As the 2026 World Cup reached the last 16 rounds, coach departures and early farewells became one of the most talked about topics of the tournament. In the article published under the signature of Santi Nolla in Mundo Deportivo, one of Spain’s leading sports newspapers, some countries that have already bid farewell to the cup were discussed as a separate file.
According to Nolla, it is not right to put every elimination in the same category. For some teams, changing coaches can be considered part of a natural process. However, the situation is more severe for Germany, Uruguay and Türkiye. The Spanish writer described these three countries as the “three biggest failures” of the tournament.
In the article, Germany’s elimination by penalties against Paraguay was described as a big break. Julian Nagelsmann’s departure was considered not just a change of manager, but the result of German football’s massive collapse in the tournament. Nolla did not put the elimination of the Netherlands under Ronald Koeman in the same category. He emphasized that the Netherlands played good football and also lost on penalties against one of the strongest teams of the tournament, Morocco.
The evaluation made for Türkiye came directly from the difference in expectations. Nolla saw it as a heavy result that the National Team, led by Arda Güler, could not get out of the group consisting of Paraguay, Australia and the USA. In the article, it was acknowledged that these three opponents were strong teams; However, it was stated that the group was surmountable considering the current Turkish football level.
This comment reopens a familiar debate for Türkiye. The quality of the squad, the number of football players playing in Europe and the presence of a special talent like Arda Güler increased the expectations before the tournament. Therefore, the National Team’s stay in the group was considered not only as a sporting result, but also as a great missed opportunity.
Uruguay was also included as the second biggest disappointment on the list. The fact that the two-time world champion South American team could not even make it to the last 32 rounds was considered a difficult result to explain, despite the presence of a strong coach like Marcelo Bielsa. While Nolla found it normal that Uruguay lost to Spain, he found it unacceptable that they could not win against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde.
Coach seats in the tournament also became vacant rapidly. There were coaching changes in Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Ecuador, Czech Republic, Tunisia, South Korea, South Africa and Germany. Nolla attributed this situation to the decrease in patience in modern football and the replacement of long-term projects with short-term results.
That’s why the examples of Didier Deschamps and Zlatko Dalic were placed in a separate place in the article. Deschamps has seen four World Cups in charge of France since 2012. Dalic has been managing Croatia since 2017. On the other hand, the dismissal of Sabri Lamouchi in Tunisia after the first match was cited as one of the most striking examples of the harsh coach traffic in the cup.
In Santi Nolla’s assessment, the point that distinguishes Türkiye from other early eliminated countries is the gap between potential and result. The National Team had a squad that would not be satisfied with merely participating in the tournament. Arda Güler’s rise in Real Madrid, Hakan Çalhanoğlu’s experience and the number of players playing in Europe made Türkiye one of the natural candidates for the goal of getting out of the group.
This is the basis of the harsh comments in the Spanish press: Türkiye is criticized not for having a bad draw, but for not being able to get the reward of the squad it has. The departure of nine coaches while the last 16 rounds of the World Cup were still being played showed the brutality of the tournament. However, according to Nolla, the real big wound was opened in Germany, Uruguay and Türkiye.
