Northern Ireland v Belarus (15/11/2024)

WORDS: IAN PARKER

THE COACH: BELARUS Carlos Alos’s managerial career has taken him all over the world. As a player the former goalkeeper’s career never rose above the fourth tier of Spanish football, but since moving into coaching the Catalan has worked in both club and international football in Europe, Asia and Africa. His interest in coaching was apparent early on. He was still midway through his playing career when he began working with the youth teams at his club, Amposta, and when he later joined Roquetenc - the penultimate club of his playing career - he did so as the player-manager. Alos’s willingness to hit the road first became apparent back in 2010 when his former Amposta boss Josep Gombau (a name familiar to Aston Villa fans as he is now the Under-21s boss for the Villans) invited him to head out to Hong Kong and join him as an assistant at Kitchee SC. The club, now one of the dominant powers in Hong Kong football, had strong ties to Barcelona’s academy system, and that took Alos on to Poland with Escola Varsovia, also part of the Barca network. Alos then remained in Poland to take charge of Pogon Siedlce in January 2015, but it proved to be a short-term appointment and by the August of that year he was clocking up the air miles again, heading to Kazakhstan for a role with that nation’s Under-17s side. He stayed in the central Asian country to take over as FC Kairat boss in early 2017 and guided them to success in the Kazakhstan Cup that year.

Next up was a move to Morocco with FAR Rabat, and then Alos moved on to Qatar SC, then to Cyprus with Enosis Neon Paralimni. A return to the international football arena came in March 2022 when he was named as Rwanda boss, but their bid to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations was derailed by a surprise home loss to Mozambique in June 2023, and by August Alos was announcing his resignation via Instagram. That same day he was named as the successor to Georgy Kondratyev as Belarus boss. His first game in charge was a goalless draw away to Andorra during Euro 2024 qualifying, however Alos has had a positive impact. As a former goalkeeper there is little surprise that his emphasis as a coach is on defence, and Belarus are generally stingy at the back - something Northern Ireland discovered in Zalaegerszeg last month. Their problem is making it count at the other end, with the White Wings largely reliant on quick counter attacks and set pieces.

IRISHFA.COM

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