Known as a “miracle worker”, Bora Milutinovic is the only coach in history to take four different teams into the second round of the World Cup finals1. Now the jovial2 Serb is in pursuit of a fifth wonder (which is perhaps his toughest challenge): putting China on the map of world soccer.
Milutinovic was born September 7, 1944 in Bajina Basta,Yugoslavia. By 1972 he had been a player with Partisan3 Belgrade in Yugoslavia, AS Monaco, Nice and Rouen in France and FC Winterthur in Switzerland. He moved to Mexico in 1972 as player and then coach with NAUM4 Pumas. In 1982 he was appointed national team coach, leading Mexico to the quarterfinals at the 1986 World Cup, its highest finish. After a brief spell5 with San Lorenzo in Argentina, he took over6 Costa Rica 90 days before the 1990 World Cup and stunned many by getting it into the second round. In March 1991 he became coach of the U.S. squad7 to prepare for the 1994 World Cup and took his team into the second round. He had qualified8 Mexico for the 1998 World Cup in 1997 before being fired, landing9 with Nigeria for France '98. Once again, he took that team into the second round. In 1998 and 1999, Milutinovic coached the MetroStars in U.S. Major League Soccer. In January 2000 he signed a two-year deal with the China Football Association (CFA) and had vowed to gain China's first-ever qualification to the World Cup Finals.
China's football achievements do appear modest10 when compared with the expectations of possibly the biggest group of fans anywhere in the world: a single Olympic appearance (1988) and a trip to the Asian Cup championship in 1984 stand as China's only major international merit11. It has failed in all its six previous attempts to qualify for the World Cup finals. The longer China is kept out of the premier12 soccer tournament, the more urgent the soccer-crazy country becomes to join it. And now the fans have pinned13 all their hopes on Milutinovic.
Milutinovic did not take long to identify his team's Achilles heel14. “They have to learn to perform more self-confidently,” he told reporters. “The guys need to feel strong, no matter who they play against.” This inferiority complex15, the result of so many defeats, cannot be cured overnight. Milutinovic handles this problem as he did with the US national team, teaching the players his philosophy of “happy football”: he always wears a big smile for his players, he jokes with them and praises them constantly, he does all he can to put them at ease16 for their matches.
But verbal17 praise alone is clearly not enough to help the players build up their confidence. More importantly, Milutinovic has to correct his team's technical mistakes and improve their mentality. “Milu is always asking us all kinds of questions and we have to keep alert18 to give him the answer,” a young national team striker19 told reporters. “Once after a training match, he asked me, ‘Do you know what you should ask me for? Aspirin20!’ He saw I was confused and said, ‘because you have a headache!’ Then I realized it was his way of telling me he wanted me to use my head more!”
Yang Chen, China's promising striker now with Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany, agrees. “Milu doesn't give us too much theory,” he say, “he points out our shortcomings and makes us understand what is best. Now our players are more ready to bring the ball down and use it more creatively and confidently.”
“Bora is good at solving players' problem—attitude,” Chinese Under-19 head coach Shen Xiangfu said.“He can point out the essence of the problems in two or three words. Bora often emphasizes attitude rather than matches in team meetings.” Milutinovic's personal motto21 is printed on his hat: “Attitude is everything.”
Last August Milu scored22 his first real success within half a year in China when his team beat Thailand, Uzbekistan and Iraq in an international tournament in Shanghai. Milu also proved himself in last year's Asian Cup in Lebanon. Although finishing only fourth, fans and media praised his team as they fought to draw 2-2 with their nemesis23, Korea Republic, and later came close to beating the outstanding Japan team in the semi-finals.
Though the media is always fastidiously24 hard on him, the Chinese soccer authorities has been firm in giving him support, giving him adequate room25 to display how he had transformed such a lowly team as Costa Rica into the world cup finals. “Milu has the final say26 in everything concerning the coaching,” Yan Shiduo, China's soccer chief said at a pep rally27 for the world-cup qualifying matches. Bolstered by the Milu-centering theory, the coach has been adamant28 in such items as adopting a home-and-away competition29 format and recalling the three Europe-based players for the world cup qualifiers, though the group opponents are a class apart30.
Under Milu's guidance, the Chinese team has got through the first group stage of Asian qualifying matches with little trouble. The draw for the second phase31 of qualifying has been made in Bangkok. China looks to be the favorite in Group B after they were grouped in with the 1990 qualifiers the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Uzbekistan and Oman32, thus avoiding Group A, the “Group of Death”. Bora said he was confident his team could do well and has called for the Chinese public to get behind his squad.
Bora Milutinovic believes that dreams, confidence and struggle are the most important things for teams that are on their way to the World Cup finals. “We have a goal to achieve, then we must trust each other,” Bora said in an article he wrote for Soccer, “Players must believe in themselves and the people around them. Everybody will meet difficulties and failures. They are normal parts of soccer.”“We must hold together33, otherwise we will lose the matches,” Bora added. “Now we are a family ... I ask my players to think that his next act and next match will last forever,”Bora added,“Although it is not easy, I hope everybody can remember it.”
被称为“神奇教练”的博拉·米卢蒂诺维奇是历史上惟一一位将四支不同的国家队带入世界杯决赛第二轮的教练。如今这位天性快活的塞尔维亚人正朝着第五个奇迹迈进（这也许是他所面临的最严峻的挑战）：他要把中国队搬到世界足球的版图上去。
米卢蒂诺维奇1944年9月7日出身在南斯拉夫的巴吉纳·巴斯塔。1972年以前他曾作为球员先后在南斯拉夫的贝尔格莱德游击队，法国的摩纳哥、尼斯和鲁昂俱乐部，以及瑞士的温特图尔俱乐部踢球。1972年他转会到墨西哥的国家自治大学美洲狮队踢球，后来成为该队的教练。1982年他被任命为墨西哥国家队教练，率该队闯入1986年世界杯四分之一决赛，创下该国历史最好成绩。之后他在阿根廷的圣洛伦佐队短暂执教过一段时间。距1990年世界杯还差90天时他接过了哥斯达尼加国家队的教鞭，并将该队带入世界杯决赛第二轮，令许多人目瞪口呆。1991年3月他出任美国国家队教练，备战1994年世界杯，最终将该队带入了决赛第二轮。1997年在统率墨西哥队获得1998年世界杯参赛资格后被解职，随后他又接过尼日利亚国家队的帅印，冲击98法国世界杯——他再一次把该队带入决赛第二轮。在1998和1999年他曾执教过美国职业大联盟的都市之星队。2000年元月他和中国足协签订了一份为期两年的合同，发誓要为中国队赢得有史以来第一张世界杯决赛的入场券。
相对于在数量上大约居全球之冠的球迷群体的期望而言，中国的足球成绩的确寒碜：在国际上仅有的重要佳绩是惟一的一次奥运会亮相（1988）和进入1984年亚洲杯决赛。先后六次冲击世界杯参赛资格的努力均以失败告终。中国被挡在世界顶级大赛门外的时间越长，这个为足球而疯狂的国度就越发迫切地渴望挤进去。现在球迷们把希望全都寄托在米卢蒂诺维奇身上。
米卢蒂诺维奇没花多长时间就诊断出了中国队的致命弱点。“他们必须学会更加自信地踢球，”他对记者们说，“这些小伙子们需要在心理上强大起来，不管同谁比赛。”这种因多次失败而产生的自卑情结不可能一夜之间治愈。米卢蒂诺维奇以他在美国队用过的方法来处理这个问题——他给队员们传授“快乐足球”的观念：他在球员面前总是笑容可掬，跟他们开玩笑，不断地表扬他们，尽一切努力让他们轻松面对比赛。
但口头称赞显然不足以帮助队员们树立起自信心。更重要的是，米卢蒂诺维奇必须纠正球队的技术性错误，并改进他们的心理状态。“米卢总是问我们各种各样的问题，我们得保持敏捷的头脑来应对，”一个年轻的国家队前锋对记者说。“有一次打完训练赛他问我，‘你知道你该向我索要什么吗？阿斯匹林！’他看到我一脸迷惑就说，‘因为你犯了头痛病！’我这才意识到他是用这种方式告诉我：要多用脑子！”
杨晨，这位现效力于德国法兰克福俱乐部、前程远大的中国前锋，也有同样的看法。“米卢不给我们讲太多的理论，”他说，“他指出我们的缺点，让我们明白什么是最棒的。现在我们的球员更注重沉着控球、更注重创造性和充满自信心地踢球。”
“博拉善于解决球员的‘态度’问题，”中国19岁以下青年队主教练沈祥福说，“他用三言两语就能指出问题的实质。在队会上博拉强调的往往是态度而不是比赛。”米卢蒂诺维奇的个人座右铭就印在他的帽子上：“态度即一切。”
去年八月米卢赢得了执教中国队半年以来的首次真正的胜利。在上海的一次国际比赛中他率队击败了泰国、乌兹别克斯坦和伊拉克。米卢还在去年黎巴嫩举行的亚洲杯上证明了自己。尽管只取得第四名，球迷和媒体对他执教的国家队还是报以赞誉，因为他们同强大的宿敌韩国队战成2－2平，后来在半决赛中还差一点打败了出色的日本队。
虽然媒体对他总是百般挑剔，但中国足协一直给予他坚定的支持，给他足够的空间展示他的能力：如何将一支像哥斯达尼加这样的弱队加以改造后取得世界杯决赛资格。“在球队训练和指导方面的一切事宜米卢拥有最终发言权，”中国足协负责人阎世铎在世界杯预选赛前的一次鼓劲会上说。有这种以米卢为中心的理论撑腰，这位教练坚定不移地采用打主客场热身赛的模式，并召回在欧洲踢球的三个球员参加世界杯预选赛，虽然小组对手比自己低一个档次。
在米卢的指导下，中国队没遇到多少麻烦便从亚洲区预选赛第一阶段的小组赛出线。预选赛第二阶段的分组抽签已在曼谷举行。中国队看来是B组的出线热门，他们与获1990年决赛资格的阿拉伯联合酋长国、卡塔尔、乌兹别克斯坦和阿曼分在同一小组，避开了A组这个“死亡之组”。博拉表示他对他的队能取得好成绩充满信心，并呼吁中国公众成为国家队的坚强后盾。
博拉·米卢蒂诺维奇认为，对于征战在通往世界杯决赛道路上的球队而言，梦想、自信和奋斗是最重要的。“我们要实现一个目标，就必须互相信任，”博拉在为《足球报》写的一篇文章中说，“队员们必须相信自己和他们周围的人。每个人都会遇到困难和失败， 这些是足球运动的正常部分。”“我们必须团结一心，否则就会失败，”博拉补充道。“现在我们是一个大家庭……我要求我的球员们这样去想：我自己的每一个步骤和每一场比赛都将具有永恒的重要性。”博拉还说，“虽然做起来不容易，但我希望每个人都能牢记在心。”