Euro 2008 Coach Rankings, One to Sixteen

1. Guus Hiddink (Dutch) Russia


OK so he failed to get past the semi-finals again. But to take Russia that far is still hugely impressive. To take them that far playing positive attacking football even more so. He might be the bridesmaid again, but he’s the hot bridesmaid every other nation wants to marry. Euro 2008 confirmed Hiddink as the best international manager there is.

2. Fatih Terim (Turkish) Turkey


Turkey’s comebacks weren’t just luck. Most of the time it was down to Terim’s intervention from the touchline, mostly timing the introduction of Semih Şentürk to perfection. And to conjure up that semifinal performance against Germany with half his team (or more) missing spells out inspiration. All that, plus the bravado to wear an open neck shirt in the 21st Century. No wonder he’s the Imparator.

3. Luis Aragonés (Spanish) Spain


He may be a crazy old man and a bit of a racist, but Aragonés bold decision to leave Raul in Madrid, his leniency with young Bojan and his determination to stick with his first XI has resulted in the Spanish jinx being broken. Win or lose in the final, he’s put together the first Spain team in 24 years that wasn’t a total letdown.

4. Slaven Bilić (Croatian) Croatia


Desperately unlucky to wave goodbye at the quarterfinal stage, Bilić’s team played some sweet attacking football and won over many many neutrals. Croatia have been a bit out-of-sight out-of-mind since their exit, but when the dust settles we can look back on an excellent showing, with Bilić at the heart of it. Bonus points for the Fiery Madness song.

5. Jogi Löw (German) Germany


It’s always tough for the assistant to step up and replace the master, but Löw’s performance in charge of the Mannschaft has erased any lingering longings for Jürgen Klinsmann. Though Germany have stuttered (vs Croatia and Turkey) they’re in the final, and any manager who can organize a team to beat Portugal and then retire to the stands to pick his nose must be doing something right.

6. Marco van Basten (Dutch) Netherlands


It was all looking so good! MvB did the smart thing and went into Euro 2008 argument free. Hatchets were buried with Ruud van Nistelrooy and the likes of Mark van Bommel and Clarence Seedorf were absent. And despite being third favourites in the Group of Death, the Netherlands emerged as the dominant force by crushing the 2006 World Cup finalists 7-1 on aggregate. But when push came to shove, MvB’s 4-2-3-1 tactics were too inflexible and Guus Hiddink made him pay.

7. Josef Hickersberger (Austrian) Austria


The much prophesized Austrian dump in their own living room never materialized, and Hickersberger has to take much of the credit. On paper, Austria were easily the worst team involved in Euro 2008, but Hickersberger’s young team put in three gutsy performances didn’t even finish bottom of Group B.

8. Big Phil Scolari (Brazilian) Portugual


Two games in it looked like Portugal were building up a head of steam. But then Big Phil made two crucial errors. One: he rested players for the final group game. Two: he allowed Chelsea to publicly reveal he was taking Roman’s millions. Portugal never recovered and Germany crushed them in the quarterfinal.

9. Victor Piţurcă (Romanian) Romania


I’d forgotten what he looked like to be honest. Talk about low profile. Drawn in the Group of Death, Romania’s chances were never great. But a 2004-Greece-like defensive performance against France earned a respectable 0-0 draw and then a Mutu-led attack on Italy very nearly produced a victory. In fact, Romania were only an excellent Gigi Buffon save short of having four points from their first two Group C games. But Piţurcă sort of lost his bottle and failed to take it to Netherland’s B team in the final game, and Italy pipped them to second spot. Still, third place in the Group of Death is a respectable result.

10. Kobi Kuhn (Swiss) Switzerland


The friendly grandfather looking Swiss coach overcame both personal and footballing problems to give Switzerland a respectable Euro 2008. Far from embarrassed, Swiss fans will be left thinking what might have been had Alex Frei not pulled up injured in the first half of the first game, and if any of Tomas Ujfalusi’s fifty handballs in the box been awarded as a penalty. The young squad still signed off with an impressive 2-0 win over Portugal, giving the co-hosts three points and some happy memories.

11. Lars Lagerbäck (Swedish) Sweden


The decision to bring back Henrik Larsson doesn’t look so great in hindsight. Henrik 2008 wasn’t Henrik 2004. And brilliant as Zlatan Ibrahimovic is (and he really is) there didn’t seem like much of a gameplan beyone “hope Zlatan does something cool” (can you picture that on the chalkboard in the Swedish dressing room?) Not sure how much of that over-reliance is Lagerbäck’s fault, but he definitely could have added a few more strings to his bow if he’d been willing to let Kim Kallstrom out to play.

12. Karel Brückner (Czech) Czech Republic


End of the international road for the veteran Czech coach. He’ll be remembered fondly for his work in the last few years, but didn’t really get it right here. Tomáš Rosický pulling a sicky didn’t help, but Brückner got it wrong by insisting on one up front without deciding who that one should be. He cycled randomly through Jan Koller, Václav Svěrkoš and Milan Baros as Czech Republic won unconvincingly against Switzerland then lost the next two.

13. Leo Beenhakker (Dutch) Poland


Number thirteen, unlucky for some. But not as unlucky as Poland’s offside trap, which was like like a Marx brothers film. And though Austria may have Howard Webb to thank for that penalty, Poland also have Webb to thank for not spotting that their only goal was actually offside. Beenhakker led Poland straight to the bottom of Group B. Behind Austria.

14. Otto Rehhagel (German) Greece


Otto attempted to recreate Euro 2004: defend deep, bore everyone and score on set pieces. But Euro 2008 was a more open and attacking beast and Greece’s negative approach fell woefully short. The defending champs went home with three defeats.

15. Roberto Donadoni (Italian) Italy


Looked out of his depth from the first kick and made some dreadful decisions. Any coach that prefers Massimo Ambrosini to Daniele de Rossi and an decrepit Marco Materazzi to a fully functional Giorgio Chiellini is going to run into problems at some point. And while Donadoni scraped through to the quarterfinals, his defend deep and hit long balls to an out of form Luca Toni tactic against Spain was woefully ineffectual. He may deserve some sympathy, but the Italian Football Federation knew a disaster when they saw it and have moved quickly to put things right.

16. Raymond Domenech (French) France


Any other year, Roberto Donadoni would have finished bottom of these rankings. But wooden spoon has to go to Ray-Ray Domenech for a series of insane decisions. No Phillipe Mexes? An injured Patrick Vieira over a healthy and in-form Mathieu Flamini? No David Trezeguet? Samir Nasri on for 14 minutes and then off again? Using the lucky dip technique to pick strikers? Thuram? !*$#ing Astrology!?! Really? With all the talent at Domenech’s disposal they should have been challenging for honours at Euro 2008, not losing 4-1 to the Netherlands and finishing below Romania in Group C.