Doha: An English-American Coach who won consecutive World Cups described that the upcoming mega-sport event which Qatar will host for the first time will be a remarkable one.
“I think it’s gonna be an extraordinarily competitive World Cup, I really do feel for coaches because it’s very hard with ten days preparations,” said Jill Ellis who was a speaker at the Star Chat session during the 8th Aspire Academy Global Summit, yesterday.
She continued saying: “I don’t think you’ll win a World Cup without depth, you have to manage the suspensions, injuries.”
When asked who she thinks will win the 22nd edition of the football fiesta, she said: “there’s some great teams [like] Brazil, France, all these teams are gonna be in the hunt, it’s gonna be exceptional, and the home team – they’re gonna be driven by the support of home fans, it’s so special, it’s such an amazing feeling.”
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 happening a few weeks from now is the most compact World Cup, allowing fans to watch multiple live matches per day. On this, Ellis said she wouldn’t oppose to have an easy bus ride to get to the next match but the crucial component for the players is managing the physical demands of travel.
The ambassador for the United States Soccer Federation narrowed down three elements in winning a World Cup: athleticism, technique and mentality.
“You need all those elements but you also need holistically to look at your team and you have to have an energy, synergy, and love almost within the group. They will not always gonna love the coach, trust me, you need to create this environment where they’re not gonna be each other’s best friend but they understand that the greater purpose here is to serve the whole, and if you don’t have that synergy or chemistry, I don’t think it’s enough to have pure talent, there has to be other elements.”
Ellis has won two consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cups, in 2015 and 2019. She coached the United States women’s national team from 2014 to October 2019, and now serves as an ambassador for the United States Soccer Federation and the president of San Diego Wave FC.
