It is not yet two months since Europe crowned an unexpected new champion, Portugal.
It is also just over nine weeks since Chile, by collecting a second successive Copa America, made it plain that anybody assessing the hierarchy of South American football must now automatically think beyond what used to be known as the “Big Two”, Argentina and Brazil.
International football returns to the calendar this week, its landscape much altered in the course of a summer. Several countries concerned that it has become a topsy-turvy landscape have taken the precaution of arranging friendlies today to warm them up for the imminent World Cup qualifiers.
The Netherlands play Greece at home. Both these former European champions contrived to not qualify for Euro 2016, a tournament that did its very best to be as inclusive as possible by expanding its finals to 24 teams.
The Dutch and the Greeks have endured a tricky period of much managerial confusion.
Charged with steering a Holland who finished third at the last World Cup to Russia 2018 is Danny Blind, who would be forgiven for feeling it is lonely job. He has lost two assistant coaches this summer, Dick Advocaat jumping ship to take up an offer from Fenerbahce, and Marco van Basten agreeing to work with Fifa rather than the Netherlands.
Greece, who have slipped outside the top 50 in the Fifa world rankings, have the former Germany assistant coach, Michael Skibbe as manager, the fourth different occupant of the job in less than two years. He survived a defeat to Luxembourg on his debut last October but has so far found a winning habit hard to cultivate.
New managers are everywhere. Several make their bows for leading European nations this evening.
Roberto Martinez is an intriguing appointment by the Belgian Football Association to succeed Marc Wilmots, who left the post once Belgium had been eliminated by Wales at the quarter-finals of Euro 2016. Martinez made his reputation in England, with Swansea City, Wigan Athletic and Everton, who he left at the end of last season.
Ahead of his first game as an international manager, he spoke of the distinct challenges. “At a club you have 60 training sessions ahead of your opening game. Here you get three,” he said. And in his case the debut opposition were, said Martinez “the best, or one of the best teams in the world”.
Belgium play Martinez’s native country Spain, who in the past 26 months have been deposed as world champions and then European champions.
Their new man on the bench is Julen Lopetegui, who – like Martinez with Everton – looks back on his last club job with mixed emotions. He achieved some notable results in charge of Porto, notably a win over Bayern Munich – the Germans then pounded Porto in the return leg of that Uefa Champions League tie – but was dismissed by the Portuguese club in January.
The strengths of his candidacy to take over Spain from Vicente del Bosque, who quit after a disappointing Euro 2016, lay in his record with the country’s Under 21 and U19 teams. He knows many of the players he will now work with from there.
What Lopetegui is not is a heavily-medalled, high-profile manager. Nor is England’s new manager, Sam Allardyce. There are simply fewer managerial superstars around international football than there used to be.
Take Italy’s new man in charge, Giampiero Ventura, whose first game as successor to Antonio Conte is tonight’s prestigious friendly against France. Ventura is 68 and has had a long career spread across various Italian clubs, though the biggest of them was Napoli, and they were in Serie C at the time.
Fact is, the better known Italian managers are in club football, at places such as Bayern Munich and Chelsea, or Watford or Leicester City.
Ventura’s task by mid-2018 is to earn the sort of wide respect for himself a Carlo Ancelotti or a Conte commands.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
