Hamad Bahrouh
Whenever the public or media assess a particular competition, tournament or even a statistic they look at the most famous name or perhaps best performer. That in turn gives the winning team and best coach of the year. Along the decades we have seen masterful tacticians like Lippi, Zico, Zagallo and Beckenbauer, who stirred teams to World Cup victory and in Zico’s case won the Asian Cup in 2004 with Japan.
However there is surely one very underrated coach in the Middle East, operating under the radar. That coach is Bruno Metsu. He might not be a Guus Hiddink or a Sir Alex Ferguson, his resume might not even be as eye catching as Jose Mourinho’s, but in his own way he has an impressive record of colourful achievement in guiding smaller nations and clubs to success.
Born on 28th January 1954 in the small town of Dunkerque, France, Metsu was not a very successful player but did have a short career with Belgian giants Anderlecht, as well as a few other French clubs notably Valenciennes, Lille and Nice. As a young coach he took up coaching posts at a few French teams starting with the last club he served as a player, Beauvais Oise. Once again Metsu had small stints with Valenciennes and Lille as well as Sedan but they were deemed unsuccessful. That is when the young French coach decided to go international and manage the Guinean national team in 2000.
Another short stay saw him proceed to Senegal and that’s when his stock started to rise like never before. Senegal topped their World Cup Qualifying campaign in style with 15 points from eight games in what was without a doubt the group of death, with Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and underdogs Namibia. As group winners they punched their ticket to 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup and fate awaited them when they were drawn into a group with 1998 World Champions France, Euro 92 winners Denmark, and South American giants Uruguay led on the pitch by a certain Alvaro Recoba.
Back then in 2002 who would have thought that Metsu's Senegal would stun the world champions on the opening day through a Papa Dioup goal that led to the slimmest of victories against mighty France. Senegal ended as group runners-up with a total of five points and qualified for the Round of 16 to take on Henrik Larsson’s Sweden. A double by Henri Camara, one in extra-time, sent Senegal to the final eight and the entire world knew who Bruno Metsu was.
Even though Senegal did lose to eventual third placed Turkey, Metsu had taken an unknown African side to its first World Cup and led them to within touching distance of a semi-final berth. A berth which has still never been occupied by any African team.
Following his World Cup success, Metsu was attracted by the oil riches of the Middle East and got his time in that region off to a flying start by making United Arab Emirate side Al Ain Champions of Asia in 2003 and completing the double by winning their domestic league. For quite some time Metsu seemed to rock back and forth in the Persian Gulf. His next stop included another trophy, this time in the form of the Qatari League with champions Al-Gharaffa, part of the credit also goes to the Bahraini brothers Alla’ and Mohammed Hubail who had 24 goals in between them that year.
Bruno Metsu then tried to work his magic with Saudi giants Al- Ittihad, but even he could not make them rise from their then recent slump.
In 2006, the Frenchman took over the reins of the United Arab Emirates national team and gave the 800,000 UAE citizens something to cheer about. 35 years after the introduction of the Gulf Cup, the UAE won it for the first time in their history after defeating Oman in the final. However, the fairytale was not to continue for Metsu as he was sacked a mere two years later following poor results in the 2007 Asian Cup finals, which included two losses to hosts Vietnam and Japan.
Qatar moved to appoint Metsu coach in 2008 with the aim of reaching World Cup in 2010. A 3-0 demolition of Uzbekistan in their first qualification game, followed by a draw with Bahrain gave the Qataris false hope of making the World Cup for their first ever time. And four games later they sit at the basement of their group following four successive losses. However, at the time of writing it appears the Qatari FA are still keeping faith with Metsu to see if he can clinch third place in the group and qualify via the playoffs.
In some people’s eyes Metsu may be deemed a failure but Senegal and the UAE would probably laugh at that statement, as will supporters of Al Ain and Al Gharaffa. His trophy cabinet might not be as big as Sir Alex Ferguson or Marcello Lippi, but Metsu is not finished yet and has achieved success in a region where coaches often receive unrealistic expectations and short spells to make them a reality.
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