The Portuguese Job: Santos, Queiroz or Bento – Who Can Save Ghana? || VAR with Sammy Bartels

Ghana’s coaching future is under the spotlight! 

Should the Ghana Football Association turn to Portuguese tacticians to revive the Black Stars? From Fernando Santos to Carlos Queiroz and Paulo Bento — who is the right man for the job?

On this episode of VAR, Sammy Bartels breaks it all down: tactics, experience, and what Ghana really needs to bounce back on the global stage. 

Is a Portuguese coach the answer to Ghana’s struggles?

Transcript

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But the big news is that the FA have apparently shortlisted three coaches who happen to all be Portuguese for the Black Stars coaching job vacancy. Who would have thought that a little over two months to the World Cup, Ghana will be searching for technical direction to the World Cup? Well, the big news is that the FA have apparently shortlisted three coaches who happen to all be Portuguese for the Black Stars coaching job vacancy. A quick disclaimer. Say what you may about world-class coaches. Ultimately, Ghana must be able to cover up the money needed to pay a world-class coach and their backroom staff, and this will not come cheap. The selection of a successor to coach Otado is the most consequential decision, perhaps, as far as the Black Stars participation in the 2026 World Cup is concerned. And the Ghana Football Association are on course to line up the right candidates to lead Ghana into the next World Cup. And so far, from the publications and the grapevine, it's quite obvious. From the publications and the grapevine, Paolo Bento, Carlos Queroz, and Fernando Santos are the ones that have been thrown around as the shortlisted candidate. And it signals a clear shift away from the developmental approach, babysitting approach that AFA took with Coach Otuado toward a tournament specialist model. So for all intents and purposes, the Ghana Football Association and the Ministry of Sports and Recreation are treating this World Cup as a special project and are bringing in an accomplished coach who has already been to the World Cup and has experienced coaching at short notice to take the Black Stars into the World Cup. But before we all get very excited and I've heard people talk about Haram football and all of that, it's important to put these coaches under the spotlight. And so what I'm going to do in this edition of VAR is to conduct a SWOT analysis of the coaches that have been shortlisted for this Black Stars job, looking at their strengths, weaknesses, looking at their managerial philosophy, and also looking at their playing style and what this means as far as the Black Stars are concerned. So let's start with Carlos Carros, a man that Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary Manchester United coach, for whom he was assistant for many years, once described as a brilliant, meticulous, intelligent assistant manager who was instrumental in Manchester United's success. So Alex Ferguson described him, and I quote, as one of the good guys. Carlos Carros has seen it all, the height of clap football. He is famously supposed to have been the one who convinced Cristiano Ronaldo to come to Manchester United. He's coached at Real Madrid, but then he's also had the experience of coaching in Africa, having coached South Africa, and then having coached Egypt, although he couldn't meet his objective of taking the Egyptians to the World Cup at that time. And he's famous for making unfancy teams dangerous to play against, like Iran, with whom he went to the World Cup multiple times, and who were difficult to beat, including in the last World Cup where they were grouped together with Wills and England. So Keros' main strength is their defensive solidity. And in his latter years, since his Manchester United and Real Madrid days, he's seen somewhat of a cynic when it comes to coaching because of his emphasis on organization and defensive solidarity. So as far as his strength is unrivaled, in terms of experience with four World Cups, now Manny cannot buy that sort of experience. And he excels at drilling his defensive units within a short frame of time. And for a 70-day window for Ghana, less than 70 window, really, it looks like you would need a drill sergeant like Carlos Carros who could come in and make the Black Stars more organized with a clear identity, albeit a defensive one ahead of the World Cup. Now, that in a way also tends to be a weakness for Carlos Carros, and he's been accused, especially when he was in Egypt, of underutilizing the abundance of attacking resources that were within the team and being too stubborn with his defensive approach to playing. This often has stifled the creative talents within his teams. For a coach who had Salah, he opted to play in a way where Salah's strengths were not maximized. And people will be concerned about the likes of Mohammed Kudus and whether they will be freed enough to exploit the opponent and deploy their full powers and their full set of skills in their toolkit. If Carlos Queros was the coach who was marshaling the Black Stars. Now, he also has a confrontational managerial style. He's not one to back away from a conflict or speak in his mind, especially when it comes to the association he's dealing with and sometimes the larger public. And this is a style that perhaps may not resonate too well with the Ghana Football Association, unless, of course, there could be a peaceful truth, truth that ensures that the Black Stars can go into the World Cup without any major conflict. As far as playing style is concerned, Carlos Carros likes to play a 4-1-4-1 or a 4-5-1. So you can see he likes to play with defensive solidity, focusing on a low block formation and a rapid two-man counter-attack in transitions to stand the opponents and pretty much win with a single margin. In terms of national team record, apart from his four-rays into Africa with South Africa and then also with Egypt, which were not the most successful of stint, he took Portugal to the round of 16 at the 2010 World Cup and he turned Iran, perhaps the best evidence of his latter years in football, as the best ranked team in Asia for years, and one of the most dangerous teams to play against at the World Cup stage. As far as Ghana is concerned, the key thing will be what he does with the Black Stars at the World Cup on a short-term basis. Now, Fernando Santos is very well celebrated because he got Portugal their very first international title when they won the 2016 European Championship. He followed that up by winning the European Nations League competition. He's also now this makes him the only man in the short list who has an international achievement of winning a trophy. He's a specialist in navigating knockout football. And we saw that with how Portugal were organized and played during the 2016 European Championship. Sometimes much to the chagrin of Cristiano Ronaldo, who would have wished that the team would have played uh fluid football. But ultimately, the end justifies the means. And the fact that he won the tournament goes to the fact that he won the tournament goes to, in a way, absolve him of the way he chose to approach the tournament. Now let's look at his strengths. Very obviously, having won um with Portugal and having played with them at the last World Cup, you could say that he has a winner's mentality because he has won a major tournament before and he knows how to advance in tournaments. He also knows how to manage big egos. Famously choosing to call Cristiano Ronaldo's bluff at the 2022 World Cup and selecting Conchalo Ramos ahead of him in certain matches. Now that means that he can develop a siege mentality for a coach who has achieved so much, he commands attention and he's certainly one that the Black Stars players will respect and will be willing to follow. In terms of his weakness, uh his style has often been described as stale and boring, despite having uh won a major competition with Portugal. And that is probably something just like Carlos Queroch that Ghanaians will have to put up with if they have uh Fernando Santos. For him, it's all about pragmatism and doing what is needed to win the games that take you to the latter stages of a tournament, which Segue is very beautifully into his playing style. Now, unlike Queroch, who is just stubbornly defensive in everything, surprisingly, Santos likes to play a 4-3-3 formation that relies on a double pivot in midfield to shield the team from potential counterattacks on the ball. His national team record is quite straightforward, his highest achievement having been achieved with his home nation of Portugal. And then he also took Greece to their first ever knockout stage at the World Cup at the 2014 World Cup. In between these two behemoths, which is Carlos Queroch and Santos, is Paulo Bento, who is the younger among these three Portuguese coaches. He represents perhaps a middle ground between Queroch and Santos. He prioritizes defensive stability like the other coaches. However, he allows for more fluid ball play and progression than Queroch, and I dare say Santos as well. And we saw that in the matches in which his teams have played against Ghana, he has faced Ghana twice with Portugal at the 2014 World Cup, a match that the Portuguese won. And in the latest meeting with Ghana was with the South Korean team. And as I and you can check from the statistics, the South Koreans won more possession than Ghana. They outshot Ghana, although ultimately they lost to Ghana and Ottawar by three goals to two, which is quite an irony considering that he's trying to replace Utuado, who had beaten him at the 2022 World Cup. In terms of strength, you could say that his willingness to be a bit more malleable and not stubborn about his formation or defensive formation gives him an advantage over the other two. He also creates a lot of high tactical discipline within the teams. And his work with South Korea is perhaps the biggest example of his ability to combine defensive play with fluid transitioning of the ball when he needs to in a particular game. Well, as far as weaknesses are concerned, there are those who have pointed out that Bento tends not to have a plan B. And when he's caught out, he cannot adjust and is not agile enough to adapt to the circumstances to turn around the game. And you could see that from Ghana's game against South Korea, where despite Ghana having fewer possession, when Ghana scored by three goals to do, the South Koreans could not find another win and could not find a dynamic approach to break down Ghana's defense, which led them to lose by three goals to two. His biggest achievement at national team level was taking Portugal to the semifinal stage of the 2012 European Championships. He also led the Koreans to the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup. So, what does this tell us about the three coaches? Carlos Caros's African experience gives him a bit of an edge as far as the working environment is concerned. And I keep mentioning that the working environment in Sub-Saharan Africa matters because in Europe and other places where there is more structure and there are fewer people around the team, where teams are not run by management committees. Things are a bit more straightforward. And coaches like Keros can come in as a national manager. But within the settings of Ghana, what will be the case is that any of these coaches who get confirmed will come in as a coach rather than a national team manager. So the key things that will be working for Carlos Keros, obviously, is that experience on the African continent. As far as financial expectations are concerned, I think Ghana should be ready to pay not less than between 80,000 and 120,000 USD to get Carlos Kerosh on a short-term contract. Because I get the impression that he'll be more interested in a short-term project that ends after the World Cup ends. As far as tactical fits are concerned, it may be a problem if the Ghana Football Association is going to insist on Ghana playing expansive aggro football. As I've mentioned, it's just not in the man's DNA, especially in the latter stages of his career, to play expansive football. And indeed, the facts do not support expansive football getting results at the World Cup. And this might stifle some of the creative challenge within the Black Stars team. Now, as far as Fernando Santos is concerned, there are many things that work for him. He's a proven winner, he has experienced coaching some of the biggest players in the world. And he was at the last World Cup where he advanced towards the latter stages of the competition. For me, the biggest challenge will be the amount that he's for me, the biggest challenge will be the compensation or the remuneration for his appointment as Black Stars coach. Would expect that he'll charge between 100,000 and 150,000 USD. And so it's a big task in the current situation if the Black Stars are going to have him as the main man. He has great man management skills. He showed that he can manage the biggest egos and still stick to his game plan. As far as tactical play is concerned, what you get is defensive solidity and organization, not quite unlike uh Carlos Queros. And then you get to have a big name that commands respect, and that is likely to be a motivational factor in the dressing room for the Black Stars. Now that leaves us with Paolo Bento. And for me, the biggest thing that might work for Paulo Bento may be their remuneration. Compared to Carlos Querosh and Fernando Santos, who are in their 70s, he's a younger man. Perhaps the team might relate to him better. Having played from the other side from Ghana, having twice faced Ghana at the World Cup, perhaps he's in a position to know exactly where the deficiencies are for Ghana and is likely to charge anything between 60,000 to 90,000 US dollars, which might give him an advantage over the other candidates. The other thing is the ability to adapt and add fluid builder play to the defensive organization that is his hallmark, which makes him perhaps a bit more flexible than the two old hard war horses as far as tactical flexibility is concerned. He's never won a major trophy, and his biggest achievement is semifinal with Portugal at the 2012 European Championships. So among these coaches, who has the superior record? I'll say that his superior record is measured by trophies, it will obviously be Fernando Santos. But Gala is not going to the World Cup to win the World Cup. That would be a pipe dream of our on our part, if that's the target that we have set for ourselves. If superior is measured by World Cup efficiency and delivering results at the World Cup, then your man is definitely Carlos Kerosh. If success also is measured by familiarity with the terrain, it will be Carlos Keroz because he has coached in Africa before. His ability to make Iran competitive against huge um World Cup teams like Argentina, Portugal, and Spain with a fraction of the talents that these teams had may just be the formula that Ghana needs to excel at this World Cup as we prepare to face England and Croatia. So, what is the VR verdict? Our verdict is that Carlos Keros is perhaps the best suited to a short-term contract to the World Cup. He's familiar with the terrain and he showed that he can use lesser talented sites at the World Cup. The biggest challenge may be his stubbornness, his working relationship with the Ghana Football Association, and the financial remuneration. Although Carlos Keros may be VAR's recommended appointment for the Ghana Football Association, Bento, because of his tactical malleability, the lower wages he's likely to ask for. And his familiarity facing Ghana, the Black Stars at the World Cup stage, might just be the one who ends up getting this job. Now, just before I go, let me return to that vex issue of the finances and whether Ghana can afford any of these coaches. One more factor that is important to consider is the backroom staff of these coaches. And I can tell you that Paulo Bento, Fernando Santos, and Carlos Carros are very insistent on bringing a minimum five-member backroom staff into the jobs that they do. These are special forces, people that over the years they have worked with to get the results that they have managed to chalk at all their international appointments. Now let's start with Paulo Bento. Paulo Bento has a tactical team that he works with. It includes a first assistant, tactical analyst, physical conditioning coach, and he's worked with them on almost all the national team projects that he's had. And I won't be surprised if he brings the same people to the Ghanaian national team, in which case the GFA may have to adjust its current technical backroom stuff to accommodate them. He brings Sergio Costa, who is usually his first assistant. He's Bento's tactical twin, so to speak. Costa is often seen as the one who manages the fine details of the positional play and official of offensive transitions within Paolo Bento's team. Then there's Felipe Cuelo, who is his tactical analyst. Now Bento relies on Cuelo for live video coding, and his staff usually included dedicated analysts who provide real-time adjustments via the tasks that you see on the bench during major tournaments. And then he has Pedro Pereira, who is his fitness and conditioning coach. Pedro focuses on high intensity recovery, and Beto's teams are noted for being among the fittest in the latter stages of the tournaments. These three are likely to be in the team that comes with Beto if he gets the job. Then there's Carlos Carrozis's drill sergeants, a team that he brings to all the international jobs, including the most recent job that he had with Iran. His staff operates with military-like precision, since he prefers to play with a defensive low block. So he comes with Roger Dasar, who is his trusted lieutenant. He's a former Bafana Bafana coach. Remember him. He often joins him in some of his international um gigs. And he provides essential African football context, especially for a job like this Ghana job. And there's Bruno Casso, who is his performance analyst. Keros is a pioneer of what we call data football, which is very popular now, but he was one of the first to start this right from his Manchester days. And Bruno is crucial to this, identifying exactly where opponent star playmakers can be neutralized within games. And then there's Mick McDemoth, who is his fitness and strategy coach. He's a specialist in preparing teams for the physical rigors of a three-game group stage in extreme conditions at the World Cup. For Fernando Santos, you may describe him as a psychological strategist. He comes with a team that focuses on game management and mental fortitude. And there are three people who are likely to be on his staff if he comes to coach Ghana. First is Joao Costa and Joao Rosario. These are his long-term assistants. It will be interesting to see how the GFA balances this with keeping a Ghanaian assistant on the team as it has done since the 2006 World Cup. These two are Santos's good and bad cops. They handle the high-intensity defensive drills and the set piece organization. Then there's Ricardo Santos, who is his chief scout. His job is to conduct a massive scouting network before a World Cup. His staff will produce intelligence books on every opposing player. And it is Ricardo Santos who is tasked with accomplishing this. Then finally, he comes with mental health and performance coaches. So it's likely that he'll bring at least one person to firmly integrate the Black Stars team and set up a way for them to be psychologically prepped. Again, it'll be interesting to see how the Ghana Football Association configures this with the existing structure that they have. And then just finally, these may be the three names that have come up. But as I said, finances will be a big, big, big factor in their decisions. And you never know what might happen because you never know. Someone who is not even in the running might end up getting appointed as a Black Stars coach. But for now, these are the three that have been put on the table, and these are the three that the Ghana Football Association will have to pick, will have to choose between. This is V AR. My name is Samuel Bartels. I'll see you for the next edition. Subscribe to our Yo Charlie page and love our content as we bring you world class analysis as far as football and sports generally are concerned. We'll see you in the next edition.