonna characters Egypt hasn't quite got over the hump. They need structure. They need a little descilpine. Despite what some think about Bob he provides those two elements. There's no doubt he and USSF needed a change but that doesn't negate he is a very respectable coach in foreign circles. There are many personal obstacles (culturally speaking) that Bob would have to deal with if he earned this job but I could see him taking the challenge. I think he would be a good fit. I think he could add a little credibility to a national team that has been labled underachievers. I hope Bob gets this job. He would have pressure right off the bat, moreso than the US, and I'm eager to see what he can do under those circumastances when he's outside his comfort level.
First off, Egypt is not an Islamic nation, it is a nation with a predominantly Islamic population; there is a huge difference. Having watched more than the typical number of Egypt games the last few years (a good friend is from Algeria, so I watched the Algeria-Egypt WCQ playoffs), they are a talented team with some good team speed but are very poor at maintaining shape and discipline. These are things that Bradley would bring to the team. They also have some of the better club teams in Africa so Egypt is watched pretty closely by European clubs. That makes the job a good fit for someone who wants some more looks by European clubs.