Saudis Sack Calderon; Paqueta to take Helm

Despite leading his team to the World Cup, manager Gabriel Calderon has been fired by Saudi Arabia’s Football Federation. Calderon will be replaced by Brazilian coach Marcos Paqueta, who guided Al Hilal to the Saudi league title last year.

Calderon had been under fire in the Saudi media after the team’s poor performance at the recent West Asian Games and had been openly criticized for his World Cup training schedule.

This is a move that I can’t understand. There were few complaints when Calderon led his team through an undefeated run of qualifying, but apparently this wasn’t good enough for the princes who control Saudi football. Now Paqueta takes over and will have less than six months to bring his team together. Is he that much better a coach than Calderon that this move was warranted at such a late date?

Calderon brought a sense of organization and discipline to his Saudi team. It is unfortunate that his Federation appears to have neither.