the World Cup – FP’s worst nightmare

I say this because for Florentino Pérez, the majority of the players/coaches he removed from Real Madrid did extremely well at the 2010 World Cup, while the players/coaches he pampered and brought in did very poorly.

Let’s look at the coaches first.  Vicente del Bosque was of course famously let go in 2003, despite winning two Ligas and two Champions Leagues, for not being “glamorous” enough.  He won the World Cup for Spain a couple of days ago.  The more glamorous Carlos Queiroz was brought in to replace del Bosque at Madrid, but his time at Madrid was a disaster, along with his management of Portugal at the World Cup this year.

And then we have the players.  Fernando Hierro, the former Madrid defender who was “fired” along with del Bosque, won with Spain the World Cup this year as the sporting director of the RFEF.  The Dutch team, full of players discarded by FP – Wesley Snejider, Arjen Robben, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – made it to the final of the World Cup, with Snejider and Robben putting in brilliant performances for their country.  Sneijder ended up winning the Bronze Boot, and shared the title as the tournament’s top goalscorer.  Gonzalo Higuaín, signed during Ramón Calderón’s reign and with one foot out of Madrid on more than one occasion, also put in some impressive performances.

Meanwhile, the Madrid players signed by FP – Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo – both had dismal performances as their countries crashed out.  FP’s third big signing of 2009, Karim Benzema, didn’t even make the French squad.  The newest signing, Ángel di María, also failed to impress.  FP’s only “successes” in the World Cup were Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso, both starters on the Spanish squad.  And of course, FP can’t take credit for the brilliant success that is Iker Casillas.