No sport changes coaches as much as football and with the World Cup over a year away, moves are being made in the hopes that a teams fortunes will take a positive turn towards World Cup qualification. Usually, the move that's made is a change at the top of the coaching ladder. After this past round of qualifying matches some coaching changes occurred that could change the fortunes of their respective teams.


In Trinidad, 40 year old playmaker Russell Latapy takes over as the coach of The Soca Warriors after Colombian coach Francisco Maturana resigned after Trinidad's loss to the U.S. and their disappointing last place standing in the CONCACAF Hexagonal Final Stage. Latapy's appointment is on an interim basis but could be permanent depending on Trinidad's results in upcoming qualifiers. Trinidad's next two qualifiers are at home vs. Costa Rica on June 6th and at Estadio Azteca vs Mexico on June 10th.


He is a legend and considered the greatest player in Iranian football history but Ali Daei is now history as coach of Team Melli. Ali Daei was fired after Saudi Arabia's 2-1 comeback victory against Iran in Tehran's Azadi Stadium. Under Daei, Iran has slipped into 4th place in Group 2 of Asian World Cup Qualifying a full 4 points behind a playoff spot. Mohammad Mayelikohan is the new coach and must get wins in order for Iran to go to South Africa. Iran has their final qualifiers in June with road games against North & South Korea and a home game against United Arab Emirates.

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The Czech Republic and Romania have gotten rid of their coaches after both teams have thoroughly underachieved in European World Cup qualifying. Neither federation has named successors

Czech Republic coach Petr Rada was fired after the Czechs were held to a scoreless draw on the road versus Slovenia and after they lost at home to Slovakia. The Czech Republic are in 4th place in Group 3 in Europe and are in seri0us danger of missing the World Cup. The Czechs might be undone by a rift between the federation & the players.

In Romania, Victor Piturca's contract was terminated through mutual consent with the Romanian Football Association after a run of poor results. Romania sits in 5th place in a 6-team Group 7 with only the Faroe Islands below them. Romania would need a massive win streak to get back into the top 2 spots of the group and increase hopes of going to South Africa.



Antônio Lopes is rumored to be taking over for Vahid Halilhodzic as head coach of Côte d'Ivoire. If the change goes down, its a surprising move considering that Les Éléphants just came off an impressive 5-0 win versus Malawi in the opening round of the final stage of African qualifying and haven't been challenged in qualifying so far. The Brazilian was part of the 2002 Brazil coaching staff that won the World Cup and is a veteran coach of numerous Brazilian first division clubs. Halilhodzic departure would be a big surprise.

Expect more coaching changes as teams underachieve and as football associations get desperate in their pursuit of glory in South Africa.