GHANA COACH:
Ratomir Dujkovic

Sometimes it pays to wait to get the big payoff. Consider the case of Ratomir Dujkovic, for example. The Serbian native has bounced around the coaching ranks for years trying to make a name for himself and transform one of soccer's minnows into a World Cup team.

He guided the National Teams of Venezuela and Myanmar (formerly Burma) before landing with Rwanda. There, he directed the surprising side into the 2004 Nations Cup over Ghana. Impressed, Ghana soccer officials signed the 60-year-old Dujkovic, and he took on the challenge of a country that has had so much promise and several well-known stars, yet consistently failed to qualify for the World Cup, usually due to poor management off the field. As for his three predecessors, German Ralf Zumdick started the merry-go-round as he left and became an assistant coach at Hamburg in December, 2003. Portuguese native Mariano Barretto was there for nine months before he quit to join Maritimo in Portugal.

Sam Arday ran the show as a caretaker coach for one qualifier before Dujkovic took over in December, 2004. As it turned out, Dujkovic could have become history himself in February, 2006 because some fans wanted his head after a disappointing showing in the African Nations Cup. How quickly some people forget. "I know the Ghanaians are frustrated, but he was the first ever coach to guide Ghana to the World Cup finals," midfielder Michael Essien said.