Improvisation as a system
“The head coach probably hopes that this new deadline will give him the peace of mind he needs, but it is difficult to understand first of all why he fails to take into account, albeit theoretically, the chances that the team still has, and secondly how he can imagine that people will leave him be all that time.”
Head coach Razvan Lucescu’s resignation from the football national team after the first game in recent years in which the team played coherently, showing balance, a well-organized defence and a good offence, a game that reminded us for a few moments of the games that the golden generation played at the World Cup in 1994, should not come as a surprise for those that carefully watch the Romanian world of football and even the Romanian political life.
Although more than 20 years have passed since the collapse of communism, it is easy to see that personal ego trumps general interest even today. From unification of all ideas and actions in the name of “the national interest,” we have fallen to the other extreme in which ego and the visible disdain for others is considered a standard of power, of personality, of “charisma.” Not even well-intended personalities that start off in good faith, such as Razvan Lucescu, son of the great Romanian player and head coach Mircea Lucescu, are immune from this scourge. In the two years that passed since he took over the team, public opinion and the mass-media in particular did not give him a single moment of peace.
From ironic statements such as “daddy’s boy,” to direct insults coming from where he least expected and to indirect attacks coming from the very leadership of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), the former (and current) Rapid head coach worked in a permanent state of tension, having at his disposal an extended line-up of players whose value was incomparably lower than the value of the “golden generation” whose performances he was asked to emulate immediately. Without having a long and brilliant career behind him, the head coach did not give in and, after two years of work, the results were visible on the pitch. However, instead of being a reason for joy and hope, the game against Bosnia turned out to be nothing but a good opportunity for him to take revenge for all the frustrations and insults accumulated during this time and a new moment of disappointment for us, the fans.
What is the outlook? Not too bad… if we weren’t in Romania. With the professionalism that characterizes it and with which it has astonished us throughout the last 20 years, FRF announced the miracle solution: Gheorghe Hagi. Because we Romanians know how to respect our national values and symbols! Does it matter that the same FRF sacked the same Hagi in 2001 for failure to qualify for the World Cup and Galatasaray had to do the same following the weakest results the team had in recent times?
While Hagi was not a surprise for anyone, the novelty was FRF’s idea to propose Anghel Iordanescu as a “technical director” that would take care of all national teams, including the U21 and U18 teams. FRF once again managed to astonish us, this time with its explanation for the appointment of the two: they were in Bucharest at the time.
It is difficult to say at this moment the role the “technical director” will play at the national team and what his relations with the head coach will be, especially since the two are yet to sign a firm commitment. The certain thing is that the Romanian principle according to which what was done by our predecessors is bad and has to be torn down in order for us to do “the right thing” applies in this case too.
Iordanescu, otherwise the head coach that had the best results in the history of Romanian football (reaching the World Cup quarterfinals in the US in 1994), announced that in case he is appointed technical director the previous goal of qualifying for the EURO 2012 tournament will disappear (!), the new objective: qualifying for the EURO 2016. The head coach probably hopes that this new deadline will give him the peace of mind he needs, but it is difficult to understand first of all why he fails to take into account, albeit theoretically, the chances that the team still has, and secondly how he can imagine that people will leave him be all that time. Like a funny guy stated these days, maybe it would have been better for the qualification objective to be set for the year in which the final episode of the “The Young and the Restless” series will be aired.
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