- Roberto Martinez speaks to FIFA.com
- Belgium have been the world’s top-ranked team for three straight years
- Martinez discusses mentality, World Cup highlights and his future in the job
“Don’t tell me what’s wrong. Tell me how you’d fix it.”
Roberto Martinez can see now that his life and career have been shaped by these words and the man who recited them. That challenge, to solve a problem identified on the pitch, came from his father, himself a player, coach and football obsessive. And it was posed, repeatedly, to Roberto from the age of nine.
Martinez remembers, as a boy, replying with fresh tactical systems, tweaks in positioning and personnel – “anything to impress him really”. And even now, as the 47-year-old coach and technical director of the world’s top-ranked team, he is still subjected to the same conversations-cum-interrogations from this most demanding of mentors.
The Belgium boss wouldn’t have it any other way though,…