Roberto Martinez did not fail at Belgium - and there's reason for optimism heading into Portugal's latest chapter

It was a decision few would have seen coming. Left-field perhaps doesn’t quite do it justice. Controversial certainly does. Roberto Martinez, who only a few months ago was managing the Belgium national team and in the process overseeing their disastrous group stage exit at the 2022 World Cup, was the person chosen to replace Portugal’s most successful ever manager, Fernando Santos, heading into Euro 2024 and beyond.

Martinez breaks the mould for Portugal, in some ways. He is, after all, the first ever non-Portuguese-speaking manager to take over the Portugal national team. In total, fifty two managers coached the Seleção - either as caretaker or in a full-time capacity - before the Spaniard was appointed on the 9th January 2023 - 50 of whom were Portuguese, and the other two being Brazilian.

Martinez was quick to indicate that he wanted to learn Portuguese as quickly as possible, almost as a priority, and while hardly a requirement when taking into account the multilingual nature of most Portuguese footballers in the modern game, with English in particular so widely spoken, there was no doubt something unusual about hearing the manager of the Portugal national team communicating with journalists and announcing himself to fans at his unveiling in Spanish.

There is obviously nothing inherently wrong with that, of course. Football is the most global sport in the world, and this is one of the things that makes it so enjoyable and special. Nevertheless, Portugal would have to do something entirely unprecedented should they want to win the World Cup with Roberto Martinez at the helm. It is not a small point to make that no nation in history has ever won the World Cup with a foreign manager.

Indeed, each and every one of the 22 World Cup winning sides to date were coached by managers from their respective countries, all the way from Uruguay with Uruguayan Alberto Suppici in charge in 1930, to Argentina with Argentinian Lionel Scaloni in the dugout in 2022. Portugal would have to make history should Martinez be in charge in 2026 and Portugal fulfil their long-held ambition of lifting the biggest trophy in international football.

The reception to Martínez's appointment has largely been of harmless hostility. There is an irritation among supporters who were expecting more. Some hold a more nationalistic opinion and believe the manager of Portugal should be Portuguese - particularly when there are so many top class Portuguese managers across the globe. Others are simply unimpressed with his track record to date and believe a nation like Portugal should be attracting a more reputable manager.

This, however, is a harsh reflection of a manager who arrives with a strong CV and a record with Belgium which, contrary to popular opinion, was actually highly respectable. And the following is a defence of the young Spaniard who will be hoping to lead Portugal into an even more successful era than the previous one.

His record at Belgium was actually good

When Martinez arrived as manager of the Belgium national team, he was handed the daunting but exciting task of leading an expecting country’s Golden Generation, of that there is no doubt. That was not being displayed on the pitch particularly well prior to his arrival, however, with Belgium dumped out of Euro 2016 by Wales. But the talent in that Belgian team made them one of the very best in the world. Martinez, for his part, oversaw a remarkable period for the national team in which they topped the FIFA World rankings for 4 straight years from 2018 to 2022.

Of course, the FIFA World rankings are somewhat meaningless; you do not get a trophy for leading the way in this category, but it is a clear representation of a side that is winning regularly and consistently, and that’s exactly what Martinez enabled Belgium to do.

In qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, Belgium went unbeaten, winning nine of their ten qualifiers, and were the very first European nation to confirm their presence at the tournament finals. They went on to win all 5 of their matches en route to the semi-final, where they were narrowly beaten by eventual world champions France, before dispatching of England in the third-place playoff to claim bronze in the biggest sporting event on the planet.

Qualifying for Euro 2020 was even more impressive as they won all 10 of their matches - one of only two side to do so - and conceded just 6 goals in the process. Once again, they were the very first team to qualify for the competition proper.

With an ageing Golden Generation, the postponement of the continental event for a whole year due to the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps hindered Martinez and Belgium more than any other nation, yet still they proved their quality as they cruised out of their group containing Denmark, Russia and Finland with three wins from three, before going on to defeat Portugal in the Round of 16. Their run would end at the quarter finals after a narrow 2-1 defeat to eventual champions Italy.

Belgium ultimately ended up winning nothing despite being top of the World rankings for such a long period of time, but ultimately were never considered the outright favourites in either competition - and intriguingly were only knocked out by the eventual champions in each of Martinez’s first two attempts at winning a major tournament. That, you have to say, is not a bad record to possess.

His final tournament in charge - the 2022 World Cup, for which they qualified for once again unbeaten - was something of a disaster as Belgium crashed out at the group stage - but in hindsight, it was a remarkably tricky group, with the two sides progressing above them - Croatia and Morocco - both going on to reach the semi-finals. Had the Belgian forwards been just a little more prolific in front of goal, Belgium certainly could have progressed at the expense of Croatia in the final round of the group stage, and who knows what they would have gone on to achieve had they managed it. But in reality there was no shame in finishing below a highly experienced Croatia and a remarkably impressive Morocco, who went on to dump both Spain and Portugal out of the competition.

His style of football should suit Portugal

What’s also exciting regarding Martinez is his track record of playing front-foot, attack-minded football. Having endured some cagey and conservative football under the more pragmatic Fernando Santos for 6 years, it should be refreshing - and perhaps even slightly disorientating - to see a very different style implemented under the new coaching staff.

That’s certainly the expectation, and one which Martinez has not sought to quash; certainly from what he has been saying in his press conferences we should see a more pressing, more adventurous Portugal team - which should really suit a nation currently blessed with an abundance of flair and attacking quality.

Defensively there were question marks regarding Martinez during his club days - his time at Wigan Athletic and Everton certainly suggested that teams under his stewardship could be leaky - but at national level, that certainly hasn’t been the case, and his Belgium side were notoriously pretty difficult to score against for the most part.

Tactical flexibility - may we even see Portugal go with a three at the back?

Something potentially even more disorientating about Portugal under Martinez which largely ties into the previous point could be the alteration in tactical approach and, with it, a modification to the formation deployed. It was not uncommon to see portions of the Portuguese fanbase calling for a little more experimentation when Santos was in charge, and some even suggested, with reason, that the players at Portugal’s disposal would have been well suited to a back-three with attack-minded wingbacks.

Considering Belgium under Martinez were one of the nations most synonymous with this tactical approach, it is not inconceivable to envisage Portugal one day playing such a system themselves, which is pretty unheard of for this national team in modern history.

However, considering the relative success Martinez had at Belgium with this approach, it could be an interesting prospect for the Selecao.

Young experienced managers are tough to find in international football - Portugal have one of the best

Finally, have a think about the number of relatively young top-class managers currently at the helm of a national team. There really aren’t many at all, are there? The best managers on the planet under the age of 50 are almost exclusively managing club sides. Very few choose to take up an international position.

Martinez is an exception. Still just 49 years of age, he has already garnered years of experience of national team management through his time at Belgium, and really bought into the project and long-term vision of the federation. He was front and centre of much of their work not only for the present, but for the future too. That sort of big-picture type management could be ideal for a Portugal side beginning to transition from the old guard of Ronaldo, Pepe, Patricio and Moutinho into what looks like potentially another Golden Generation.

He didn’t win anything with Belgium’s Golden Generation - but he came pretty close, and that experience surely puts him in a great position as he starts his journey as Portugal’s head coach against Liechtenstein on March 23rd.

Roberto Martinez. Photo author: Кирилл Венедиктов. License link.