César Luis Menotti (78) is an open-minded thinker when it comes to international football. The Argentine coach who won the World Cup in 1978 spoke to DFB.de about daring footballers, cars and adventure and perspectives on football back in Argentina.
DFB.de: Mr Menotti, what do you understand by ‘footballing philosophy?’
Menotti: Jorge Luis Borges, a great Argentinean author was once asked: What is a real artist’s philosophy? He answered: You need three things to be a successful author: talent, organisation and a desire for adventure. The Germans have always been organised, but real success comes to those who combine this skill with their talent, like Franz Beckenbauer, Wolfgang Overath or Gerd Müller. You can also say that German football has started to enjoy the beauty of the game. Germany have a different footballing philosophy to that of other countries.
DFB.de: What do you mean by that?
Menotti: Germany have not changed their footballing philosophy based on losses. They change things even though they have won a lot of important games. That’s the key to success: making changes even when you are successful. They’ve managed to do this and I’ve never seen that happen in Germany before.
DFB.de: Seen what happen?
Menotti: I saw this kind of enthusiasm for the first time at the 2006 World Cup. The Germans were still proud of their team even though they didn’t win the tournament. The German people hung their fans out of their windows and on their cars. That was the moment where the Germans started to love the beauty of the game, rather than purely focusing on the success. I’ve never seen celebrations like that in the streets before. Since then, the Germans don’t seem to focus on their team winning so much. People go to the stadium to enjoy the game.
DFB.de: So, it’s about both the experience and the result?
Menotti: That was Jürgen Klinsmann’s message in 2006. Germany didn’t have players of exceeding exceptional quality like Maradona or Messi, but they had a lot of good players who made an excellent team that people enjoy watching.
DFB.de: Does Joachim Löw attach importance to this message?
Menotti: I got to know him whilst Klinsmann was manager of the national team. I think he is the main person responsible for these positive developments in German football because he has followed the values of this philosophy. I have a lot of respect for him.
DFB.de: The 7-1 win against Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semi-final was one of the best victories in Germany’s history. Some people even call it a footballing masterpiece…
Menotti: The most beautiful things in art don’t come purely from effort or in the artist’s search. Picasso didn’t paint in order to create nice pieces. Musicians don’t write songs to make them sound good. The beauty comes from having a special talent for the game. It didn’t surprise me that the Germany team managed to play so well in that final.
DFB.de: And Brazil?
Menotti: Brazil were under enormous pressure to win the World Cup and they came up against a team in the final who wanted to win just as much as they did. If a team of this quality scores against you, then they’re probably going to score two or three more. Sometimes I’ve heard people claim that Germany abused their superiority in this game. I told them they are stupid. I’ve never seen a team play so seriously despite already being 5-0 up. Not a single German player showed off or attempted a nutmeg for example. Why would they not try to score as many goals as they could? What do you expect them to do, just stop scoring when they’re 2-0 up?
DFB.de: So, it doesn’t look like the home advantage really worked for Brazil?
Menotti: No, that’s the second time Brazil have failed to win the World Cup when they’ve hosted the tournament in their own country. Normally you’d think that the hosts always have an advantage, but I don’t think that’s always true. Maybe it will work if Chile host the World Cup for example, because Chile aren’t one of the favourites and can play without being under pressure. It’s too much pressure however for countries like Spain, Italy or Brazil who have already won the tournament before.
DFB.de: Did you see a change in football worldwide after Germany won the World Cup in 2014?
Menotti: The spectacular football played by Germany or Barcelona for example is capable of changing football worldwide. For example, Italy are prepared to change their style of football because they can see that Germany and Barcelona are winning everything with their style.
DFB.de: What characteristics must a football manager have?
Menotti: They can do things how they want to, however above all a good football manager must have a good way about him. I don’t know if you can call someone a good manager if they punish players for turning up to training just ten minutes late. I also don’t think someone is a good manager if they act too aggressively on the side-line screaming at the players. A good manager must know how to deal with each individual player and how to get the best out of them. That’s the most important characteristic: the ability to help players improve and learn from their mistakes. The whole world talks about what the best formation is, however I don’t think there’s one simple answer to that.
DFB.de: What is the answer then?
Menotti: In principle, football is very simple. It consists of four main things: defence, possession, development of play and scoring. It’s a manager’s job to develop players to complete these tasks perfectly. Whoever can do that, is a good manager.
DFB.de: Things aren’t going so well for Argentinean football at the moment – both on the domestic and international stage. What lies ahead for football in Argentina?
Menotti: The future of our football depends on whether they can get organised If not, then things will only get worse as there are no regulations. Clubs can rack up $100m worth of debt and still go and spend more money and get into more debt. That’s what happens in business when it’s not regulated. And when you talk about football, you need to define what football actually is, because more people think it’s all about Messi, Guardiola and earning 20 million. We have players here that earn 250-300 Euro per month – that’s not even enough to pay their bus fare to training. And how has this been allowed to happen? Because of mediocrity among those in power. They don’t have the required competence, they lack vision and have no understanding of what football represents in Argentina.
DFB.de: Is that a cultural problem?
Menotti: Of course. To put on a great show, you need the big stars. But also the big stage. And in Argentina the big stage only exists in dreams and promises. Not like in Germany, where you come from a World Cup and immediately start rebuilding, where you come into a new stadium and want to stay there. We’re different. Everything in Argentina revolves around the passion of the people and of a few businesses. It used to be that all the bars and cafes would shut during a game because everyone would be in the stadium. Today they go to the pubs, when River Plate are on they watch the game on TV – and the teams are getting worse and worse. That’s all destroying the unique football of the Argentinean league. But there is a huge amount of talent that are very hungry to learn.
World Cup winning managers
1930 – Alberto Suppici (Uruguay)
1934/38 – Vittorio Pozzo (Italy)
1950 – Juan López (Uruguay)
1954 – Sepp Herberger (Germany)
1958 – Vicente Feola (Brazil)
1962 – Aymoré Moreira
1966 – Alf Ramsey (England)
1970 – Mário Zagallo (Brasil)
1974 – Helmut Schön (Germany)
1978 – César Luis Menotti (Argentina)
1982 – Enzo Bearzot (Italy)
1986 – Carlos Bilardo (Argentina)
1990 – Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
1994 – Carlos Alberto Parreira (Brazil)
1998 – Aimé Jacquet (France)
2002 – Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil)
2006 – Marcello Lippi (Italy)
2010 – Vicente del Bosque (Spain)
2014 – Joachim Löw (Germany)