Different Approaches, Superior Results

PARIS —  “The Wolf” is at the door.

Only one game stands between Mario “Lobo” Zagallo and a return to the World Cup final. Only two victories separate Brazil’s 66-year-old coach from a fifth world championship.

And only three other coaches have a chance to bar that door.

The first is the Netherlands’ Guus Hiddink, whose Dutch team plays the Brazilians in Marseille on Tuesday.

The other two are Croatia’s Miroslav Blazevic and France’s Aime Jacquet, whose teams square off in Paris on Wednesday in the second France ’98 semifinal.

So there they are: Zagallo, Hiddink, Blazevic and Jacquet, the final four whose knowledge and style and personality and experience have carried their countries almost to the pinnacle of the game.

While fans worldwide tend to focus on the players, coaches look for the secrets that have brought the final four this far.

Is it simply the luck of having the right players at the right time or is there something more?

What common traits, if any, do Zagallo and company share?

The first and foremost would appear to be clear and absolute self-belief. All four share a level of confidence that borders on arrogance. Just listen:

“I was not going to pick another big-name player just to make people happy. I don’t like making other people happy. I like to make myself happy.”

That was Zagallo, explaining his team selection.

And from Jacquet: “On July 13, I will bid farewell to the French team after a last lap of honor the day before in the Stade de France after France’s victory . . . When I accepted the job, I said I would prepare for and win the World Cup.”

Of course, saying it and doing it are two different things, but there is something else the final four coaches have in common. All four are devotees of stylish, attacking soccer. Not for them the dull defensive tactics of, say, an Italy, or the predictable long-ball offense of Norway.

“We try to play as offensively as possible,” Hiddink said of the Dutch approach. “We try to keep our opponents away from our own goal.”

Blazevic outlined his philosophy in an interview with England’s FourFourTwo magazine shortly before the European Championship in 1996.

“Croatia believes in taking the game to our opponents while not being guilty of tactical naivete at the rear,” he said. “It has always been my belief that we should not be shackled by negative tactics that can make football a bore to spectators.”

The four coaches are separated in age by 15 years. At 66, Zagallo is the oldest, but Blazevic is not far behind at 61. Jacquet is 57 and the “youngster” is Hiddink, 51.

Their experience as players varies equally widely.

Zagallo won the World Cup as a teammate of Pele in 1958 and 1962. He won again as coach in 1970 and as technical director in 1994.

In a sense, he still thinks and acts like a player. Whereas Blazevic and Hiddink lean toward the jacket-and-tie look, Jacquet and Zagallo are seen on the sideline in track suits, almost as if they are ready to run onto the field and show the players what needs to be done.

Zagallo, no doubt, could do so, but Jacquet had an undistinguished career as a player.

Hiddink, in fact, is the only one besides the Brazilian who played at a reasonable level, even if he never was selected for the Dutch national team.

He was a midfielder in Holland with several clubs and also enjoyed a spell in the old North American Soccer League with the late-lamented Washington Diplomats and San Jose Earthquakes. In San Jose, he played alongside George Best, whom he still regards as one of the finest players of all time.

As a coach, Hiddink’s greatest achievement until now came in winning the Dutch League and the Dutch Cup three times apiece with PSV Eindhoven, a club he coached to the European Cup title in 1988.

An avid golfer away from soccer, he is a no-nonsense coach who is unafraid to make unpopular decisions, although he does listen to player input. His best move before World Cup ’98 was to add to his staff a trio of former top-level players as assistant coaches.

One reason for the more harmonious mood than usual in the Dutch camp during the tournament has been the presence of former international standouts Johan Neeskens, Ronald Koeman and Frank Rijkaard.

Zagallo, too, has some depth on his bench, even though former World Cup star Zico was more or less foisted upon him as an assistant coach after Brazil’s debacle in the Gold Cup in the U.S. in February.

The two have squabbled at times but appear to have achieved a working relationship.

Blazevic and Jacquet, meanwhile, rule their own roost and little is heard from any assistant coaches.

Blazevic, a close friend of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, gained his coaching experience in various European leagues. Whereas Hiddink coached in Spain and Turkey as well as his own country, Blazevic’s travels took him to France, Switzerland and Greece.

In France, the experience was less than comfortable. Implicated in the Olympique Marseille bribery scandal, he spent 17 days in prison--”a nightmarish period in my life”--before being cleared. Croatia stood by him, however, and he now is poised to make his team the first Eastern European side to reach the World Cup final in 36 years, since Czechoslovakia in 1962.

Not that defeating France is a given. Quite the contrary. Jacquet has spent years building a team that is exactly that. He was roundly criticized when his early results were negative.

The outrage was even louder when he ignored such self-proclaimed stars as Eric Cantona and David Ginola, but Jacquet knew what he was doing.

Now he is one victory away from achieving what no other French coach has done--reaching the World Cup final. Unlike Blazevic, Hiddink and Zagallo, he has had to perform under the increasingly intense scrutiny of the home press and public watching and second-guessing his every move. The pressure has been enormous, but Jacquet has held up well.

“You need a bit of luck in an adventure like the World Cup,” he said after Italy had been defeated in the quarterfinals. “I knew it would not be easy.”

Now, France expects nothing less than to see Jacquet with the World Cup trophy in his hands on July 12. The once-indifferent French fans are all aboard the bandwagon.

But Jacquet might remind them of something Hiddink said when the Netherlands suffered a setback on the road to France: “I find the whole circus around us fine, but too much enthusiasm and optimism is dangerous,” the Dutch coach said.

And in any case, even if Croatia is beaten, France might still find the way to the championship blocked.

“The Wolf” might still be at the door.