40 JILL ELLIS
39
LUIZ FELIPE SCOLARI
A couple of months before the 2006
World Cup, England targeted Scolari
as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s post-tournament
replacement. He’d knocked the Three Lions
out of the 2002 World Cup (with Brazil) and
Euro 2004 (with Portugal), and would do the
same again that summer. But the FA didn’t
get Big Phil, missing the mastermind of World
Cup, Libertadores, league and cup titles at
home. In 2018, there was even a comeback
as his Palmeiras surged to the Brazilian title.38
UDO LATTEK
Lattek was the first boss
to win all three continental
titles – the European Cup, UEFA
Cup and sadly discontinued Cup Winners’
Cup – and the only one to do it with three
different clubs. The German was remarkably
successful almost everywhere, claiming six
league titles and the European Cup at
Bayern Munich in his first coaching job. Lattek
won two more league crowns and a UEFA
Cup at Monchengladbach, before completing
his hat-trick with Barcelona.37
GUUS HIDDINK
In Hiddink’s first match as
a manager in March 1987,
his PSV beat Johan Cruyff’s Ajax
1-0. By May they were celebrating the
second of four straight titles – but the best
came in 1988, with shock European Cup
success. His finest work thereafter came at
international level: taking Holland (1998)
and South Korea (2002) to World Cup semi-
finals; Australia to their first World Cup for 32
years in 2006; and then Russia to the semi-
finals of Euro 2008.36
ZINEDINE ZIDANE
Zidane initially made this
management lark look as
easy as a Champions League final
volley. After taking charge at the Bernabeu
in January 2016, Zizou yawned through
ending Barcelona’s record 39-game
unbeaten league streak by April, then lifted
the first of Madrid’s three consecutive
Champions League trophies – as the first
defending champions since Milan in 1990.
But big egos require a big personality to lead
them. “Zidane made me feel special,”
revealed Cristiano Ronaldo. ’Nuff said, really.“Even if you’re on the right track – if you sit
there, you’ll get run over.”
Jill Ellis wasn’t satisfied when she took over
the US Women’s national team in 2014. They
were Olympic champions, ranked first in the
world and hot favourites to win the World Cup
the following summer in Canada – but their
new manager was unimpressed.
As Ellis saw it, they’d been favourites to win
the past three World Cups, but failed each time
since 1999. What difference does such status
make if you don’t win? The message behind
her pitch had been quite clear several months
earlier, when interviewing for the biggest head
coach role in women’s football.
On her first day at the training ground, Ellis
informed a talented group of players that they
wouldn’t win the next tournament. Not if they
continued to rest on their laurels, anyway. The
hard work was just starting, she said – and if
they bought into her ideas, the US would blow
their competition away.
Ellis soon proved that she was a woman of
her word. The USA bagged back-to-back world
titles under her stewardship, winning at
France 2019 for the most gruelling of them all.
With the quality of women’s football higher
and more competitive than ever
before, the USA’s semi-final
win over England was
particularly edgy, as the
Lionesses squandered a spot-
kick that would have dragged
the game into extra time.
Ellis welcomed the sport’s huge leaps over
recent years – even if it made her life harder.
“The better other countries are, the
better it forces us to be,” she said. “I want
to be in an environment where I’m forced
to work hard to be successful. It makes it
more rewarding.”
While Portsmouth-born in 1966, Ellis
moved to the US with her family at the age
of 15. Her father was a commando and an
FA-licensed coach, and she would watch
from the sidelines as he put the Combined
Services team through its paces at training
every day.
Ellis was inspired by the manner in which
her father communicated with the players,
and his dedication to improving the small
margins that could have a big impact.
Following a successful career playing
college soccer, Ellis dived into management
with the drive that later became her
trademark. Having worked as an assistant
for top university sides, she eventually
joined the US national team’s youth
divisions, travelling the world compiling
scouting dossiers.
Such graft paid dividends when she
landed the USA job in 2014, ready to make
history as the winner of two Women’s
World Cups.
And there ended the journey: Ellis
stepped down in October and was
succeeded by Reign FC boss Vlatko
Andonovski. It’s hard to envy him.GREATEST
MAn AGERS100