Julen Lopetegui, The Spanish National Team Coach, Has Been Fired On The Eve Of The 2018 World Cup

If you didn’t think soccer was full of flops before, the Spanish national team might have just committed the biggest one ever, right before the biggest tournament in the sport. Julen Lopetegui, the Spanish national team coach, has been fired on the eve of the 2018 World Cup. And not only has the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) fired Team Spain’s head coach, they fired him because Real Madrid hired him to be their coach next season! If you think that doesn’t make any sense, you’re right.

Even more senseless is the rationale proffered by the head of RFEF, Luis Rubiales (who has held this lofty position for just a month), on why he simply had to sack the undefeated (yes, undefeated!) coach: It turns out that – horror of horrors! – Lopetegui didn’t inform the RFEF of his new employment offer “soon enough.” The shin guards on this guy, amirite?

In other words, the RFEF probably had their own guy they wanted to fill the Real Madrid role, and Lopetegui took the job offer without asking “permission” from a completely unrelated entity. Since there is no conflict of interest that the same person is the coach of both the national team and one of its premier regional professional clubs, analysts are left scratching their heads as to why exactly Lopetegui was sacked.

Here’s what Rubiales had to say (without saying anything of substance) re his baffling decision to fire an undefeated coach two days before his team starts its World Cup run:

"I'm sure this will, in time, make us stronger. I admire Julen very much, I respect him very much. He seems a top trainer and that makes it harder to make the decision...You can't do things this way, two or three days before the World Cup. We have been compelled to make this decision."

If timing is the issue here, as the above quote seems to point out with the whole “You can’t do things this way, two or three days before the World Cup” bit, then who among these head-butting alphas has now committed the most egregious sin? Is it Lopetegui, accepting an unrelated future job in the country he represents, two days before the World Cup? Or is it Rubiales, who has fired the Spanish national team’s head coach, against the protestations of the team’s top stars, two days before the World Cup?

Honestly, this wouldn’t be weird from a team like, say, Nigeria or Saudi Arabia or Iran, as nobody expects them to win with odds around +30000 to +100000. Such a seeming publicity stunt – a means to sow discord on a crummy team so they have an excuse for why they got bounced one week into a month-long tournament – would be expected from clubs at the bottom of the World Cup power rankings.

But Spain? Spain is a favorite to win the whole tournament, and their odds to do so have steadily crept up under Lopetegui’s leadership. When the 2018 World Cup odds were first released back at the end of January, most online sportsbooks (Bovada, SportsBetting, etc.) had Spain at around +750 to win the title. Now, those odds sit at +650, as the team has closed the gap on Germany and Brazil. But news of Lopetegui’s firing is still fresh, and it likely hasn’t been reflected in the odds boards as yet.

For its part, the RFEF is moving forward, announcing Spain sporting director Fernando Hierro as the new head coach for the duration of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. How this will affect the team’s outlook going into the world’s biggest sports tournament remains to be seen, but – in an event where any perceived weakness or lack of proper planning can be a death blow – it seems that RFEF’s chief is more interested in swinging his ball bag than giving his “wards” the best possible chance to win. Lopetegui has made no official comment, letting the fanbase’s outrage apparently speak for itself.

Naturally, a World Cup victory in the wake of Lopetegui’s dismissal will empower both the RFEF and Rubiales further (and empower whatever strange intra-national politics is going on here), but a loss – particularly an early loss led by any perceived managerial error re the players on the pitch – could be bad news for Rubiales and his budding Spanish soccer dictatorship.

BettingOddsWorldCup.com knows only time will tell how big of a bonehead move Lupategui’s firing will turn out to be. Regardless, however, once the World Cup is over, all of Spain’s collective attention will fall back on the new Real Madrid manager.

Here’s hoping Rubiales’ time in the Russian sun is worth it.