The Managerial Swansongs We'll See At This Summer’s World Cup

Here’s a World Cup stat you won’t see anywhere else, mainly because it takes ages to work out for little reward, but the 32 coaches barking out orders on the touchline at this summer’s tournament have 666 years of managerial experience between them at club and international level. That is both mightily impressive and plain spooky.

Of that number exactly 150 of those years come courtesy of just five veteran bosses and it is these men we concentrate on here, for this June potentially represents their final flourish on the big stage as encroaching years sees them demoted back into the realms of club football. After collectively winning silverware on every continent, gaining the respect of their peers, and creating fabulous teams across three decades this could well be their swansong.

For Oscar Tabarez a setting sun in Russia may not beckon in a return to domestic affairs but rather outright retirement. At 71 the legendary figure has been seen using a walking stick and mobility scooter around the training ground of late, a result of worsening chronic neuropathy, and after twelve years in charge of Uruguay (fourteen if you include a first stint in the late eighties) it’s fair to suggest that it would be a well-earned rest.

Hugely respected across South America ‘El Maestro’ has actually won surprisingly little during his 38 years in the dug-out (or more accurately less than imagined) but a fourth place finish in South Africa, 2010 and a Copa America triumph twelve months later – both with la celeste - has ensured he need never again buy a grappamiel in Montevideo.

By some distance the longest-serving gaffer at this year’s tournament the man who is always good for a soundbite has crafted a team fancied by many to go far in Russia due to the addition of creativity in midfield to supply the feared Suarez/Cavani partnership up front.   

With a face chiseled from dynamited granite and the hardest stare in football it would take a brave man to tell Hector Cuper that his career is on a downward trajectory but a series of underwhelming tenures in Greece, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates makes the claim incontestable. For a six-year period at the turn of the century the no-nonsense Argentinian was at the top of his game, stunning Europe with an over-achieving Mallorca before presiding over a Valencia team that briefly threatened La Liga’s duopoly. A mixed spell at Inter followed and it is disheartening looking back on the final day defeat for i Nerazzurri that denied them a Scudetto – not to mention consecutive Champions League final losses with Valencia – and recall how close Cuper came to securing a peerless legacy. It would take someone utterly insane however to tell him he’s a nearly man.

Cuper takes the finest Egyptian side for many a year to Russia and, Salah or not, they will be typically hard to break down.

When the always inscrutable Bert Van Marwijk was parachuted into the Australia job in January following the shock resignation of Ange Postecoglou it was purely on a short-term basis with the tournament in mind. This then represents a perfect opportunity to put himself in the shop window and remind the world of his abilities after his four-year spell as Holland boss eventually turned sour while a subsequent term with Hamburg was a disaster from the off.

Having left his gig with Saudi Arabia due to a contract dispute mere weeks after getting them qualified the experienced Dutchman is in the unique position of having two of his teams competing in the World Cup this month but only being able to take credit for one. Unfortunately for him it’s the other - the Socceroos – who reside in arguably the most unpredictable of groups.

In group B another sexagenarian will be looking to enjoy a final fling only in Fernando Santos’ case it is the advancing years of his players that suggest the story is nearly written rather than his own seasoned vintage. The evergreen pragmatist certainly has nothing to prove going into the tournament having guided Portugal to Euro success in 2016 but with Ronaldo, Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Fonte, and Moutinho all having one eye on their pension fund Santos will know that its realistically now or never for the Navigators to achieve their ultimate goal.

Of course the Portuguese national side will rebuild itself but will a 63-year-old – even one as robust as Santos – have the energy to last that course?

Lastly, there is the white-haired, slim figure of Jose Pekerman, the second oldest of the managerial Cocoon club and a hero in Colombia for steering them to the quarterfinals in Brazil 2014. Granted citizen status in gratitude the native Argentinian is expected to step down at the tournament’s conclusion and will leave behind a side in far better shape in which he found it. Though retirement is an option don’t discount a club job in the country where he is known as ‘Superman’.