The second round of the World Cup 2018 qualifiers will get underway from tomorrow. There are many interesting fixtures lined up with Italy set to go head to head against 2010 World Champions Spain.
England play Malta, under caretaker manager Gareth Southgate, after Sam Allardyce was let go off by the English FA.
Here we take a look at five international managers who will be looked at under the microscope in the coming round of fixtures:
#5 Roberto Martinez – Belgium
There is no doubting that Roberto Martinez is a manager of high pedigree. The success that he had at clubs like Swansea and Wigan Athletic are really commendable. But his time at Everton ended in a disappointing note and resulted in him getting the sack.
Taking over the Belgium national team from Marc Wilmots, the Spaniard began his international journey with a 2-0 loss against Spain in a friendly game in Brussels, but won his first competitive game 3-0 away against Cyprus in the Group H qualifier tie.
Romelu Lukaku scored a brace against Cyprus and the manager will be hoping for a similar performance from the Everton player.
Martinez will be looking to carry the momentum from that victory as his side face Bosnia and Herzegovina at home followed by an away game against Gibraltar. With one of the most talented squads in the world football at his disposal, Martinez is expected to deliver in a big way for the Belgium national team.
#4 Danny Blind – Netherlands
After failing to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016, Netherlands and their manager Danny Blind are under huge pressure to make it to the 2018 mega event in Russia. Blind took over the managerial role from Guus Hiddink and has had a disappointing start with the Dutch national team as he has led the Oranje Army to 5 losses and 2 draws in 13 games.
There has been discontent expressed towards the 55-year old ever since he took over an ailing squad and the 1-1 draw against Sweden in the first round of qualifiers will not have done any good to his confidence or the team’s morale.
With no Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie, he will have to count on the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Georginio Wijnaldum to step up and help out the team as they gear up to face Belarus on 7th of October and EURO 2016 finalists France on the 11th of October.
#3 Julen Lopetegui – Spain
It is the dawn of a new era for 2010 World Cup winners Spain as they prepare for life after Vicente Del Bosque. The former Real Madrid manager had led the Spain national team to three consecutive titles with victories in EURO 2008, the World Cup in 2010 and the EURO 2012.
However, the team somewhat lost its way as they lost to Brazil in the 2013 Confederations Cup, followed by a group stage exit in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They failed to impress at the recently concluded Euros as well, with Italy defeating the Spaniards 2-0 in the round of 16 stage, following which Del Bosque stepped down.
Lopetegui, who has worked with Spanish youth teams, had impressed in his brief time with F.C Porto. He started his international management with a friendly victory against Belgium, followed by an 8-0 thrashing of Liechtenstein in the first round of qualifiers as talismanic Chelsea striker Diego Costa scored a double along with Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata.
The new Spanish manager will face his biggest test till date as his team face Italy and will be hoping for vengeance following their EURO 2016 exit at the hands of the Italians. The Spaniards will then take on Albania who defeated Macedonia 2-1 in their first fixture.
#2 Giampiero Ventura – Italy
Antonio Conte was another high-profile exit after the EURO 2016 ended as he took on managerial duties at Chelsea. Conte was replaced by former Torino manager Giampiero Ventura as the manager of the Italian national team and is widely regarded as the right man to take the Azzurri forward.
The 68-year old is similar to Conte in many ways in his tactical approach and the players will find it easy to fit in under the new boss. He kicked-off his Italy career with a 3-1 loss to France in a friendly but followed it up with a 3-1 victory against a lowly Israel side in the qualifiers.
With Spain up next, Ventura will know his team will be up against it from the start and will hope that his players show the same flair as they did in the EURO 2016 dismantling of the Spaniards. After the clash against Spain, the Azzurri will take on Macedonia, a match they are expected to win easily.
Ventura has gone in without controversial striker Mario Balotelli in the squad, who has been in impressive form for OGC Nice scoring 6 goals in 5 appearances for the French side, and will hope that his strikers won’t let Super Mario’s absence be felt.
#1 Gareth Southgate – England
England football and controversy seem to go hand in hand. After a group stage exit at the 2014 World Cup and a round of 16 exit in the EURO 2016 against minnows Iceland, fans had hoped that things would take a turn for the better under new manager Sam Allardyce.
‘Big Sam’ is highly thought of in footballing circles and was expected to leave a mark in the biggest job of his managerial career.
And he began with a 1-0 victory against Slovakia thanks to an injury-time winner by Adam Lallana. But soon enough, things started unravelling for the former West Ham manager. He was exposed in playing a major role in a corruption scandal, just one match into his international management career and had to hand in his resignation.
England U-21 manager Gareth Southgate has been named the interim manager and he will be hoping to divert all the negative attention that English football is garnering with some good, positive performances on the field against Malta and Slovenia.
The former England player has a great record with U-21 side, with a win record of 79.4% in his 34 games in charge. He will be hoping to get support from the senior players as he takes charge of the Three-Lions team for the first time.
It will be interesting to see how he utilises captain Wayne Rooney. The Manchester United man has been deployed in various roles for both club and country over the past year and everyone will be watching to see how the new boss handles his captain.
It is also likely that Southgate may hand a start to teen prodigy Marcus Rashford who scored a hat-trick on his U-21 debut, which turned out to be the 46-year old’s last match as the U-21 manager.
