For the full 90 minutes plus stoppage time and potential shootouts, everyone tuning into the 2022 World Cup will be glued to the players. Their fitness to remain effective late in the game, as well as their ability to create chances will be analyzed for weeks to come, and in the months to come when all is said and done.
While the performance of players on the pitch is the most important, the decisions made by the managers on the sideline will help put the athletes in the best position to be successful.
These choices could involve knowing when to insert a fresh substitute into the game, how to deploy formations to enhance the skill set of the club, or which order to send out players in a penalty shootout. There are a lot of ways in which a manager can affect the outcome of a match, good or bad.
We’ll take a look at which managers will be under the most scrutiny during the 2022 World Cup.
Didier Deschamps
France enters the World Cup tournament as the defending champions, with soccer betting odds online favoring them at +500. They won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, defeating Croatia in the final match in front of a crowd of over 78,000 people. By the same token, they’ll have a great chance to repeat the victory in 2022, thanks to their elite talent in the midfield and at forward.
French national team head coach Didier Deschamps is no stranger to success at the game’s most prominent tournament and is also familiar with the expectations that come with defending a crown. He was a midfielder on the 1998 team that won the World Cup and was the head coach of the squad that won in Russia. It’s a pretty neat feat for anyone to lead his team to national glory as a player and coach.
France did not end up defending their title in 2002, as they didn’t even make it out of the group stage that year. It would be shocking for them to have the same thing happen in 2022, but Deschamps will be tasked with keeping the team hungry in order to give themselves a chance to repeat this time around.
Roberto Martinez
Whether it’s been the Euro Cup or the World Cup, there’s been a lot of attention paid to the Belgian national team as legitimate contenders to win the tournament. It makes sense, considering that their main players are considered to be part of a “golden generation” unlike anything fans of Belgium soccer have seen in recent history. They have some of the best players in the world at every level of the field.
Despite this immense talent, Belgium has not been able to get it done when it has mattered most. They advance deep into major tournaments without much of a hiccup, but then falter when the match needs to be put away.
Once again, Belgium comes into a World Cup with very high hopes, and it’ll be up to Roberto Martinez to get the most out of a loaded squad. He’s been the manager of the national team since 2016, and has had a front row seat for a lot of the shortcomings. While his tactical ability will be important, Martinez’s ultimate value might come as a motivator who will need to get his team in the right mindset in the knockout stage.
Tite
There are a lot of strong teams in this year’s World Cup field, but perhaps no one is better suited to win it all than Brazil. The country has been a soccer powerhouse for many decades, and will look to bring another trophy back home, 20 years after their last World Cup win.
When fans take a look up and down Brazil’s roster, it’s hard to think that the team has any chance of going down earlier than the semi-finals. The team is comprised of players who play on the top clubs all over the world, from Juventus to Real Madrid to Manchester United. There’s a reason why people point to Brazil as the center of the soccer universe, as their players play with tremendous skill and impressive flair.
This will be on full display for the world to see, and head coach Tite will have an all-star team at his disposal with which to work. Brazil has two of the ten best players in the tournament with Neymar and Thiago Silva, and many other qualified players up and down the pitch.
Similar to Deschamps, it will be up to Tite to convince his team that they have a chance of losing if they don’t give maximum effort, and to take every game seriously. Tite will also have to ensure that the egos of all the participants are held in check, and that everyone works together as a team.
