Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Renard and Sousa eye first title

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The Frenchman is well known coach at the Africa continent level as he had achieved success with different teams in Africa. The 51-year-old led the Zambian team to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2012. Also, he was behind the success of Ivory Coast with the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015. He created history as the first coach to win two Africa Cup of Nations titles with different countries. Renard success with the African nations continued once again as he brought Morocco to the Fifa World Cup in 2018 after an absence of 20 years.


Renard, who began his career as coach in 1999 with  SC Draguignan, will look for a winning return for Saudi Arabia after missing out on several editions of Gulf Cup and Asian Cup.


The Saudi team’s performance was not at the top level in the latest AFC Asian Cup 2019 earlier this year as they were defeated by Japan in the last-16 round. Then, Saudi Football Association decided to appoint Herve Renard as head coach of the team in July.


Before coaching Saudi team, coach Herve led Morocco to the Africa Cup of Nations and the team left the championship from last 16 round. He won 23 matches, 9 draws and suffered 11 losses with Morocco team.


Despite starting with a defeat at the Gulf Cup, Renard strongly came back to the competitions circle and he guided Saudi to wins in all the other matches. Saudi fans are looking for a first accomplishment with the French coach in the Gulf Cup especially as the team did not win the title since 16 years from their last victory.


Helio Sousa


The Portuguese coach’s philosophy in coaching could not work for many other coaches. He is prepared to change the full squad from a match to another. With his unique style, Sousa hogged the limelight in the Gulf Cup in playing with different starting line-ups in almost all the matches in group stages and reaching to the semifinals.


Sousa, who took over as the head coach of Bahrain national football team since March, could be also the first Portuguese coach to win the Gulf Cup.


The experienced coach at junior level is very close to achieve all Bahrain fans dream to win the coveted regional Cup. Sousa led Bahrain to claim the West Asian Championship after beating Iraq 1-0 in the latter’s home in August. All the indications are positive for Sousa to bring Bahrain to the top of the Gulf region and clinch the title for the first time in the history.


Helio Sousa was very famous with his country’s junior team as he was the man behind Portugal winning the Euro U-18 Cup in 2016 and repeated the same with U-19 team in 2018. The 50-year-old is one match away to stamp his name on the Gulf Cup if he guides Bahrain to their first title.


Herve Renard


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