You may be put off by the title of my first post, however I assure you these are not the ramblings of a miserable lower league fan whose disillusion with top flight football has lead him to rant at everything to do with Sepp Blatter, extortionate transfer fees and agents........ and of course Wayne Rooney!
Not at all!
My aim is to document some of the major incidents in European football, and give my opinion on the subjects. You may find many of my views controversial. Many of you will disagree with my posts yet I feel you will find yourselves nodding in agreement with a lot of my views.
Therefore why, I hear you ask, am I kicking off with a subject that at first glance seems to only relate to a few thousand football supporters from South Wales?
It’s because the South Wales derby on Sunday reflected all that is great about football.
These two clubs have been flying high at the top end of the English Championship table, with Cardiff City second and Swansea City third, going into the game.
Swansea on the other hand had a turbulent summer. After having to say goodbye to fans’ favourites Lee Trundle and Leon Britton their pre-season plans were thrown into disarray when the club lost a manager for a second summer in a row. Paulo Sousa, who led the club to within a point of the play-offs the season before, departed the Liberty for Leicester City and once again Swansea were searching for a manager. They found Brendan Rodgers, a man who had been sacked before Christmas the previous season by Reading. Rodgers’ big signing was former Chelsea youngster Scott Sinclair, yet the club failed to land most of their transfer targets.
Though both teams have had positive starts to the season Cardiff, due to their big names, were favourites to win this red-hot derby.
Yet the match ended Cardiff City 0-1 Swansea City with Dutchman Marvin Emnes grabbing the winner with a superb finish on the turn on 74 minutes.
How did this happen?
Simply put, beauty triumphed over the beast!
I admit I’m slightly biased here, being a Swansea City supporter. However looking at this from a footballing point of view, this was a good result for the sport.
Cardiff, though their team-sheet was laden with big names, attempted to muscle their way to victory, depending on long-balls for attacks. Swansea on the other hand travelled to the Welsh capital looking to get the ball on the floor and pass their way to victory in an entertaining manner.
Swansea kept possession for long periods of time, passing the ball from defence to attack and throwing in bouts of individual skill whenever possible. Cardiff’s constant and at times malicious fouling failed to prevent the Swans winning and outclassing their South Wales enemies.
What does this tell us about modern day football?
It tells us that no matter how many big names there are in a team, old fashioned hoof-ball, bully-boy tactics don’t work anymore. Gone are the days where teams could win games simply by being bigger and stronger than their opposition.
There’s no better example of this than the FIFA World Cup last summer.
England’s squad included world class players such as Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole yet they failed to reach the World Cup quarter finals. They were spectacularly knocked out by a German side that boasted no household names, yet aimed to play aesthetically-pleasing football.
Germany reached the semi-finals where they were beaten by eventual tournament winners Spain.
In the final in Johannesburg, Spain took on a tough, organised Dutch team that had abandoned their traditional total-football in favour of a more Machiavellian style of play. With the eyes of the world on Soccer City the Iberians defeated the Netherlands thanks to an Extra-time Iniesta winner. The Spaniards used skill, flair and entertainment to lead them to the FIFA World Cup trophy. The Netherlands on the other hand were very lucky to have only received one red card after attempting to kick Spain into submission.
The Spanish victory in 2010 marks the end of what many would call FC Barcelona’s decade. For over the past ten years Barça have continuously educated the world on how to win titles through spectacular football.
This begs the question, has the day football purists have been waiting for finally arrived?
No longer can teams be bullied into defeat. No longer can the hoof-ball tactic work effectively. No longer can you foul your way to success.
Beauty has finally triumphed over the beast!
No comments:
Post a Comment