LONDON: Just last week, Asian football was celebrating the fact it had five successful World Cup qualifiers for the first time ever. This week, with the draw for the 2018 tournament imminent, two of the quintet are without a coach. For a continent desperate to redeem itself after the misery of Brazil 2014, it neither reflects nor bodes well.
Maybe Nov. 22, 2017 will be known as “Black Wednesday.” It started on a Sydney morning as an emotional Ange Postecoglou sat at a press conference and announced that he was stepping down as Australia head coach. The reasons remain unclear.
Just a few hours later, and thousands of kilometers away in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) announced that Edgardo Bauza had been given his marching orders. It was a shock but not a surprise given the federation’s history of chopping and changing coaches and speculation just a week earlier that Bauza’s days — limited though they had been — were numbered.
Unlike Postecoglou, who had been in place for four years and had delivered the 2015 Asian Cup, Bauza arrived in Riyadh only in September. The Argentine now has the unfortunate distinction of leaving three national team jobs one year.
Fired by his homeland in April after eight months in charge, released by the United Arab Emirates in September to go to Saudi Arabia, Bauza has clearly had better years.
Bauza’s sacking mirrors what happened the last time the Green Falcons made it to the World Cup. In 2005, another Argentine, Gabriel Calderon led the side through qualification in an impressive fashion. Soon after he was fired as the big bosses reportedly did not like his preparation plan.
In came Marcos Paqueta. The Brazilian was not a big name but had been with Riyadh giants Al-Hilal. Just one point from the 2006 World Cup shows that the gamble did not work.
This is another one. Five friendly games was all Bauza had. For a new coach, three defeats against good opposition should not be a major factor at the start of preparation for the World Cup. But if there was a quick realization that the Argentine was not the right man then it was the right — if ruthless — move.
It’s one that was the result of letting Bert van Marwijk leave in September. The Dutchman, who took his native Netherlands to the 2010 final, had been the Green Falcons coach for two years and delivered a first qualification since 2006. He knew the players and vice-versa.
Talking to the Dutch media shortly after Bauza’s dismissal, Van Marwijk said he’d already been offered his old job. He refused due to the issues that led to his exit, enforced changes to his coaching staff the biggest, still existing.
If true, SAFF going back to offer him his old job back bodes well in terms of how they are approaching the task of replacing Bauza.
What the sacking has done is overshadow the great achievement of Saudi Arabia making it to the showpiece in Russia next year — the side’s first trip to a World Cup since Germany 2006.
All football fans aross the Kingdom will doubtless be hoping the SAFF make the right appointment now to boost the hopes of the side’s and Asia’s World Cup hopes.
Asian football goes from joy to despair in a short week
Asian football goes from joy to despair in a short week
Arsenal thrash Villa 4-1 while Chelsea and Man Utd both held
- Arsenal end Aston Villa’s 11-game winning streak
- Wolves earn third point of season against Man United
LONDON: Arsenal closed out 2025 in emphatic fashion, smashing third-placed Aston Villa 4-1 on Tuesday to surge five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers, who collected their third point of the season, while Bournemouth grabbed a point at stuttering Chelsea, forcing a 2-2 draw after a frantic first-half display.
Man United are sixth, level on 30 points with fifth-placed Chelsea.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal slammed the door shut on charging Villa, ending their club-record winning run of 11 games.
Goals by Gabriel Magalhaes and Martin Zubimendi early in the second half gave Arsenal control of a game that had looked fraught with danger.
Gabriel bundled in the opener from a corner in the 48th minute before Martin Odegaard slid a pass through for Zubimendi to score four minutes later. Arsenal secured the points when Leandro Trossard fired home from the edge of the area before Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to add the fourth.
Ollie Watkins grabbed a consolation goal for Villa in stoppage time.
“I think it was amazing,” Jesus told Sky Sports. “It’s always hard to play against them... The mentality of the team is really, really growing and each game is growing even more and I think we are winning today because of the mentality.”
Arsenal top the standings with 45 points, while second-placed Manchester City can close the gap when they play at Sunderland on Thursday.
Villa are six points adrift of Arsenal.
It took six minutes at Stamford Bridge for Bournemouth to shock Chelsea when David Brooks grabbed the opener. Cole Palmer equalized from the spot in the 15th minute and Fernandez put Chelsea ahead with a bullet shot eight minutes later.
Justin Kluivert brought Bournemouth back level in the 27th, to grab a point, adding to the London side’s unenviable record of one win in seven league games. Chelsea sit fifth, while Bournemouth are 10 spots below them.
Man Utd struggle
Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee made the most of a rare start by giving the depleted hosts the lead with a deflected shot from the edge of the box in the 27th minute.
But Wolves managed to level just before the break thanks to a header from Ladislav Krejci.
Patrick Dorgu briefly celebrated what he thought was a 90th-minute winner, but it was chalked off for offside.
“We struggled in all the game,” United boss Ruben Amorim said. “We had a lack of creation... the fluidity offensively wasn’t there.
“We didn’t play well. When you don’t play well with the ball, you struggle without it.”
Wolves have three points from 19 games, 15 points from the safety zone.
Newcastle United’s Joelinton scored after 65 seconds and Yoane Wissa doubled their lead five minutes later in a 3-1 thrashing of 19th-placed Burnley, who are winless in their last 10 games.
Josh Laurent pulled one back in the 23rd minute, but Bruno Guimaraes sealed Newcastle’s rare away win with a goal in stoppage time.
Everton climbed to eighth in the standings with a 2-0 win over their former manager Sean Dyche and Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from James Garner and Thierno Barry.
West Ham United drew 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion in a game that featured three penalties in the first half.
Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta, from the penalty spot, scored before the break for West Ham, while Brighton’s Danny Welbeck struck from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute but fired another off the crossbar.
Joel Veltman scored for Brighton in the 61st minute to secure the draw.
There are four more games on New Year’s Day, including fourth-placed Liverpool hosting Leeds United at Anfield.
