Bruno Metsu, Coach Who Took Senegal on World Cup Run, Dies at 59

Ali Haider/European Pressphoto Agency

Bruno Metsu shown in 2008 when he was the coach of the United Arab Emirates team.

By DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

Published: October 16, 2013

Bruno Metsu, a French soccer coach who led Senegal’s national team in an exhilarating and improbable run to the 2002 World Cup quarterfinals, died on Tuesday. He was 59.

The cause was cancer, a post on the Web site for UEFA, soccer’s European governing body, said. La Voix du Nord, a French newspaper, said Metsu died in Dunkirk, France.

Metsu, whose long and unruly blond curls were a rarity in a sport known for fastidiously groomed coaches, was a midfielder for European teams for nearly two decades and coached for 13 years before moving to Africa in 2000, where he was given the nickname the White Sorcerer. He began managing Senegal later that year, and the team, known as the Lions of Teranga, jelled around his relaxed but inspiring coaching style.

Senegal surprised most of Africa by defeating Nigeria to reach the final of the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations. It lost to Cameroon on penalty kicks in the championship game, but another startling upset was in store.

Senegal had never played in the World Cup finals, and few thought the team would survive its opening game in 2002, in which it faced heavily favored France, the defending champion. Some members of the French team as well as high-profile players on other teams publicly dismissed the Senegalese.

In a passionate speech to the team before the game, Metsu used the disparaging comments to stir his players.

“When I read them Pelé’s remarks that Senegal was the weakest link of the group, I immediately noticed a revolt in their eyes,” Metsu told the African newspaper Vanguard later that year, referring to the Brazilian superstar. “I knew they were going to fight like lions.”

Senegal’s Papa Bouba Diop scored the only goal of the game during the 30th minute, in front of a crowd of 62,561. Senegal tied Denmark and Uruguay in its other first-round matches, then knocked out Sweden in the Round of 16 on an extra-time goal by Henri Camara.

Its World Cup run ended in the quarterfinals in a 1-0 loss to Turkey, again in extra time, in Osaka, Japan.

Senegal had become only the second African team to advance that far; Cameroon went to the quarterfinals in 1990. Since then, only one African team has reached the quarterfinals: Ghana in 2010 after ousting the United States.

Bruno Metsu was born on Jan. 28, 1954, in Coudekerque-Village, a suburb of Dunkirk, in northern France. He worked on Dunkirk’s docks before playing for French clubs like Valenciennes and Lille, where he later coached. He ended his playing career with Beauvais Oise in 1987 and became a manager there that year.

After some time in Senegal, Metsu converted to Islam and married a Senegalese woman. Information about his survivors was not available.

After the 2002 World Cup loss, he coached in the Middle East, leading Al Ain of United Arab Emirates to the Asian Champions League title the next year.