Carlos Queiroz: Former Madrid boss and Sir Alex's assistant on cusp of history with Oman

Analysis

His knee patched up after an operation, his body rested after time at his game farm in native Mozambique and on the coast in Portugal, the 72-year-old Carlos Queiroz is showing no signs of slowing down.

He will be leading Oman's bid for a first-ever World Cup place, appointed in July to replace Rashid Jaber after they had failed at the first attempt but have another chance via Asia's fourth round in October. Oman will play against Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in a mini-league tournament to determine a place at the finals. They each play a single game against each other in Doha, and the group winners qualify for next year's tournament in North America, while the runners-up get a further opportunity in a two-legged play-off in November.

Praised by players for his work ethic and astute coaching, Queiroz has managed Real Madrid and worked as Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United. Oman is his eighth different national team and he is bidding to coach at a record-equalling fifth consecutive World Cup.

While Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira holds the record of coaching at six World Cups, it is the Serb Bora Milutinovic who has the record for coaching at successive tournaments - five from 1986 to 2002, all with different countries.

Queiroz has also collected the air miles in his lengthy coaching career, which started at youth level after he had completed university in Lisbon, eschewing any hopes of a playing career.

His success with Portugal in back-to-back Under-20 World Cups in 1989 and 1991 brought him instant recognition as he fostered a "golden generation" of players that included Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Joao Pinto.

Queiroz should have gone to his first World Cup with South Africa in 2002. But after qualifying the country in impressive fashion, overcoming a logistically difficult qualifying campaign, he was the victim of internal politics and fired ahead of the tournament in Japan and South Korea.

By that time, he had already had his first stint as coach of Portugal (1991-93), and it was his return to the helm of the Selecao that he belatedly got to coach at a World Cup, in South Africa in 2010.

He then took Iran to three successive tournaments in 2014, 2018 and 2022, without progressing to the knockout rounds but did oversee the dramatic defeat of Wales in the last tournament in Qatar.

His other national team posts have been with October's opponents, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar - guiding the former to third place at the Arabian Gulf Cup in 1998 - as well as Colombia and Egypt, whom he led to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations final where they lost to Senegal on penalties in Cameroon.

The Oman job ended an 18-month hiatus in Queiroz's coaching career after his contract was terminated by Qatar in December 2023. There were talks with Tunisia late last year, but they never gained any traction.

The Portuguese coach has a long-standing reputation for thriving on confrontation and has had many tetchy touchline brushes, but he is perhaps better known for the meticulous nature of his preparations and the all-consuming approach to his jobs. He and his small team of assistants will be looking for any advantage to give Oman every chance of getting to the 2026 World Cup and for Queiroz to make it five in a row.

Words by Mark Gleeson.