Would Wilfried Nancy ever coach a national team? Crew coach shares insight on the prospect
Brianna Mac KayEven during the thick of the MLS regular season, there's a lot of discourse in men's soccer about international play. Both the Copa America and European Championship tournaments are nearing an end, and the Paris Olympic Games are set to start later this month.
Crew coach Wilfried Nancy has always supported his players competing for their national teams, even when it costs them regular-season games. Nancy considers representing a country at the international level a "privilege" and is open to becoming a national team coach in the future.
"For sure, this is something that I would like to do one day," Nancy said. "To represent your country, this is something huge. I have the pleasure to have friends who coach for a national team, they tell me that this is not the same job because it involves the country and it takes a lot of pressure, but this is also a really nice challenge."
On multiple occasions, Nancy has stated, "I don’t know how long I’m going to stay in MLS," but there has been no indication that he plans to leave Columbus in the near future. Nancy signed a contract extension with the Crew in April.
If Nancy were to coach a national team, there are multiple countries he has ties to.
A native of France, Nancy spent all his professional playing career there. He became a coach with CF Montreal in Canada, before taking the job with Columbus. But ultimately, none of that may matter. While there are restrictions on what country a player can represent, FIFA has no regulations that coaches be connected to the national teams they lead.
Former Crew coach Gregg Berhalter, who took Columbus to the 2015 MLS Cup, illustrates the difficulties of navigating the different responsibilities that come with national team duties. Berhalter on Wednesday was let go as the U.S. national team's coach for the second time.
A specific challenge Nancy acknowledges is that there are only small windows when the whole roster is training together.
"Obviously this is not the same job," Nancy said. "With the national team, you are also really, really detailed, but you don’t have the time to apply everything on the pitch. So, we have to find the balance between what is the priority to work on, and what we can discuss."
A national team coach that Nancy admires is Uruguay's Marcelo Bielsa, who took the national team to the Copa America semifinals before falling to Colombia on Wednesday.
"He’s so good when he takes the national team," Nancy said. "He’s so good to create chemistry, to create a vision, but a collective vision from youth until the first team."
It's an example Nancy may one day be able to emulate.
Wilfried Nancy considering playing for a national team is 'an unreal opportunity' for Columbus Crew players
FIFA guidelines require clubs to allow players to participate in international play that falls within the federation's official calendar, which does not include the Olympics. This means clubs, such as Middlesbrough FC, are able to decline the release of players to participate in the Games, which is the reported reason why former Crew midfielder Aidan Morris was missing from the U.S. Olympic roster.
"The Olympics Games, this is amazing to do it. But at the same time, this is not a good moment for the clubs," Nancy said. "So, this is why many players will not make it, because their club don't want to let them go over there. So, this is normal.
"I can tell that in Europe, I have many friends who is going to coach national teams for the Olympic Games, and it was a nightmare for them, because they were supposed to get all the good players, but they're only getting 50%, or 40%, or 30% of the players that they wanted, because they're young, they're good and they have also, important games with their clubs."
From the start of preseason, Nancy had made it clear that he would allow Crew's goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to make the trip to Paris if given the opportunity, which he will officially be doing after being announced as a part of the U.S. 18-player roster this weekend.
"That’s why he’s (Nancy) the best, "He wants every player to succeed, and he knows that national team is an unreal opportunity, just to be able to showcase yourself on a different level, and he’s always going to support that. He always wants to support players dreams and aspirations"