By Samindra Kunti
September 25 – Deep into the second half of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup qualifier away to Malaysia in September, the Ultras Malaya, a group of hot-headed home supporters, threw flares and fireworks on to the pitch of the Shah Alam Stadium in Selangor, a province on Malaysia’s east coast. Smoke rapidly began to fill the ground and left referee Liu Kwak Man from Hong Kong with little choice but to abandon the game.
The incident didn’t disconcert Saudi Arabia’s newly-appointed technical director Jan Van Winckel (pictured left), who was watching the Green Falcons from the touchline. “I have seldom seen so much dominance,” reflected Van Winckel. “We had 78% ball possession, but we were unable to convert this into an early goal. Luckily, we played a very good second half and we deservedly won 1-2, a fourth consecutive win as well.”
It was also a second consecutive win for coach Bert Van Marwijk after Saudi Arabia had pummeled minnows Timor-Leste 7-0 on September 3 with Al-Nassr striker Mohammed Al-Sahlawi scoring a hat-trick. Saudi Arabia also face the United Arab Emirates and Palestine in Group A of the second round of Asian World Cup qualifiers.
Van Winckel composed a consummate back-room staff with the immediate objective of maximizing the chances to progress to the third round of Asian World Cup qualifiers: Bert Van Marwijk famously guided Holland to the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Adrie Koster coached Ajax Amsterdam and Mark Van Bommel played at FC Barcelona before captaining Bayern Munich.
The Belgian is tackling his new challenge with great zeal and thoroughness, a mirror of his lengthy and successful career in international football. Van Winckel holds a UEFA Pro-license and graduated with a Master of Physical Education and a Master in Business Economics from the University of Leuven. He remains faculty of the Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group of professor Werner Helsen, but via, among others and in different roles, OH Leuven, Olympique de Marseille, Club Brugge, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, and the UAE, a rather eclectic group of clubs and countries, Van Winckel is now striving to shake up Saudi football.
His greatest achievements have been discreet, away from the limelight. He was, together with Michel Sablon and Bob Browaeys, at the heart of Belgian’s football revolution. France 98 was a seminal moment, when the need to move away from a defensive and organised style of play within Belgian football became imperative. A radical rethink at all grassroots and youth levels transformed the Red Devils from a tedious team to a star-studded collective, currently second on the FIFA ranking.
“I stood at the cradle of various developments – playing with ‘Future Teams’ for physically less mature children or playing small sided games with children to increase the number of ball touches,” said Van Winckel. “At present, Germany and Belgium are both among the best of the world. Sadly, you must ascertain that there is often an Icarus effect. If you can fly, you often seek out the sun too much.”
“That’s noticeable in Belgium,” continued Van Winckel. “Precisely at the moment when Belgium is back at the top, our policy makers find it more important to quarrel over various positions while the people, who brought Belgium to the top like professor Werner Helsen, Bob Browaeys, Marc Van Geersom, Michel Sablon, Marc Marchal, Eric Abrams and Kris Van Der Haegen do not determine policy making or are working for other federations. I’m ashamed and worried. If you come to a standstill for too long and are not innovative or underestimate a particular aspect – The Netherlands, I think neglected the physical aspect – you will pay a price for it 5-10 years later.”
Last season Van Winckel was assistant coach to Marcelo Bielsa at Olympique de Marseille. In a whirlwind season, Marseille led Ligue 1 for seven months, but ultimately finished fourth behind champions PSG, Olympique Lyon and AS Monaco. At the start of the 2015/16 season the Argentinean coach unexpectedly resigned, much to the bewilderment of the club’s board and faithful fans.
“For 3-4 months Marseille played the best football in the world,” said Van Winckel. “Bar one match, we always had more ball possession than the opponent and we ran much more in terms of high intensity and sprints. That’s telling of the work that we have accomplished.”
“The pivotal moment was the African Cup of Nations, without doubt,” explained Van Winckel. “[André] Ayew and [Nicolas] Nkoulou were not available for 2-3 months due the African Cup of Nations. Although we almost didn’t incur any further injuries, we had only 13 players left. That’s not enough. You need competition to demand a great deal from your players. Recently, Pellegrini implied that a successful team needs two players for each position and that every player needs to put aside his personal goals for the greater good. He’s right. If Marseille would have had two more players in January-February, we’d be champions.”
Van Winckel was Bielsa’s de facto right-hand man and confidant, a relationship of high trust, not just mutual respect. They had previously met in April 2014 when Marcelo Bielsa visited the facilities of Jeddah-based club Al-Ahli. They talked and exchanged ideas.
“I know the Belgian and Dutch model and have also written a book about the tactical periodization of professor Frade, the methodology used by [José] Mourinho and FC Porto. There is a lot of common ground between the methodologies of Mourinho, [Joseph] Guardiola and Bielsa. Marcelo [Bielsa] is always looking for ways to improve his methodology, including tactical and pedagogical principles, to make his teams even better and even more dynamic.”
Such dynamism was to be found in Bielsa’s Chile of 2010, Athletic Bilbao in 2011/12 and last season’s Marseille, based in essence on a 3-3-3-1 formation with attacking as the overriding purpose. Bielsa is an academic, a purist and a perfectionist, who cares more about the form than the result.
“He is a genius, who sacrifices his life for football,” explained Van Winckel. “He has expanded a unique methodology. If you analyse a game with him, you soon enough realise that he is one of the very best. He sees what others don’t. He told me that the trick is to observe the game, while noticing everything beyond one’s focus, which is often the ball. I often sat on the bench watching our games, watching the output of Bielsa’s genius – delivering the most beautiful football in the world.”
“It’s predominantly about the degree of detail,” elaborated Van Winckel. “It’s the small gains that allow for great things – the search for marginal gains, every single day. With him, training is a form of art. The entire day a team of about 10 people will work to produce 12-14 exercises in a time span of 75 minutes. I can’t remember he was satisfied once. However, the results were also outstanding. The development of youngsters like [Gianneli] Imbula, [Florian] Thauvin, Ayew, [Michy] Batshuayi and [Benjamin] Mendy was huge. But even more experienced players like [André-Pierre] Gignac, [Rod] Fanni and [Jérémy] Morel played one of their best seasons. You have to be obsessed as a coach to be successful, less won’t do.”
Marseille’s board thanked Van Winckel for his part in restructuring the club’s technical department. Mendy and Batshuayi lauded him on social media. “We worked really hard the last 16 months in Marseille,” reflected Van Winckel. “It’s impossible to change the culture of a country or region, but you can change a club culture. It was not easy since you have to change not only the mindset of players but also the mindset of the supporting staff.”
Bielsa and Marseille parted ways and as the Argentine coach cut a forlorn figure at the airport waiting for his flight home, Van Winckel headed for Saudi Arabia. He would love to work with Bielsa again in the future, but wants to focus on his task in hand, which is of a huge magnitude.
In 1994 Said Al-Owairan’s dazzling solo run goal against Belgium propelled Saudi Arabia on to the world stage as the Saudis secured qualification for the second round of the USA World Cup. Later, Saudi Arabia would win the 1996 Asian Cup on home soil after a penalty shootout in the final against neighbors the UAE.
But ever since, Saudi football has steadily declined. The national team is no longer a part of Asia’s elite, whereas Japan, minnows in the early 90s, and South Korea, a force since 1986, have come to the fore, together with Australia, who have recently joined the AFC. This year’s Asian Cup was also a disappointment for the Green Falcons as they slumped to a first round exit. South Korea and Japan are ranked 57th and 58th in the world respectively, while Saudi Arabia linger in 93rd position on the FIFA ranking, squeezed in between Finland and neighbors Qatar.
The 1994 World Cup should have been a catalyst to establish Saudi Arabia as an Asian powerhouse, but a failing football administration targeted short-term glory in the Asian Cup rather than sustainable success.
“You often notice that at successful moments people will rest on the laurels, that there is too little investment in the future and too little innovative thinking,” said Van Winckel. “This is the trap of success; to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow. You often see this undulation with national teams. There is a realisation that we need to re-establish Saudi Arabia in the top 35 of the world.”
The 41-year-old technical director has ample experience on the Arabian peninsula, in particular with the national team of the UAE and Saudi clubs Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. The latter club qualified for the semi-finals of the 2015 AFC Champions League after defeating Qatar’s Lekhwiya 6-3 on aggregate. His verdict about the current state of Saudi football and the national team is though, if not, somewhat, damning. When the Saudi Arabian Football Federation [SAFF] appointed Van Winckel in August, he explicitly referred to Belgium’s situation in the early noughties.
“Germany and Belgium both played a dramatic EURO 2000,” said Van Winckel. “It was the signal for both countries to innovative and to found youth academies.”
Indeed, in Europe, continental powerhouses have often reinvented their footballing identity after soul-crushing defeats. Germany renounced defensive solidity and organized build-up from the back for a more dynamic and adventurous approach when Jürgen Klinsmann and Joachim Löw took charge in 2004. A decade later, Die Mannschaft won the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Spain reconsidered their style and tactics after a 3-2 capitulation against Nigeria at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Eventually, La Roja would win EURO 2008. Each time the overhaul spanned at least a decade, culminating in a renaissance.
In Asia, Singapore are also considering a radical overhaul of their football, appointing Michel Sablon as their technical director, another proponent of the Belgian method.
“The Belgian method – a lot of qualitative training, a lot of attention for aspects such as a winning mentality and personal development, youth development without results -orientated compromises – is a very good methodology,” said Van Winckel. “You can, however, never simply copy a methodology.”
“In Asia much more training is required,” elaborated Van Winckel. “Unfortunately, the assumption that training would stop growth is still commonplace. Ridiculous of course, scientific studies clearly demonstrate that sport activities stimulate growth. But the assumption is alive and it’s not easy to convince people. You shouldn’t take the 10,000 hours rule too literally, but the 1,500-2,000 hours Saudi children train at the moment are not enough to compete with European countries.”
“The mental aspect should also become important,” said Van Winckel. “Factors such as winning mentality and leadership can be trained and require a specific approach. You can still make significant gains in these aspects. Finally, we must persuade people to pay less attention to the results. Far too often only physically mature players are selected so that a title can be won. That way, you lose almost 50% of the potential. We should also develop measures thereto and work with national teams with less mature players or set quotas in order to limit the relative age effect, like in Belgium.”
A part of Van Winckel’s success will depend on ensuring that Saudi Arabia don’t repeat the historic mistake of middle 90’s near-sightedness, but instead plan for a durable future of continental football dominance.
“We need time to set out a policy, said Van Winckel. “In fact, a technical director of a football federation prepares a World Cup 10-15 years down the line. I have mainly signed [at SAFF] to implement and accomplish a long-term vision. HRH Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and SAFF president Ahmed Eid asked me to carry out an audit with more than 50 international experts on different domains – youth development, coach education, universities, centers of excellence and future teams. Based on this audit, we have drafted a Master Plan with the policies for the next four years. The goals are, however, nothing more than ideas with a deadline. I mainly love innovation, science, out-of-the-box thinking and hard work.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1735088133labto1735088133ofdlr1735088133owedi1735088133sni@i1735088133tnuk.1735088133ardni1735088133mas1735088133