I’ll start with a brief history of Mr. Milan Macala’s impact on soccer in our region from 1996 to the present.

Macala led Kuwait to Gulf Cup victory twice (1996, 1998). He then briefly coached the United Arab Emirates in 1997 before being signed by the Saudi federation.

However, the Czech veteran was sacked by the Saudi Arabian football association in October 2000 after their loss to Japan in the Asian Nations Cup. He was eventually hired by the Oman Football Association to act as the head coach of the Oman national team. Let’s follow his journey in Oman and describe the advantages and disadvantages of him.

No one can deny the great and important role that Milan Macala has played over the years with our Omani team. He has significantly improved our skills and tactics and as a result we qualified for the 2004 Asian Cup final for the first time under his reign. Although this may not sound like a great achievement, it was impressive to us. Since then, Oman have become a fearsome team in the region, if not all of Asia, and have risen up the FIFA ranking system.

In 2004, we competed in the Gulf Cup, the most prestigious competition for the GCC countries, organized by Qatar. The teams in the cup were divided into 2 groups and Oman managed to put in an excellent performance which saw them take on the host country Qatar in a dream final for all Omanis.

But we lost despite having an incredible chance to win the cup on penalties. However, the players and the coaching staff were greeted as victors and champions upon their arrival in their homeland of Oman.

“I’ve given everything I can and it’s time for me to move on.”

Yes, these were the words that the veteran Macala murmured. She then went on to train for United Arab Emirates club Al Ain, where she was constantly under fire to produce results and never lived up to the club’s expectations. He was finally released shortly after.

Macala is back! Yes, he returned to coach the Omani national team. Wait, but he said that he has nothing to offer the team since he has offered them everything he has!?

Well, 10,000 riyals a month for a villa and a car could turn an unproductive monkey into the CEO of Microsoft.

Long story short, Macala took over once again. His reins and coaching skills materialized, but his tactics did not; which I will discuss later in the article. We beat Pakistan 4-1 away and 5-0 at home. Then we beat the United Arab Emirates 2-1 at home and finally lost to Jordan 0-3 away during the Asian Cup qualifier in 2006. Very good, 3 wins and 1 loss! that is amazing. Well impressive it is not! With all due respect to the Pakistani team, beating them 4-1 and 5-0 is not an impossible task, nor is beating the UAE 2-1 when we should have won by at least a 3-goal margin. Losing to Jordan 0-3, considering we had beaten them 3-0 at home earlier in the first leg, was a shock to most if not all of the locals! Let’s go 3-0! Anyone who watched the game would say the players were playing at almost walking pace with zero interest and Macala was daydreaming I guess. With this defeat, we qualified for the 2007 Asian Soccer Cup, but our position in the group was second behind the UAE. This last fact will surely have an impact on our group’s placement in the Asian Cup draw.

Then we competed in the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. Everyone who knows a bit about football thought that Oman would compete with their second lineup or youth national team to give them more exposure and at the same time not risk the reputation of the national team as most other countries joined. with his youth line. -ups and second squads. But that didn’t happen. Milan went to Doha and took the national team with him, minus a few players.

In the first match we beat Malaysia unconvincingly 3-1 although Malaysia arguably played better in long periods of the match. Then we lost to Iraq 2-0. What? Oman lost to a second Iraqi team? Then we lost to China 2-1. The summary of this competition was the following: 2 defeats and a victory and 3 red cards! (Bader Al Maymani against Iraq and Fawzi Basheer and Ahmed Hadeed against China). Now tell me, is that impressive or what?

I haven’t really been talking about Macala, I’ve just summarized some of our meetings in 2006 but here’s the focal point, Macala as a person might be the best coach, he’s a father figure to all the players, but as a tactician, he’s probably a monkey who hopes to become the CEO of Microsoft.

“To be cute or not to be.”

Anyone who knows a thing or two about tactics will recognize that Mr. Macala is lagging behind in this regard; he could be an efficient master of coaching skills but not tactics. An average viewer can establish this fact by watching him use his substitutions and employ his mediocre tactics. I list below some, of many, of his pitfalls:

1. Khalifa Ayel is originally an excellent holding midfielder, but Milan insist on using him in the center of defense, ignoring his natural position in his club side, Qatar’s Al Sudd.

2. Bader Al Maymani is not an outright striker and more of a playmaker (refer to his position at his club, Qatar’s Al Ahli), quite a bit too, but Milan again insists on partnering him. even with Emad in the attack.

3. Players who are not up to the task either physically or mentally should be cut from the team and no coach in the world trusts the same players for 4 years! the staff have to change but the target has to be fixed. I personally think only a few players at this stage are effective and those are our captain Mohamed Rabia, Fawzi Basheer (with Sultan Al Tooqi being his natural understudy), Hussain Modhafar and Imad Al Hosni. I am by no means against any of the players, but some have been going quite a bit and have been falling under the radar recently.

4. I’m not sure if Milan bothers to scout new players and new talents. I personally don’t think I would even look at the national league, otherwise what’s the excuse for ignoring players like top scorer and season MVP? etc. Where is Mohamed Ahmed Taqi? Why is Ibraheem Al Ghailani in the starting eleven? Why do we have to live with a goalkeeper and if he is not available we turn to a 40-year-old goalkeeper who was scored a goal by a Jordan player from midfield, falling to the ground too!!

5. His tactics during the game can only be described as immature. Whether the team is winning or losing, the formations would look identical! Ok, a simple question, if we play against a weak team, why don’t we play with 3 strikers? and if we play against a strong team, why don’t we play with a striker? Why does it always have to be the same? Other trainers have already cracked Macala’s code and can easily read his OLD mind just like the average bystander! You don’t have to have a degree in rocket science to conclude that Macala doesn’t have any tactics. It relies on the same players all the time on all occasions and in all competitions, and if a player gets injured or is suspended, you’re in for a festival of funny and sad events led by our beloved coach.

As an example of the point mentioned above, against the UAE, the Oman team was in complete control of the ball and could have won with a margin of at least 3 goals if Macala had read the game like a professional coach. Why don’t we play with three forwards?

I just remembered another example, in our match against KSA in the 2003 Gulf Cup in Kuwait, we got the lead through Emad (Imad) Al Hosni in the 61st minute. The genius tactician immediately brought out the scorer. Any coach in the world would know the fact that scoring a goal gives the striker even more motivation and more power, but Mr. Milan thought otherwise. In case you were wondering, yes, we lost the game.

I’ve written a lot, but I’m not quite sure I’ve got my point across correctly. Well, my point is that Macala has nothing to contribute to the well-being of our team and, consequently, she must say goodbye as soon as possible, with gratitude. To put it in perspective, the team assists and helps Macala and not the other way around. Wait, are those your opinions or the ones he made clear by leaving for the United Arab Emirates? Well, let’s just say we both said it.

“Room to improve, or not?”

The Oman team needs a few things to improve:

1. A new coach who is a master tactician, no, I’m not talking about José Murinho. Alright, he doesn’t have to be a master tactician, just one who knows a thing or two about tactics.

2. More experienced scouts that would bring and introduce new talents to the trainer instead of the current ones raising the dead! (Hint: Suleiman Khamis)

3. A better and better organized football association, whose members are elected by public vote. At this stage, we don’t need a fishing expert, a farmer and some businessmen who have never seen a football game until they are appointed as the Omani team’s future caretakers and planners. No, thanks. We need fresh blood, not a 70 year old goose. We need people who know what football is all about, not people who think that players just chase the ball around the field without purpose.

4. We also need a reliable goalkeeping coach, physical trainers (as it became evident in our matches that players lose their fitness considerably in the second half) and a better medical team.

5. The domestic league should also be taken care of and improved, but that is a different topic that needs a separate topic.

This is turning into a huge, gigantic post and therefore I have chosen to stop writing because I think I have made my point pretty clear, with evidence.

So to sum up this article, Macala has nothing to offer, he has no tactics or knowledge on how to play mind games and therefore should be shown the door before the Oman team is shown the door in the next Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (as of January 17) similar to how they were shown the door at the Asian Games a few weeks ago.

So do you think monkeys can really become CEOs?

This article was published on SoccerBlaze.com