FIFA World Cup: Who is Herve Renard, once a cleaner who masterminded Saudi Arabia's shock win over Argentina
Herve Renard-coached Saudi Arabia caused one of the biggest upsets in FIFA World Cup history by beating Argentina 2-1.
Herve Renard masterminded Argentina's loss to Saudi Arabia in FIFA World Cup. Image: AP
Saudi Arabia’s stunning 2-1 win over heavyweights Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 has been declared as statistically the biggest shock in the history of the tournament by data company Nielsen Gracenote. 51st-ranked Saudis were only seen as a mere formality for the Lionel Messi-led Argentina who are among the favourites to win the World Cup but the Herve Renard-coached side had other ideas.
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Naturally, the football world is stunned and Renard is at the centre of attraction. While the victory over Argentina is certainly Renard’s biggest headline-making achievement, it isn’t his first real accomplishment. Renard, who once worked as a janitor, has numerous distinctions to his name.
Let’s get a complete lowdown on the coach and how his team outclassed Argentina.
Who is Herve Renard?
A French national, Renard had a 15-year-long career as a defender playing for Cannes, Stade de Vallauris, and SC Draguignan in France. At the end of his playing career, Renard had to work as a janitor or cleaner to make ends meet.
He would then go on to start his own cleaning company while getting his coaching licenses.
Renard’s managerial career started at Draguignan before assistant coach stints at Shanghai Cosco (China) and Cambridge United (England). He was later made the manager of the Cambridge team and also Nam Dinh (Vietnam) and AS Cherbourg (France).
His managerial success however came at the international level with African teams.
The 54-year-old Renard is the only coach to have led two different national teams to African Cup titles: Zambia in 2012 and Ivory Coast three years later.
Renard also helped Morocco qualify for their first World Cup in 20 years in 2018, but he stepped down after a surprise exit from the 2019 African Cup of Nations.
He also managed Ligue 1 club Lille in 2015.
His achievements with the Saudi Arabia team
Renard was appointed Saudi Arabia coach in 2019 and under his tutelage, the Green Falcons have jumped from 70 to 51 in the FIFA rankings.
Saudi Arabia under Renard finished at the top of their qualifying group and ahead of Japan and Australia to reach the World Cup for the sixth time.
What Renard said after Argentina win?
Renard had a very objective reaction to Saudi Arabia’s famous win over Argentina. In fact, he also went on to point out the faults from his side’s display against Messi and Co.
“This is football, sometimes totally crazy things can happen,” said the French coach. “(We can) just have a good celebration during 20 minutes and that’s all, there are still two more games.
“When you come to the World Cup, you need to believe in yourself, anything can happen in football.”
“Tactically we were not good in the first half. Our block was compact but our pressure on the centre-backs and (defensive midfielder) Leandro Paredes was not enough,” said the 54-year-old. “If we had conceded a second goal at that time, the game would have been finished.”
Saudi Arabia’s next match is against Poland on 26 November.
With AP inputs
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