World Cup 2018: Spain chop off the head and leave a flailing body as Fernando Hierro replaces sacked Julen Lopetegui
A crazy 24 hours has seen the Spanish FA sack head coach Lopetegui, install their sporting director as his replacement and leave a promising World Cup campaign in tatters
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Your support makes all the difference.They broke the mould by winning the European Championship without a striker and now Spain must go one step further and win the World Cup without their manager.
Julen Lopetegui had his Spain contract terminated on Wednesday morning after being announced as Real Madrid’s new head coach on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday was a wild day in Madrid, where Florentino Perez rang the Spanish FA (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales just five minutes before announcing Lopetegui’s hire. At that point, Rubiales was in Moscow for the Fifa congress but immediately stormed out of his hotel and took a late flight to Spain’s base in the southern city of Krasnodar.
“We thank Julen for all he has done,” said Rubiales on Wednesday, by now somewhat calmer, “but we are forced to dismiss him.”
In 24 hours, Spain had gone from being one of the favourites for the World Cup - a perfectly-balanced squad, a coach the players knew and trusted, the right mix of youth and experience - to being a headless body flailing around Krasnodar, arms waving, everybody staring.
Rubiales’ brief press conference on Wednesday lunchtime was the end point of that decapitation process, and he ended his appearance without naming a permanent replacement for the 53-year-old Lopetegui. Whose head they decide to ultimately plonk on the body may be irrelevant, this is as traumatic a footballing event as you could think of to happen on the eve of the World Cup but particularly so when your first game is on the second day of the tournament against the European Champions. You have to be sure to make this decision and Rubiales certainly seems so, but it doesn’t make him right.
“The problem is how things have been done with the total absence of participation of the Spanish Football Federation, that is something we cannot ignore, Lopetegui is an impeccable professional but the process is important.“
Rubiales’ process went something like this: after the phonecall with Perez on Tuesday and the subsequent race to Krasnodar, the president’s head was whirring. Only installed as the RFEF president last month, Rubiales only had one significant achievement to his name - signing Lopetegui to a contract extension. One can only assume that this played a big part in his anger when Florentino picked up the phone and while he claimed he “did not feel betrayed” his actions say the opposite.
“With Lopetegui it has finished with a handshake, he is a top coach and for that reason it has become more difficult for me to take the decision. To win is important, but above that is how to do things. It will make us strong, I'm sure.
“We have acted conscientiously and with full responsibility, it was what we had to do.
“It was a tough moment, he said goodbye to the players, with whom he has many ties, but we had to make this decision,” said Rubiales before leaving the stage.
Did they though?
Yes, Lopetegui was going to be taking over at Real Madrid after the World Cup but would there have been any real distraction for him?
Firstly, and most obviously, it would be impossible to make any better first impression than to lead a core of Real Madrid players to World Cup glory. Did people really think he’d spend most of his time in Russia on the phone about transfers? Considering how little input a coach has into incomings at the Bernabeu that was never a likely scenario. It all just seems a little rash, a little unnecessary and as well as making Spain’s task a whole lot harder this month, it’s made Lopetegui’s job at Real Madrid a whole lot harder too, as well as damaging relations between the Spanish FA and the country’s biggest, best-supported club within weeks of the new president taking charge.
The decision, though, has been made. Albert Celades had always seemed the most likely candidate to replace Lopetegui for the tournament because he is already part of the setup but they have instead gone for a steadier, more experienced hand in Fernando Hierro - technical director of the RFEF.
Only a few weeks ago Celades, the Spain Under-21 coach, was one of a couple of hundred people watching third-tier Fuenlabrada play Real Sociedad’s B team to keep abreast of some of the country’s talented young players.
On Friday he’ll be sat in the dugout alongside Hierro, trying to lead Spain to victory against Portugal at the World Cup.
Life comes at you fast, and the last 24 hours in Julen Lopetegui’s life bear testament to that.
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