Monday, January 16, 2012

On the greatest football teams

I have had the privilege of watching football since the mid-sixties. Over that time you develop your own opinions of what the greatest football teams were/are and why. My selection (in chronological order) is:
  1. Brazil 1970
  2. Holland 1974
  3. Barcelona 2010-2011.

As Dunga has pointed out, we only see the "sanitised" versions of Brazil 1970 in documentaries and films of the tournament, so that the team seems almost perfect. Of course these highlights (of which I have copies) are what my opinion is based on. By contrast I was in Holland during World Cup 1974 and saw every Dutch match live and experienced the intensive coverage and the orange-swathed journey that the country went on. Similarly, I watch almost every Barcelona match - study them may be a better term.

Holland 1974 (and by implication the Ajax team of the early seventies) and Barcelona have revolutionised the game, taken it to new levels of tactics and concept. I never had the privilege of seeing Ajax '71-'73 except in the odd highlights package, so I can't include them in this list, although Ajax formed the core of the Dutch team which was probably an improvement on Ajax if only for the addition of Van Hanegem. I am not sure that Brazil 1970 revolutionised the game, except perhaps to harness extraordinary talents into a team concept.
    All these teams had certain attributes in common. Firstly they all possessed a great player, one with individual abilities without peer at the time. Brazil had Pele, an extraordinary athletic specimen who could beat strings of players, but was nearing the end of his career, although in 1970 he was still capable of game-changing brilliance.

    Holland had Johan Cruijff who was an angular greyhound, but more than that, the onfield tactician and conductor. When the rest of the team played in his service, he directed the game. Barcelona has Lionel Messi, a pint-sized force of nature, who like Maradona is capable of single-handedly taking a team in tow and forcing the match to his will. What makes Messi unique is perhaps his obvious joy in playing the game - like a kid, yet with a hard-edged will to win. These teams were created around these great players, yet they were still first and foremost outstanding teams. The ringmasters were surrounded by a generation of special talents who possessed flair, technique and intelligence.

    A second attribute that they have in common is a determination to entertain and play beautiful football - where how you win is almost as important as winning. Their playing concepts were built upon the the belief that a team should always attack and dominate possession of the ball, which in turn required great individual technique, refined positional play, intelligence and spatial and tactical awareness. Thirdly, at Barcelona and Holland (which was built around the Ajax core) the playing concept was inculcated at a young age and most of the players grew up to together. It should be no surprise that Barcelona's youth academy and playing concept are modelled on Ajax's, with the golden thread being Cruijff who played for and coached both clubs. As for Brazil, perhaps their playing concept was embedded in the country's footballing culture.

    Holland introduced the world to what is popularly known as "total football", a fluid system where players are able and free to rotate in and out of various positions, where even the goalkeeper is required to sweep and participate in the build up. The players had to instinctively maintain optimal positioning while the game flowed and situations morphed into new ones (one sees this particularly in the movement of Barcelona). I clearly remember watching Holland's first brilliant match of the '74 finals against Uruguay in disbelief. It was like men against boys, an orange tide, a whirlwind of non-stop attack, but combined with pressing high up the pitch, a crazy offside trap and ball hunting in packs. Some of these tactics had never been seen before - except by watchers of Ajax.

    Barcelona has since taken many of these precepts and perfected them. Their revolution has been to take possession football to the ultimate level where the ball is circulated rapidly, sometimes in impossibly tight spaces, always in adjacent triangles. It requires players to possess fantastic technique and confidence in their own abilities and those of their teammates. But the concept also requires the team to win back possession as early as possible. Barca never retreats, never funnels back but applies pressure high up the pitch which requires fanatical fitness levels. Defence starts in the opponents' third. Possession stats of 60% to 70% are not uncommon.

    The insight that great teams possess great players, including a peerless one, is not earth-shaking, but when such players are orchestrated to execute a special playing concept, the results are revolutionary.

    1 comment:

    Kim Z said...

    Great article, with very interesting points of view. To watch Messi in action is a privilege of our time. His age and talent is still going to allow him to rewrite many records and become a greater legend than he already is.