Serbian
coach looks to work wonders with football national teams
by rick olivares
Serbian football coach Zoran Dordevic
who found success coaching the national squads of Bangladesh, Sudan, and Yemen
will now work his magic with the various Philippine National Teams. The 62-year
old from Veliki Jovanovac, Serbia arrived last Tuesday, January 17, with
Japanese sports journalist Takashi Morimoto who aside from running Deren
Sumida, a football club in Mongolia, is a frequent Manila visitor who covers
the Philippine Men’s National Team.
Dordevic met with Philippine Football
Federation officials led by President Mariano Araneta, General Secretary Rolly
Tulay, and National Team Manager Dan Palami on two separate occasions to
present his plans on helping the national sides not coached by senior national
squad boss Hans Michael Weiss.
The PFF and Dordevic came to an
agreement last Thursday at the federation’s head office in Pasig City. Palami
said that the Serbian was confident that he would be able to help the
Philippines’ younger national teams win some titles. “He’s a disciplinarian and
a teacher,” described Palami who seemed impressed after the series of meetings
with Dordevic who used to play the midfield in his younger days in the former
republic of Yugoslavia. “I am excited because there is a lot to do (here),”
said the Serb who once coached Bader Al-Mutawa who was a part of the Kuwait
team that ousted the Azkals from the World Cup Qualifiers last July 28, 2011
with a 5-1 aggregate score.
Dordevic’s resume is filled with
accomplishments with his success with Bangladesh his most recent feather in his
cap. He led the Bengal Tigers to the 2010 South Asian Games football
championship with an immaculate 5-0 record while scoring 13 goals and not
conceding any to the opposition. It was Bangladesh’s first gold medal after an
11-year drought.
However, in spite of Dordevic’s
success, it seems that he has a hard time getting along with the clubs or
federations he works with. In his last post as a national team coach, he had a
falling out with the Bangladesh Football Federation. According to a report by Bangladesh’s
Daily Star, the Serb’s one-month tenure with the Bengal Tigers ended
prematurely when the BFF cited their inability to pay the increase that he was
asking for. From a one-month contract, Dordevic was reported to have sought a
four-year contract worth US $1 million. The Daily Star quoted BFF President
Kazi Salahuddin as saying, “We have no ability to get such a large amount of
money.”
Dordevic in turn
ripped into his former employers who he called “gangsters.”
"I am
very sorry for Bangladesh and the future of football. I don't feel better here
and will leave Bangladesh when I get my passport, tickets and remuneration. I
am very upset. They don't have vision and they don't want the betterment of
football. These people have no future, they are gangsters and they are not
working for football.”
The Indian Express also reported that Serb
also fell out with the management of Indian club Churchill Brothers after
leading them to the I-League title in 2009. Dordevic is on a short term contract with the PFF.
Hi Rick,
ReplyDeleteJust a little correction. The Coache's last name is Djordevic, not Dordevic.
Are you sure? Sorry, mate. It's Dordevic. He gave us us his CV with that spelling and if you look it up on the internet you'll find out that it is the correct spelling,
ReplyDeleteHi Rick,
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed the correct spelling, literally translated from Cyrillic into the Latin alphabet, but you would have to include the diacritic that comes with it. Most English publications would spell it Djordjevic without the diacritic, to reflect the pronunciation(pronounced Jor-je-vich).
It is similar to how the Germans would use Muller with an umlaut above the letter u, but would spell it Mueller in the English language without the diacritic.
From one of our Mods(GerardoDCA) in usapangfootball.proboards.com
ReplyDeleteTo clear things up:
In Serbia the name "Zoran Đorđević" is spelled as "Zoran Đorđević" but is pronounced as "Zoran Djordjevic"(Jor-je-vich)
Hope this helps...
WikingBK
And the CV that he gave me spelled "Dordevic". So that settles it.
ReplyDeleteFine. We don't really have to follow the rules used by the international media to anglicize Cyrillic names. It is just as important to follow the coach wishes on how his name is spelled.
ReplyDeleteCheers.