DOHA: Qatar’s Asian Cup winning coach Felix Sanchez has been included in a shortlist for the greatest tacticians of the tournament’s history by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The official website of the Asian governing body yesterday listed the spaniard among 10 masterminds behind the Asian title victories.
“They are Asian football’s great managers, motivators and masterminds,” the AFC website said. In the 64-year history of the tournament, only 16 men have won the AFC Asian Cup as a head coach, with countless other talented tacticians trying, and failing, to get their hands on Asian football’s greatest prize.
Sanchez guided Qatar to their maiden Asian title as Al Annabi produced a superb month of football to claim a dominant maiden title in the United Arab Emirates last year.
In the first ever 24-team AFC Asian Cup, the Qatari team was untouchable – winning all seven of their matches, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one as Almoez Ali and Akram Afif dazzled the Continent with a series of brilliant performances.
With Asian glory achieved, Sanchez is now tasked with leading Qatar at their first FIFA World Cup, which the West Asian will host in 2022.
The rest of the 10-men list also includes Mohammad Ranjbar who is the first and only Iranian coach to win the AFC Asian Cup on foreign soil and Heshmat Mohajerani who guided his team to a brilliant win in 1972 and won all of their four matches without conceding a single goal during their success on home soil four years later.
Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira, who won the title two times with Kuwait (1980) and Saudi Arabia (1988), Ange Postecoglou who tasted the title win with Australia in 2015, Brazil’s Zico, the mastermind behind Japan’s win in 2004, are also included in the list.
Philippe Troussier, who won the tournament with Japan in 2000, Italian Alberto Zaccheroni who led Japan to victory in 2011 and Khalil Al Zayani, Saudi Arabia’s first ever native head coach who led the team to victory in 1984, also made it to the list. (Source: AFC)
