The Awesome (Though Perhaps Ill-Advised) Big Phil

No matter what you think of how the current Portugal team is playing, Luiz Felipe Scolari (AKA Big Phil) has firmly entrenched himself among the top managers in the world with his career to this point. After nearly two decades in club football (and a brief, odd time in charge of the Kuwaiti national side), he took over a disheveled Brazil team shortly before the 2002 World Cup and led them to victory, after which he time went to Portugal and took the hosts to the title game of Euro 2004, where they were defeated only by The Greek Miracle.

In addition to his results, Scolari is also know for being passionate, fiercely protective of his players, and at least a little bit crazy, all three of which he demonstrated at the end of yesterday’s qualifier against Serbia. After seeing the Serbs tie his team 1-1 in the 88th minute, Scolari for some reason took a post-match swing at Serbian defender Ivica Dragutinovic who had picked up a red card in the dying minutes of the match. According to Scolari, who may or may not have thought the Serb was coming over to attack poor, helpless Ricardo Quaresma (And, really, who could blame him?), it’s really not that big of a deal because he just “touched [Dragutinovic's] hair a bit.” Brilliant.

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Category: Europe, World Football