Is Queiroz good enough for Portugal?

In the end Portugal made it to South Africa 2010 with quite comfortable performances versus Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the qualifying process as a whole was a bit of a disaster. The play-off spot versus Bosnia and Herzegovina was only sneaked ahead of Sweden by only a single point. Disastrous form considering Portugal had the chance to rely on FIFA World Player of the Year 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo. To Queiroz's and the teams credit they did only lose 1 match (at home to Denmark), but draws, like a home draw vs Albania were really shocking results, considering the qualify throughout the squad.. And in fact, Portugal needed an injury time goal to beat the Albanians away in Tirana. Luckily for them they had a favorable fixtures list with the last two matches being at home, vs Hungary and Malta, and Sweden bottled it in the end. But even though with a place booked for South Africa 2010, questions still remain over Carlos Queiroz's ability to manage the team.

Queiroz came to prominence with his great work with young players. His been named as the "discoverer" of the Portuguese "Golden Generation" consisting from the likes of 2001 FIFA Player of the Year, Luis Figo and Rui Costa. Mainly thanks to his successful work with the youth teams he was award the senior team's managerial role in 1991, but the former player himself, failed miserably, having not qualified for neither the European Championships 1992 nor the World Cup 1994.

Quieroz then went of to manage Sporting Lisbon. Queiroz had a world class team at his helm, many consider the Sporting team of that time the best ever Sporting side, but he failed again. During his three year stay, Sporting only managed to win one piece of silverware, the Portuguese Cup in 1995.

Reigns at obscure teams followed and Mr. Quieroz would've probably gone down in football history as a quite unknown man if it wasn't for one lucky summer. In 2002, Quieroz, who in the same year had lead South Africa to the World Cup finals, but resigned from the position before the tournament, managed to impress Sir Alex Ferguson and earned himself an assistant manager role at Manchester United.

Season 2002/2003 was greatly successful for United, with Queiroz playing a key role behind the scenes, so Real Madrid came knocking. But again Queiroz failed. Having an all-star squad at his disposal, he failed to deliver the league championship and was sacked after two years. He returned to United and his fate seemed to by as a forever number two.

And that what Carlos Queiroz is - a nr. 2. He's a very good assistant manager, but as a manager he just doesn't cut it. This understanding really hits when you read or listen to his interviews. He's too much of a nice guy, to ever be successful as a manager. Yes, he did deliver silverware for the Portuguese youth teams, but that's the stage, where you teach boys to play football, not instruct men to win football matches. Queiroz is great tactically, huge part of United's success when he was there's was down to his clever tactical choices, but he lacks in motivating players.

The Portuguese FA gave him another chance and they'll probably regret it now, but I expect them to learn from their mistakes. Even though Queiroz signed a 4-year deal in 2008, I doubt he'll still be in charge of Portugal after South Africa 2010. I certainly can't see how the team could be successful in the World Cup finals, and one of the best players of the World, Cristiano Ronaldo, will probably have to wait for another World Cup cycle before going down in history as one of the best players ever to play the game.