Who's been the coach of the Finals, then? Too early to tell, depending on tomorrow's result, do you think, or is it fair to start nominating other candidates? I think the way Joachim Loew's had Germany playing, after losing his captain, playmaker and two year's worth of preparation with a month to go, surely deserves some mention.

Either Marwijk or Tabarez for getting their teams this far. All del Bosque has had to do is fill in the team sheet and sticking with Torres for too long.

Really? van Marwijk is the one who has basically picked the same team and the same tactics throughout (good choices, sure) - the only tactical switch he's made all tournament was VdV coming on for De Zeeuw against Uruguay.

Meanwhile, del Bosque has played 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 before settling on 4-1-4-1. He's had Villa play in 3 different positions and tried basically every attacking player in the squad.

I wouldn't argue van Marwijk has done better than del Bosque so far, but it's not been through greater tactical intervention.

Rajevac would be my choice. Did very well with Ghana, got the best out of Prince-Boateng, used Appiah sensibly, didn't let Muntari's ego rule the team, integrated the u20 winners superbly, made Essien's absence barely noticed.

I would put Bob Bradley up there. I was greatly impressed with the US, they are technically very good and are developing a style of their own after, perhaps, being too much in the mould of England and Germany over that last decade or so.

Certainly, he has made the US likeable after the 2002 team which was perfunctory at best

I quite liked his way of not being afraid of substituting in the first half or at half-time if he thought it was needed instead of waiting for an hour. It's a shame that it didn't work against Ghana

Once the games started, Bradley did a great job. The problem was, he kept picking terrible starting strategies that required him to make tactical changes after 25 minutes. And he kept making the same mistake game after game.

It's gotta be Louis van Gaal - all of the top three teams carry his influence, in style and in many of their players - Xavi, Iniesta, Robben, Van Bommel, Schweinsteiger, Müller, etc

Not Bradley for the reason Etienne mentioned. He's a good "Player's coach", but he's still tactically weak in planning for opposition. (And I'd question his pre-game motivational ability.)

I'd like to say Bielsa, but if you are going to lead a South American team, you've got to beat Brazil.

Low is the obvious choice in that the team was really a joy, and tactically class, but ultimately, if you don't manage to show something special when you have to (against Spain), then no award for you.

Rajevac is a good choice.

Do expand.

Although I have Bradley up there, the best coach was Low, the most enjoyable coach was Maradona

The US started every game in a daze, and it showed in the early chances and goals given to the opposition. I'd chalk it off to the players not being up for it, except that this is what the US did all through qualifying too. At some point that falls to the coaching staff to fix.

I think by the time the Ghana game rolled around, Bradley knew he had to get somebody in there who would start the game keyed up and actually ready to play, and picked Ricardo Clark, which back-fired horribly.

Etienne wrote:


Which is why van Markwijk deserves it more of the two finalists, for my money. His system was worked out, prepared and ready for the finals, del Bosque on the other hand was still wrestling with the best attacking system to complement the tiki taki passing defensive system that Aragones laid the foundations for between 2005 and 2008.



Rajevac would be my pick too, for all of the reasons stated here, My one disappointment with him was the lack of introduction of Dominic Adiyiah until extra time against Uruguay. On the pitch you have Gyan, an excellent forward, but an abysmal striker, and on the bench you have the guy who scored eight goals in seven games in the U20 World Cup. His future should be bright, and should have been used earlier than injury time against Germany, and at some point against Australia. But considering they were a handball on the line from a semi-final, it's a minor quibble.

Zonal Marking agrees with me and Phoebe. Loew is only 5th, but wins their readers poll. I think he should be ahead of Bielsa, who did well with some limited players, but 1-0 wins over Honduras and 10-man Switzerland don't make you the 3rd best coach in the tournament.