Josip Kuže
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Josip Kuže (born 13 November 1952 in Vranje) is a Croatian football coach and player. He is currently the coach of Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, for which he also played until 1988 and gathered 11 Yugoslavian U-21 caps.
He is best recognized as the foundation stone and the leader of the "new Dinamo", perfectly assembled and elastic enough to adapt to any game demands. His strongpoint is something that is usually missing in Croatia - he makes his players play better than they can, they improve their abilities under his leadership, he finds each player his perfect role, and finally assembles the team in a formation which can't be described by any standard one. Soon he'll break the record, and become the man who lasted the longest time at Dinamo's bench.
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[edit] Playing career
He was a professional football player with Dinamo Zagreb, gathering 11 Yugoslavian U-21 caps. He played a minor role among the great players who still have their huge amount of respect today, mostly due to the fact that in 1967. UEFA cup was won, and in 1982. Yugoslavian championship. Kuže scored only 1 goal in 1975/1976 season, and played average 3 games per season. He played with football greats Zlatko Kranjčar, Snješko Cerin, Srećko Bogdan, Velimir Zajec, Ivica Senzen, Marko Mlinarić, Ismet Hadžić, Boro Cvetković, Stjepan Deverić, Marijan Vlak, and Petar Bručić.
[edit] Managerial career
After his playing career, he started as coach of Borac Banja Luka, before he became Dinamo's coach in 1989. In 1991., he started coaching German side FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt. He accepted the job from league-competiton FSV Mainz 05, and stayed there until 1995. From 1995-1999, he coached Japanese side Gamba Osaka. Kuže came back to Croatia to coach Inter Zaprešić. From 2005., he's the coach of Dinamo Zagreb again, and he won the Croatian championship 2005/2006.
[edit] Personal character
A thing that describes this man a lot are his past problems with gambling - roulette, to be specific. Due to his immense passion for victory which would later bring him such success with Dinamo, he went so far to make huge debts and have his life threatened. He was at the very bottom, but that experience proved to be worthy later on in his life. He's accepted by the fans as "one of their own", which seldom happened in Dinamo's entire history. Gambling got him very careful, analytic, eager to win, and to never lose hope. Fans describe him as an emotional human being (not such a common thing nowadays), a man, a leader, and a winner. He's all that. Not ashamed to cry in front of cameras for his beloved departed friend, not afraid to play full-court pressing against Arsenal FC in London on the new Emirates stadium, denying Dinamo's "this player must play" policy always coming from the "above", finding mistakes even in biggest victories, making jokes about roulette (even though it almost killed him), always taking the right point of view on things - all make him a man deeply respected and even adored. Actually, he would be adored, if he only wasn't so down-to-earth and realistic. Respect is all he gets, wherever he goes.
[edit] Dinamo Zagreb coach
He took over the team after the biggest failure in history - finishing in 7th place. With some new players, he stormed through the next championship (2005/2006) with 18-2-2 61:11 record in first part of the league, and the final record, after playoffs, was 24-4-4 78:21. After first ten games, Dinamo's goal-difference was 32:3, and soon they became the most successful team in Europe by goal-difference. Also, many people said that Dinamo played the most attractive football in Europe during that time.
In the new season, 2006/2007, some high-class players arrived, and Dinamo, among others, beat French side Auxerre 2:1 during preparation phase, after a heavy training session on the morning of the match day. Gameplay went worse in the new season, for the key defense midfielders could not give their best due to injuries, but still tremendous effort was made in 2nd leg of Champions league qualifiying round against Arsenal in London. What seemeed to be an extremely defensive 5-3-2 formation, held Arsenal pressed on their side of the field for the first 20 minutes. Teams were almost level, 1.000 Dinamo's fans outclassed 57.000 Arsenal's fans, and Arsène Wenger had to bring not completely ready Thierry Henry in to prevent the danger. In the 1st leg in Zagreb, Arsenal won 3:0 solely due to the fact that Dinamo respected them too much. In the 2nd leg, score was 1:0 for Dinamo until 78th minute, although Dinamo played with only 3 out of 7 best players (Luka Modrić, Eduardo da Silva, and Etto were on the field; Mathias Chago, Davor Vugrinec and Jens Nowotny all injured, Marijan Buljat not completely ready). Thing that describes Arsenal's feelings at the time of 0:1 were nervous English reporters fearing for Arsenal's place in the Champions league. In the last 12 minutes, Dinamo conceded two goals, and lost 2:1, but it was a great one-man-show by a quiet man Josip Kuže. For that game, he placed captain Zoran Mamić on sweeper position, although he played only defensive midfield since coming back to Dinamo in 2005. Also, he put speedy right winger Etto as a striker although he never played that role, and both were best on the field. Even though Etto was caught off side at least a dozen times due to his pace. That's what Kuže does to his teams. He takes what he has, and brings it together in a way that brings the most success. Mathematically or surgically precise, one would say, with the courage of a desperate man giving his best shot.
Josip Kuže would best be described by Georges Guynemer's motto - "Until one has given all, one has given nothing". Kuže does give it all, in every second, and that's what makes him a leader, not just a coach, of a team with such long tradition like Dinamo Zagreb, and makes him friends with both the notorious fans Bad Blue Boys, and the spoiled audience from Zagreb which accepts nothing but the perfect gameplay. A very rare thing in Croatian soccer - he's also respected by their biggest rival, Hajduk Split's fans - Torcida.
In the UEFA cup 1st round, Dinamo was seeded with the French side Auxerre again, for the 4th time in history. It remains to be seen what will Kuže do next, this time with healed star players, except Nowotny.
[edit] Trivia
He is very witty and has a good sense of humour, and often makes jokes during press conferences.
He is still sometimes seen walking the city with tens of betting slips folded neatly.
He had never given himself credit for anything, and has never said anything that went in his favor after the game was finished.
He was also Dinamo's coach in 1989. when Dinamo played Auxerre, and lost 3:1 on aggregate.
