July 05, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 8, 1427

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BERLIN, July 4: If the World Cup were a popularity contest, only one of the four remaining coaches would win in a landslide back home. That's Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari — and he was born in Brazil.

The rest are native born — France's Raymond Domenech, Italy's Marcello Lippi, and Juergen Klinsmann of Germany. They've not always made many friends, but that's changing with a World Cup title in sight.

Scolari is gruff, but it's easy to figure his popularity.

Known as ‘Big Phil,’ he won the World Cup four years ago with Brazil. This time he's coaxed Portugal into the semi-finals for only the second time in their history — Wednesday’s showdown with France. If he wins the World Cup, Scolari will become first coach to win with two countries.

“Scolari has proved he is a mystic wiseman,” Vitor Serpa wrote in Lisbon's A Bola newspaper.

He said Scolari was so special that Portuguese federation president Gilberto Madail “will do about anything to renew his contract.”

Scolari has taken a country with 1/18th the population of Brazil and pushed it beyond the defending champions in this World Cup. Prime Minister Jose Socrates wouldn't stand a chance against him, no matter when elections were held.

“Portugal are still around, while Brazil have gone home,” Jose Manuel Freitas added in A Bola. “And this wasn't achieved through cheating. It was achieved through playing with the spirit that Scolari gave the team.”

Even with France suddenly in sight of winning their second World Cup, Domenech remains unpopular. And he doesn't seem to care.

A few days ago, before ousting Spain 3-1 and then beating Brazil at their own game in the biggest upset of the tournament, Domenech was seen as an odd ball.

He's believed to bypass players who were born under the star sign Scorpio. Early in World Cup qualifying, France drew their first three games at home 0-0 against Israel, Ireland and Switzerland.

His reply: “Scoring goals isn't important.”

With fans and many reporters against him, Domenech has created a siege mentality. Players have been sequestered in a castle-turned-hotel, a 180-degree switch from their 2002 World Cup when they were seen out in public and were knocked out in the first round without scoring a goal.

Many blamed it on an expansive nightlife and a nearby casino.

“There is a very good atmosphere inside this group, and this has shown on the pitch,” winger Franck Ribery said.

Lippi, a former Juventus coach, is a hand's-on guy who is popular with his players, and unpopular with much of the media. Juve fans tend to love him — he won five Serie A titles for the club and the 1996 Champions League.

Fans of other Serie A teams aren't as convinced.

In one hot-tempered news conference at this year's World Cup, he stood up and threatened to storm out when reporters pressed him about tactics.

“If I tell you the line-up beforehand you'll go down and ask one of the poor guys that's left out how he feels and you'll take half of one of his words and create controversy,” said Lippi, who replaced Giovanni Trapattoni after the Azzurri were knocked out of the 2004 European Championship.

A month ago, Klinsmann was under fire — mostly for living in California and stepping on big toes including those of veteran goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.

Now his popularity is peaking following Germany's victory over Argentina in the quarter-finals. It was the German's first win over a major soccer power in 5 1/2 years.

Newspapers that criticised him are being restrained. But few are bubbling with praise going into Tuesday's semi-final match against Italy.

However, gone is the frequent headline ‘Grinsi Klinsi,’ which newspapers carried in the derogatory sense of ‘Smirking Klinsi.’

Germany have never beaten Italy in a World Cup match, which includes Italy's 3-1 victory over Germany in the 1982 championship game. Germany were beaten 4-1 by Italy in March, a loss that almost got Klinsmann fired.

“Statistics don't interest us. We are a different team now,” Klinsmann said.—AP