“You are free to decide what you think is best”. It was in this way that Fernando Santos offered the position of coach during last Tuesday’s meeting with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). And Fernando Gomes decided to end a connection with eight years and two trophies (Euro 2016 and League of Nations 2019), despite being told by the coach that he felt he was “able to continue” in charge of the selection and given that the animosity with Cristiano Ronaldo would be “surpassable”.
The departure came after 109 matches, 67 wins, 23 draws and 19 defeats, accelerated by the events in Qatar. Not so much because of the elimination in the quarter-finals, against Morocco, but because of not taking full advantage of the best generation Portugal has ever had, because of the growing pressure on the coach’s relationship with some players and this public rebuke on a global scale that Cristiano Ronaldo, with whom he had a heated conversation in the middle of the 2022 World Cup.
As soon as Portugal bid farewell to the World Cup, the coach said that “the word resignation” was not included in his “lexicon”, but promised a meeting with Fernando Gomes to assess the future. What happened Tuesday. Since then, the parties have had to deal with the termination of the contract announced on Thursday. He had been a coach since October 2014 and had a contract until 2024, so the departure is friendly and entitled to part of his annual salary of 2,250 million euros.
“After one of the national team’s best ever participations in the closing stages of the World Championship in Qatar, the FPF and Fernando Santos understand that now is the right time to start a new cycle,” read the statement in with which the federation thanks the coach for the services rendered during “eight years”, believing that the thanks are “also made on behalf of the Portuguese”: Thank you Fernando Santos.
Pepe: “Thank you for your work, for your leadership, for your commitment. For the joys and victories in these years. Thank you for serving Portuguese football and Portugal in an excellent way.”
2014: “I Stay Long”
Thus, the Santos era came to an end. No coach has been on the national bench for so long. Fernando Santos took charge of the Rubra Verde team in September 2014replacing Paulo Bento in the technical lead, after the failure of this World Cup in Brazil.
The “engineer” – nickname earned for having a degree in electronic engineering and telecommunications – had a heavy punishment on his back, having been expelled from school during the 2014 World Cup, for insulting a referee while coaching Greece but that didn’t stop Fernando Gomes bet on him to lead the Portuguese team. For that reason, the engineer was indebted to the federative leader, who allowed him to be humble enough to put the future in his hands and thus open the way out.
In the presentation, Santos warned that he would “stay long” … and he stayed for eight years (!), making the roster and trophies technically stable for the Museum of the Federation. The ‘stubborn moderate’, as Fernando Santos calls himself, did not have it easy at first. He opted for a kind of silent revolution, mainly about the recovery of players like Tiago (he had resigned from the national team and returned) or the outcasts Ricardo Quaresma and Danny.
He made his debut as a coach against Didier Deschamps’ France (2-1 defeat), on October 11, 2014, in Paris, at the Stade de France, the stadium where he returned two years later to win Euro 2016. Without Ronaldo (he was injured early in the game), it was a goal from the “ugly duckling” Eder, in the 109th minute, that reserved a place for him in history.
“When you lead groups you have to make difficult decisions, that’s normal. Not everyone was happy with the choices I made. But the ones I made always thought of the best for the national team.”
Moments that illustrated the farewell message that Fernando Santos recorded and in which he confessed “the enormous privilege” it was to be national coach. He then thanked all the players “without exception” with whom he worked, the technical team that now accompanies him on his way out, the staff and in particular Fernando Gomes and the Portuguese: “From now on I will be one of the many millions who vibrate and support the national team”I will be as always with body and soul, not on the field, but in the stands and wherever I am, singing our national anthem and wishing the team of all of us to bring us much joy.”
Santos also touched on the less good side of it all: “When you lead groups you have to make difficult decisions, that’s normal. Not everyone was happy with the choices I made. But the ones I made always thought of the best for the national team.” One of them left Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench in the match against Switzerland, prompting an argument with the captain, who, as soon as he left Doha, asked each of them to “draw their conclusions”. And that’s what the FPF coach and president did.
Despite the pursuit of the world title in Qatar, the squad remained in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, after losing to Morocco (1-0). And if it’s true that the Portuguese haven’t come this far since 2006 (they stayed in eighth place in 2010 and 2018, and in the group stage in 2014), then it’s also true that their performance was disappointing at the 2018 World Cup , in Euro 2020 and in the recent qualifying for the playoff final of the League of Nations, for example.
With Fernando Santos Ilídio Vale (national coach), João Costa, Ricardo Santos (assistant coach), Jorge Rosário (assistant coach), Fernando Justino (goalkeeper coach).
Eder: “Sir, thank you for your patience and for the trust you place in me. Thank you for helping Portugal win the 2 most important titles in its history. The best of life for you.”
Who follows? Mourinho?
The FPF board ended Fernando Santos’s farewell statement saying that “he will now begin the process of choosing the next national coach”. Names abound. José Mourinho (AS Roma), Jorge Jesus (Fenerbahçe), Abel Ferreira (Palmeiras), Leonardo Jardim (Al Ahli), Bruno Lage (free). Some more sought after than others and not all free.
The one wanted by Fernando Gomes is Jose Mourinho🇧🇷 Already in 2012, after the departure of Paulo Bento, then-president Fernando Madaíl approached him to accumulate the position of coach of Real Madrid in the selection, but the club said no. And later Mourinho admitted that “it wouldn’t be very ethical” to accept. Now the special one he remains busy and completely seduced by AS Roma and with the aim of becoming champions until 2024. This Thursday, upon arrival in the Algarve, where the Italians will train before returning to the competition, the coach smiled at the questions about the selection and he did not want to speak to journalists.
At the moment the federative structure outlines the desired profile, who knows, the DN will have full powers to reformulate the entire football project of the selections🇧🇷 The chosen one may not be known until 2023. The FPF has room to come to the best solution, because the selection will only have matches again in March and the planning for Euro 2024 was still done by the now former voter. And with this certainty: Fernando Santos and the Portuguese will always have Paris!
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Ricardo Quaresma (@ricardoquaresmaoficial)
Source: DN
