rom making players ‘shake like dogs’ after training to superstition behind the white shirt, Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard adds to his legend

Herve Renard spent the majority of his early years as a coach at lower-rung teams. He started in 1999 at little-known French club SC Draguignan. After helping them gain three back-to-back promotions, he took charge of Cambridge United who were in the third division of English football at that time. From there, his journeyman career took him to Vietnam to coach Nam Dinh. After a few months in South-East Asia, he returned to France where he joined fifth-division side AS Cherbourg.

No matter where he was or what level he coached, Renard’s teams developed a signature style: for the Frenchman, possession-based football was paramount; when his players were out of possession, they were expected to employ a high press to win back the ball. To play with such intensity, he paid plenty of emphasis on improving fitness, and wherever he went, there was a change in the off-field culture, be it in terms of food and nutrition or recovery post-matches.

So, while Saudi Arabia’s strategy to employ a high defensive line and high press against Argentina was termed as ‘bold’ by experts, it was the most basic approach for Renard. The 54-year-old was doing what he’s always done and he wasn’t going to turn his back on his style, even while risking a humiliating loss in his team’s World Cup opener.

For a few minutes, it seemed like that – Lionel Messi had put Argentina ahead, they then had two goals disallowed and were caught offside seven times in the first half alone. Some might have thought that they were lucky reprieves, but from Renard’s point of view, it meant his offside trap was operating perfectly.

The high-risk-high-reward strategy paid off eventually, with Saudi Arabia – who had just three wins in World Cup history before Tuesday – pulling off a seismic 2-1 win over tournament-favourites Argentina in the Pool C match.

Making players ‘shake like a dog’

Saudi Arabia showed remarkable tenacity and fitness to first neutralise Argentina’s threats and then launch counterattacks on them. Again, what came as a surprise to the world was routine for a typical Renard team. In an interview with The Guardian, former Cambridge player John Ruddy recalled how Renard made players ‘shake like a dog’ after training.

“One of the biggest memories I have of Hervé is the work rate not only he demanded of us but also showed himself in the gym. The pre-season under him was and still is the hardest one I have ever done,” Ruddy said. “Hervé used to have us in the gym doing planks for two minutes and I remember shaking like a dog. All he was doing was laughing and shouting: ‘Come on John!’ He used to do crunches for five-minute sets too and was in exceptional shape himself. It looks like he still is.”

He’s done the same with the Saudis, making them one of Asia’s most improved teams since the 5-0 loss to Russia four years ago in the opening match of the 2018 World Cup.

Tuesday’s win was another moment under the sun for the unfancied coach who has often turned underdogs into winners, especially national teams. Renard hasn’t always been successful at club level – his earlier stints produced mixed results whereas later in his career, Renard-coached Sochaux were relegated from the French top division in 2014, and in the following year, he was sacked by Lille after 13 games.

But with national teams, it’s been a different story. He is the only coach to have won the African Cup of Nations with two countries – with Zambia in 2012 and three years later with Ivory Coast. In 2016, Renard became Africa’s highest-paid manager when he became the coach of Morocco, whom he guided to a first World Cup appearance since 1998 in 2018.

Renard’s Morocco opened that campaign with a surprising 2-2 draw with Spain. That result pales in comparison to the stunning win on Tuesday.

Not just the Green shirts that fought in the middle, Renard’s white shirt is likely to become one of the most iconic in world football. The white shirt, worn unbuttoned at the top, is a sort of superstition for Renard.

He told Espire how and why he started wearing the shirt during games. “We (Zambia) were playing in the second game of the (2010) Africa Cup of Nations against Cameroon,” Renard recalled to Esquire. “I wore a light blue shirt, but we lost 3-2 so in the following game, I wore a white shirt. We won and finished first in the group, in front of Cameroon.”

From then on, the white shirt has been the Frenchman’s favourite.

“Of course, I have lost some games since then,” laughs the Frenchman. “Maybe I even lost a lot. But I also won many. I like this style but I’d say the weather has to be nice. When I coached in England, the white shirt in December was not possible. Or maybe this is the reason I wasn’t successful in England!”