Manchester United’s No 2 Carlos Queiroz has made the highly interesting choice to take the helm of Portugal, replacing outgoing Chelsea head coach Luis Felipe Scolari.

The Mozambique born Queiroz has been mostly successful throughout his career, starting with the Under-20 Portuguese “Golden Generation” (Figo, Rui Costa, Pinto, Jorge Costa and Cuoto), two years with Sporting (where he had good results, but could only win the Portuguese Cup), a famed pit stop in NY with the MetroStars, authored the infamous “Q-Report” for the United States Soccer Federation, Grampus Eight in Japan, UAE (cha-ching), qualified South Africa for the 2002 World Cup, but resigned before the tournament due to a falling out with the South African Federation and subsequently became Sir Alex’s right hand man in Manchester after Steve McLaren headed over to Middlesbrough.

Queiroz spent just a season in Manchester before being lured to the bright lights of Real Madrid, where he was named head coach in the summer of 2003 (and right after David Beckham was signed) but only lasted until May 2004 when Madrid ended the season in 4th place and disappointed in the Champions League.

(more…)

With Jose Antonio Camacho resigning his post as head coach of Portuguese side Benfica, all eyes have focused on Manchester United’s #2 Carlos Queiroz.

The Mozambique born Queiroz has worked with Portugal’s Youth National Team setup at the U-17 level, Sporting Lisbon, NY Metrostars, Grampus Eight, UAE, South Africa and now with Sir Alex Ferguson’s announcement that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon, you have to wonder if the opportunity to head back to Lisbon might be too strong to turn down.

image via ManUtdZone