Cursed or Coincidence? Find out how many times Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked after qualifying a team to the world cup
When Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodžić was announced as the head coach of the Moroccan national football team in August 2019, it was a return to international football management following a brief spell with French Ligue 1 side Nantes and he had hopes of excelling in the role.
He inherited a Morocco side that suffered elimination from the 2019 African Cup of Nations in the round of 16 under two-time AFCON winning coach Herve Renard. The intentions of the Moroccan football federations were clear: success.
The federation president Fouzi Lekjaa said at the time that the targets were to reach the 2021 nations cup semi-finals and qualify for Qatar 2022, “failure to achieve any of these targets will automatically result in termination of the contract”.
It was not a task that would seem daunting for the Bosnian considering his wealth of experience and the talent in the ranks of the Atlas Lions. He had achieved World Cup qualifications with three different countries, two in Africa[Ivory Coast and Algeria] and one in Asia[Japan]. On two of those occasions, he was fired before the tournament proper despite leading the qualification drive.
With Morocco, the Bosnia managed a total of 30 matches, winning 20, drawing seven and losing only three. One of those defeats came in the 2021 African Cup of Nations quarter-finals against Egypt in a 2-1 defeat. He had missed his first target, the semi-finals of the Afcon.
On March 29, 2022, Halilhodzic qualified the Atlas Lions to their sixth World Cup appearance after defeating the DR Congo 5-2 on aggregate.
However, with barely over 100 days to the kick off of the global event, the Bosnian has met another World Cup heartbreak and the third time in his career as a manager out of four attempts.
Vahid Halilhodžić formerly coached Ivory Coast and Japan to qualify to the World Cup in 2010 and 2018 respectively also got fired by those two nations months to the tournament proper.
His first taste of disappointment in this regard came on February 27, 2010 with barely four months to the World Cup in South Africa. He had led the Elephants since May 2008 and went on a two-year unbeaten run to qualify for both the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup. His hard work was undone when the team captained by Didier Drogba fell to Algeria in the nations cup quarter-finals after a 3-2 defeat in extra time following a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes.
In 2018, Halilhodzic was leading Japan and had guided them to the tournament after taking over as head coach in March 2015. The Samurai Blue parted ways with him after he recorded two defeats and a draw with about two months to the tournament in Russia. Defeats against South Korea and Ukraine and a draw against Mali were the turning points that enabled his sacking from the role.
That incident with Japan followed another in Ivory Coast and the Morocco incident has now made it thrice out of four chances he got to represent a country at the World Cup as a manager. His only success came with Algeria whom he qualified to the World Cup in 2014 and led them to their best ever performance in the competition’s history when they advanced to the round of 16 and only fell to a eventual winners, Germany by 1-2 in extra time following a goalless 90 minutes of football.
Whatever may be the reasons for his sacking by the Moroccan football federation, it may not be new but even if it is new, the experience is a hat-trick he will only hope he does not get a quadruple when next he gets the chance. Vahid is only 69 years and still would have a shot at another World Cup should he get the right appointment but until then, Morocco will hope to do well and not exit at the groups stages just as Ivory Coast did. Japan though did manage to make it to the round of 16 before getting knocked out by Belgium.
One player that could benefit from the coach’s sacking is Chelsea’ Hakim Ziyech who announced his retirement from the national team following a disagreement with the coach. He may now make a return to the fold just in time for the World Cup after missing the 2021 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon as a result of the decision to end his time with the national team.
