Checkmate (Tony Gustavsson interview)

The Swede who helped plot one Olympic and two World Cup titles as a United States assistant now leads Australia, into a group with the USA, Sweden and New Zealand. He describes two passions: what he calls the green field of chess, and working with people. The best athletes he has known, he says, can switch off and on again in seconds, and in a long tournament what matters is what you do when you are off. He is candid about the hardest moments – being sacked, and losing the 2014 Champions League final with Tyreso from 2-0 and 3-2 up against Wolfsburg, weeks before the club collapsed mid-season. His mantra, for himself and his players, is to get one day better.