Soccer: Chinese pay homage to charismatic 'Milu'

KUNMING - Bora Milutinovic is not a god.

But for China's 80 million soccer fans, the Serb who has coached their national team to their first World Cup finals comes pretty close.

They call him the "Magical Coach", the "Miracle Worker."

As China prepare to face Brazil, Costa Rica and Turkey in group C of the competition next month, fans are praying Milutinovic can work his magic again and conjure them into the second round.

At a high-altitude training camp in the south-western city of Kunming, they line up in the hope of a smile, an autograph and a few words of broken Chinese from the most famous foreigner in China.

"We all love Milu. He is like a hero to us," said Han Xu, 19, as she waited by the side of the pitch, clad in a pink T-shirt with a large purple heart on the front.

"Although he is a foreigner, we think of him as Chinese."

Known in Mandarin simply as "Milu," Milutinovic, 57, is a household name in a country of 1.3 billion people, displacing Canadian television star Dashan (Big Mountain) as the nation's most loved and recognised foreigner.

Milu's craggy face, topped by a shaggy George Harrison mop, beams out from myriad advertisements for everything from air conditioners and rice wine to electronic translation aids.

Chinese media hang on his every word. Was he just a coaching genius or some sort of supernatural being, asked one reporter at a news conference in Kunming. Milutinovic shrugged his shoulders.

"My name is B-O-R-A. Milu in Chinese," he replied with a chuckle. "I am lucky, I enjoy what I do. That is all."

But it took superhuman dedication - and a thick skin - to steer China on to the world soccer stage.

Early last year, Milutinovic looked sure to follow his two predecessors, German Klaus Schlappner and Briton Bob Houghton, on to the scrap heap.

Goal-hungry fans and media ranted about his laid-back coaching style and conservative tactics. They booed his team even when they won.

"I remember hearing the crowd chanting 'Milu! Milu'," Milutinovic recalls. "Only later I knew they were saying 'Sack Milu! Sack Milu!"'

Milutinovic came to China after guiding four national teams, Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States and Nigeria, into the second round of previous World Cups.

But coaching China was the biggest challenge of his career, he said

When he took over from Houghton in January 2000, he found a team of under-achievers who regarded their national duties as a political yoke.

Determined to boost morale, Milutinovic preached a new creed of "happy soccer" - enjoy yourselves, he told his charges.

It was a bold move in a country accustomed to authoritarian sports coaches and strict, military-style training drills.

Chinese soccer officials adopted a rare hands-off attitude, giving the Serb leeway to overhaul the team.

But after a shaky start last year with only one win and two draws out of nine friendly matches, soccer media and fans began to bay for blood.

Frustrated by the constant criticism and sloppy performances just before the World Cup qualifiers, Milutinovic snapped.

"If this time China can't make the finals, I will jump off the Great Wall," he said.

Fortunately for him, he never had to take the plunge.

His tactics paid off with a convincing run of 12 victories, one draw and one defeat in the Asian qualifiers.

When China clinched a finals berth on October 7, jubilant crowds raised aloft his picture on Tiananmen Square.

His critics silenced, Milutinovic is now hailed as the secret weapon in China's national squad.

His players speak of him as an inspirational father figure who united a fragmented team and taught them how to enjoy the game.

"His optimistic attitude rubbed off on all us players so now we can face all difficulties," captain Ma Mingyu said.

Watching a training session in the Kunming training camp, it is clear this is not empty flattery.

Milutinovic joins in a series of frenetic drills, shouting out instructions in a mishmash of Serbian, Spanish and English translated into Chinese by an interpreter at his side. He rushes around the pitch with the energy of a man half his age.

Relaxing after the session, he chats and jokes with his underlings who wrestle him playfully to the ground.

As well as boosting his team's confidence and a nation's sporting prestige, Milutinovic has attracted unprecedented international interest - and money - to Chinese soccer.

In the process, he has earned up to US$3 million ($6.66 million) from his own sponsorship deals on top of an annual salary estimated at US$800,000.

If China reach their stated finals target of one win, one goal and one draw, there would be plenty more where that came from.

But the million-dollar question is what Milutinovic plans to do after the World Cup.

Rumours have swirled about an invitation to coach Japan.

And for any nation hoping to make their debut in the World Cup, he is sure to be the No 1 choice.

Milutinovic is deliberately vague about his plans.

Would he consider taking a sixth side to the World Cup?

He says with a grin: "Let me finish the fifth one first."

- REUTERS