That’s what they call football.
But watching the game these days makes me think against it. Most of the teams with flair get pounded by their more physical counterparts.
The Brazil – Argentina copa America final game is a perfect example. The Argentineans played with their typical panache in the previous rounds but were floored by the arch rivals who played a more physical game. The game was dominated by tactical fouls. The Argentineans have tried to maintain their footballing tradition with their incredible passing game while Brazil have transformed their game to a more a physical game. The youth academieshave placed a lot of emphasis on nutrition to develop stronger physically bigger players to match their european couterparts. The present coach Dunga clearly stated that jogo bonito, despite its virtues displayed by Pelé and previous generations, is secondary to effective soccer.
Even in this year’s European Championships, you had the efficient Germans easily beating the free flowing Portuguese. It all boils down to a tradeoff between flair and efficiency.
So lets wait and watch and see who wins this year. But all indications are that the mannschaft will rein supreme again.
8 comments:
Hmm, i wanted to write about this but you did so. Anyway there is no question about balance, there are very few teams that play the pure beautiful game. Spain and Argentina are the only national teams that come to mind, and their record in the last few years have been rather pathetic. Why?, they don't have the physical prowess to beat teams with almost no class like italy and germany (yes, ponky feel free to come back to that). I hope for football's sake, Spain win this time, and even at club level, champions league get some non english flavour to add more football to the game than sheer tactics
EPL: Efficient United and Chelsea have hammered the free-flowing Arsenal. There is nothing better than watching Arsenal in full flow. They can take football to an entirely different level. Same with Argentina. But tactics will always defeat flair. That's just the way football has evolved. Sad, but true.
football is evolving so are other sports .. take even cricket for an example... its all slam bang cricket now ... results matter and u just cant help it
Football is a physical game and has always been so. Spain and argentina, no matter how classy they can be, have lacked the cutting edge to become champions by goofing up midway in tournaments. Spain got trashed by a struggling French team last world cup. They were outclassed that night not by physical means, but because of their own weak defence. And as for Arsenal, they have hardly been free flowing this year. They have failed against the simplest of teams in the league. Being champions is about consistency, whichever sport you consider. (The windies and aussies in cricket and brazilians in football.) Of course there is an element of luck involved which is why italy won the last world cup, argentina went out on penalties, and India won in 1983. Joga Bonito is still alive, consider arsenal's unbeaten season. Only the consistency to make it stand out is lacking in teams today..
I agree that winning means consistency.
But its easier to be defensive and consistent rather than play an attacking brand of football and be consistent.
Why do you think teams with less talent play a more compact boring form of football to grind out results (Austria, Switzerland, Greece etc)
Teams with flair naturally open the game up more and give the opposition more chances. That’s why teams like Netherlands, Argentina etc have succumbed in the later stages of the competition.
Arsenal unbeaten run was an exception but what abt Chelsea championship titles . I doubt anyone can say they played with flair.
Bottomline grind out results with a more boring form of the game or play with flair and perish
I am sorry to say ponky that i totally disagree with you.. This year's Euro has restored my faith in football.. Italy were destroyed by Netherlands.. And as for Portugal, they lost to Germany more due to the lack of a classic striker than due to their game play.. France and Greece were the worst teams.. And it is not tactics that is the problem, it is the boring defensive minded nature of few teams.. Germany play tactical footbal but still are a wonderful team to watch.. And i dont think Arsenal got hammered this season.. It was a just matter of one run of bad matches.. They lost the title themselves..
And i forgot to add. Ponky, your comment about less talented teams playing compact football.. You forgot to mention Russia and Turkey.. Even they re counted as less talented teams.. And a word of defense for Austria.. They played good attacking and not defensive football.. They just lacked talent in front of the goal.. Dont insult them by including them with Greece..
Vikram - you are right - the only thing that defeated the superb Arsenal team of 07/08 was the power of their opponents. As good as United and Chelsea were last season - Arsenal still played the best football of the season. Things don't look so promising for Arsenal this season from what I saw of the West Brom match - but I hope I'm wrong.
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