1. A reputation of being steely
The year was 2009 and Rajevac was the head coach of Ghana. The three stars of the national team, Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari purposefully missed an international friendly against Angola.
Rajevac did not back down and fined each of the players $3,000. Muntari, who was playing for Inter Milan at that time, failed to pay the fine in time and snubbed a meeting with the Serbian coach. As a result, his name was crossed off the roster for the 2010 African Cup of Nation.
Leaving out Muntari was considered a bold move, but Rajevac had other ideas. He relied on Ghana U-20’s youngsters who won the U-20 championship and built a squad around future core players such as Andre Ayew or Kwadwo Asamoah. Ghana went all the way to the final, only to lose against Egypt.
A change in attitude before the 2010 World Cup saw Muntari issue an apology to Rajevac. The centre-midfielder was later called up and made three appearances, scoring one goal.