Costa Rica National Team Coach Quits Because The Job Is Too Much Like Vacation

Costa Rica’s men’s national team head coach Gustavo Matosas had it all: a stable job with a good income, working in a prominent role within a competent, successful outfit; a schedule that only required work every couple of weeks; few expectations; and a work-life balance that left him feeling like most of the time he was on vacation. My friends, this is the life! I would murder any ten of you, gruesomely and right this instant, to have that life.

So what did Matosas do, less than a year after accepting this magical position that paid him to hang around and do nothing, day in and day out, for months at a time? He quit, citing.

“I didn’t know that being manager of a national team was so boring,” Matosas said Wednesday, with Costa Rica federation president Rodolfo Villalobos by his side.

Matosas claims “several things” led to his departure.

“The chance to go to a team where I have expectations,” he said. “Above all else, it’s difficult to manage a national team when you don’t have the day to day with the players. I don’t feel productive. Sometimes I think I’m on vacation.

“I get the players one week every two months. I thought it wouldn’t be so tough, however I feel like I miss that day to day to work on everything I’d like to see from the players on the field. In the national team, I don’t feel productive. I don’t have that day-in, day-out routine so I end up killing myself watching film and games. That’s not what I like. I tried it, and it’s not what I like.” 

Matosas is expected to take a head coaching job in. Not because the responsibilities and schedule are less demanding, but because they are more demanding. Because the job will make his life less like a vacation. Because he will have more and greater expectations. Safe to say this guy’s got his priorities all jacked-up.