Mark Wotte on 2014 World Cup’s Big Question
Starting our count down to the FIFA 2014 World Cup – Mark Wotte, Performance Director at The Scottish Football Association, recently traveled to the USA to participate in the annual NSCAA coaches convention held earlier this year. A dyadic speaker and expert footballer, Wotte looks forward to this year’s FIFA World Cup with great anticipation. Like all soccer lovers, Wotte asks the important question, “Who is going to win the World Cup?”
I expect The World Cup 2014 in Brazil to be a very exciting.
Despite all the logistical and operational difficulties that have been well publicized, from a footballing perspective the burning issue is – who’s going to win it?
Will Spain, Los Rojas, maintain their Glorious spell in World Football and win back to back the European Cup 2008-2012 and the World Cup 2010-2014 for the first time ever?
Will they be the first country that will win a World Cup in South America as well?
Or will Messi destroy his fellow teammates and Real Madrid rivals with Argentina for their treble after ’78 and ’86?? Strong individual skills and a fighting mentality make Argentina always hard to beat!
Brazil, Los Sambas, as a home nation is of course a top favorite as well.
The confederations Cup in 2013 showed a great deal of confidence with exciting players like Neymar and Oscar. However, they will play under an enormous pressure and might face Holland already in the last 16.
How about Germany, with 2013 Champions League Finalists Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund as the big providers of the National Team and well respected for their Elite Player Development in the last 5 years with players like Reus, Muller, Gotze and Kroos.
Knowing their mind-set, they definitely will be expecting to go all the final to the Final.
Two outsiders to me are Holland and Portugal.
After a great Qualification (7 wins and one draw) and with a rejuvenated team plus van Persie, Robben, Sneijder and Van der Vaart Holland can beat anyone on the day. I had the pleasure coaching all of them at National U19+U21 level and I can assure you that they will be up for it!
Portugal could surprise as well, but Cristiano Ronaldo must have the month of his life.
This goal machine, always good for a goal per game in any game is almost a one-man-team.
How about USA? I leave that to my American friends to write about them, but I am afraid the quarterfinals would be the ceiling for this crop of players but I do expect USA in 4-8 years to be one of the favorites considering the Development of the MLS and Elite Player Development.
Mark Wotte is a well known and highly respected football manager from the Netherlands. Currently the Performance director of the Scottish Football Association, Wotte is the former coach of the Netherlands Under-21 and has managed teams in the Netherlands, Egypt, Qatar, England and Romania.
Mark Wotte, spoke at the 2014 Convention clinician and shared his vision for performance schools in Scotland. Wotte is a strong advocate for youth development and believes youth football is all about winning by developing before developing to win. “We are building for 2020 but have more programs in the performance strategy to improve youth development and elite youth player performance in our strategy.”
In 2011, Mark Wotte was named Performance Director at the Scottish FA, bringing nearly four decades of experience to the role. The former Dutch player, who took the pitch for FC Vlaardingen, Feyenoord, FC Den Haag and SVV during his career, looks to help the Scots improve the quality of play through a number of initiatives, including the Performance Information Management System that will monitor all Elite youth players.
Wotte’s coaching career, which began in the mid-1980s, took him through the Dutch ranks, where he managed five Dutch Premier League Clubs, and eventually a chance to work with the Netherlands U21 National Team. In 2006 Wotte left the Netherlands to begin what he calls “some adventurous travelling” as a first team head coach in Qatar, Romania and Egypt before finally landing in Scotland. His two years as U21 National Team coach give him a unique perspective as he works to help further develop the Scottish program.
