Asian Cup 2019: The faces of two Italian coaches

The Chinese team is not on the list of the four strongest teams in the continent, but coach Marcello Lippi (70 years old) is certainly the most famous name among the coaches working in Asia.

Return for the cause of chivalry

Lippi was twice the head coach of the Italian national team, winning five Serie A titles and one Champions League with Juventus, winning the 2013 AFC Champions League with Guangzhou Evergrande and three Chinese championships.

Lippi announced his retirement, but for many reasons, he returned to coaching at Guangzhou Evergrande at the end of 2016 to replace coach Scolari (Brazil) who returned home. However, the performance of the Chinese national team under coach Gao Hongbo was quite poor in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, so the Chinese Football Association quickly replaced him. CFA President Cai Zhenhua personally met with Evergrande Group President Xu Jiayin to negotiate for coach Lippi to take over the national team.

Coach Marcello Lippi is one of the most successful coaches at the 2019 Asian Cup. Photo: Internet

When taking charge of the national team, Mr. Lippi called up many students from Guangzhou Evergrande Club, notably striker Cao Lam, 32 years old, midfielders Trinh Tri and Han Sieu, defenders Lam Bong, Hoc Bang, Tieu Dinh. Among them, Trinh Tri, born in 1980, played 103 matches and scored 15 goals, and is considered a "phenomenon" on Chinese football.

Currently, China is in the process of transforming its players, so their performance is not very stable. They can win against a very strong team like Syria, but they just drew with Palestine and lost to Iraq in friendly matches before the 2019 Asian Cup.

At the 2019 Asian Cup, the Chinese team is in Group C with South Korea, the Philippines, and Kyrgyzstan, and is expected to compete with the Korean team for the first and second place in the group. China has reached the finals of the Asian Cup (1984, 2004) but failed both times. The fact that they have never been continental champions makes the CFA more determined.

The CFA is said to have offered Lippi a role beyond that of a national team coach. The strategist who led Italy to the 2006 World Cup title would be involved in China's football reform as a special advisor.

“Coaches like Lippi will help Asian football become more competitive,” Iran coach Carlos Queiroz emphasized. After the failure of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Asia, this is the time for the Italian coach to show his talent.

The father of the 3-4-3 formation

The next Italian to be present at the 2019 Asian Cup with the host country of the United Arab Emirates is Alberto "Zac" Zaccheroni. He is one of the "fathers" of the 3-4-3 tactical system that the Vietnamese team is applying. The teams he has coached, such as Udinese, Lazio, Milan, Juventus, whether big or small, strong or weak, all have a fiery attacking style of play.

Zac is one of the "fathers" of the 3-4-3 tactical system that the Vietnamese team is applying. Photo: Internet

Considered the strategist with the most "unconventional" thinking in Calcio, but it took Zac 30 years of coaching to find his team. In Serie A, Zac's fanaticism of the 3-4-3 formation only brought him many failures.

During 30 years, he only won one title, the Scudetto in the 1998-99 season with AC Milan. But in Japan, in just 3 years, he brought the team to 2 memorable milestones: winning the fourth Asian championship (Asian Cup 2010) and participating in the World Cup for the 5th consecutive time.

Calcio was his "home", but it was incompatible with his attacking footballing mindset. The Far East was a foreign land, but in the end, it gave Zac the chance to play in the higher leagues.

With nearly a decade of working with Asian football, the UAE's group only includes Thailand, India and Bahrain, so the top spot in Group A is unlikely to escape Zac and his team. Perhaps only Thailand, the opponent in the final match of the group stage, will cause some difficulty for the home team.

The richest country on the planet spares no expense in investing in football, but apart from the 1990 World Cup, the UAE team has almost disappeared. In 2018, the UAE played 7 matches, of which the host team of the 2019 Asian Cup lost 2, won 2 and drew 3. Their losers, Laos (0-3) or Yemen (0-2), were not highly rated.

In the UAE's 3-4-3 attacking formation, coach Zac's hopes are placed on the duo Ismail Matar and Ali Mabkhout, who have now scored 80 goals for the national team. Perhaps, after the group stage, the real challenge for this Italian coach will be!