Carlos Queiroz - The Portuguese Steve McClaren?

Carlos Queiroz (or Charlie Key Roche, if you prefer) sat before the microphones as Portugal boss for the first time today. His primary goal: World Cup 2010 qualification points: “We have 12 points up for grabs over the next three months. That will be our priority area. That’s our first objective.”

Well, der. But makes sense when you consider that last time Queiroz attempted World Cup qualification with Portugal, it ended badly. The team failed to make USA ‘94 and CQ was fired.

In fact, you could argue that none of Queiroz’s spells in charge of any team have gone all that well.

Queiroz was fired from Sporting in 1996, because despite inheriting a solid team from Bobby Robson, Queiroz could only deliver a single Portuguese cup and no league titles.

His 1996 half-season with the NY/NJ Metrostars (now NY Red Bulls yielded a 12-12 record, a season at Grampus Eight was no more glorious. A brief spell in charge of Saudi Arabia was followed by sucessfully qualifying South Africa for World Cup 2002, before falling out the South African FA and being replaced for the tournament.

Since then, Queiroz has had two very successful spells as Alex Ferguson’s number two at Old Trafford, and one poor season as Real Madrid boss (2003/4, which ended with him being fired again.)

So the question has to be: is Queiroz one of those guys who’s just better off as a number two? Sort of like a Portuguese Chris Hutchings. Or - arguably worse still - Queiroz could be the Portuguese Steve McClaren. They share more than just the successful assistant to Fergie history. Both are/were very respected coaches in the game, but both have track records as a number one that are patchy at best. Maybe both were just born to assist. No shame in that.

But in many many ways, the Portugal job could be Queiroz’s last chance to prove he’s more than just a glamorous assistant. World Cup qualification with Portugal would restore RQ’s reputation as a number one. Failure to qualify might mean a lifetime of putting out the cones for someone else. Let’s just hope CQ doesn’t begin his reign by getting his teeth whitened and buying a brolly.

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