Lamb Rudolf - Roki Marcic will soon divide his coaching career into two parts, but unlike many of his colleagues - after five and a half years as head coach, he is on his way to forming a fifth as an assistant on the coaching staff.
Marčić will be an assistant at Itihad Kalba in the United Arab Emirates until June, and his greatest success, the King's Cup in Saudi Arabia, was won as an assistant. Vuk Rašović u Al Feihu 2022. godine.
Throughout his time working in the Middle East clubs, which has been four and a half years, Roki has been Rašović's assistant. Until three days ago...
"Unfortunately, there was a series of bad results and Rašović was fired, and that's how it is in the Arab world. In the league of 14 clubs, only five managed to keep their jobs a year ago. Rašović left, but the club decided to keep all the assistants. Vuk himself asked us to stay until June and the end of the contract. There will be no problem, because the Iranian Gazi was transferred to coach from the position of head of the U-23 team, and previously he was successfully the first coach of Kalba. We hope that we will record good results again. It will be difficult in the first next match, because we are visiting the great Jazira, but then we should defeat Diba at home, and then our coaches' Jafra Zeljko Petrovic i Milivoje Novović"They outplayed us in the first game of the season, but their form now is not like it was then," says the 51-year-old coach from Bar.
Coaches usually take on the role of head of the profession after learning as assistants. Where did the trade come from in your case?
"Honestly, I have no ambitions to work as a head coach anymore. I realized that the most beautiful job for me is working with Rašović, because he is a fantastic man and an incredible expert with a special and unique view of football. Hence the results, because winning the King's Cup and beating Al Hilal in the final, which is the Asian Real Madrid, is like, for example, Mornar beating Partizan in the final. And it's not just Al Hilal, we also eliminated Al Ittihad in the semi-finals, whose greatness is evidenced by the fact that he played for them until recently." Karim Benzema. He is in Al Hilal in the meantime, but we didn't lose to Al Nasr either with Cristiano Ronaldo in the team - Marčić points out, not without pride.
What is the difference between working in Saudi Arabia or the Emirates?
"Life is nicer and more liberal in the Emirates, although it is very expensive. Although victories are paid here, the bonuses are exceptional and winning the Cup with Al Feih is truly richly rewarded. The climate in the Emirates is very unpleasant from April to October, but you get used to that exceptional humidity. There are also a lot of coaches from the region in the Emirates, along with Petrovic on the bench of the great Al Ain. Vladimir Ivic. And there are players from our region in the teams, in my team they are Jovic from Partizan and Slovenian Miha BlažičAnd in our coaching staff they are Ljubisa Rankovic from Partizan, and fitness Vladan Popović"What I notice as a problem is the locker room. It is very difficult to keep the players together, because there are a lot of Brazilians, Iranians, Africans..., and when things go wrong, bad results occur and relationships are significantly disrupted," explains Marčić.
From rivals to the greatest friendship
Rudolf Marčić spent five and a half years gaining knowledge and experience at Mornar, which he brought to the First League in 2009, then worked at Petrovac, and was second in the voting for the best coach in Montenegro. The path then took him to the Gulf Leagues...
"I follow the developments in Montenegrin clubs and I'm glad that they have stabilized, because in my time there were salaries in January and then you had to wait until June for the next one," recalls Marčić and adds:
"Back in 1994, in the Radnički jersey from Novi Beograd, I Vuk Rasovic broke a rib in a duel. He played for Rad at the time. His father is from Kuče, his mother from Crmnica and we happened to meet on the beach in Bar. He didn't know that he had seriously injured me, and then after a while he contacted me, saw an article in the newspaper, and since then, it turns out, he has been following my work. He invited me to assist him and we have not been apart since then. I have a contract until June, and he already has three good offers that he is weighing up and we will see. I have the most beautiful work with him and I really have no ambition to work as a head coach again," concluded Marčić
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