BY the end of the ongoing World Cup finals in South Africa, football mathematicians throughout the globe would have revised their notes. The results of some of the matches have so far defied logic, leaving people with their mouths open.
If any one had predicted that Switzerland would beat Spain, then he or she would probably have been the queer one. Even the Swiss had little hope that they could draw or even defeat the star-studded Spanish national team. But it happened.
And talking of tactics, it is early days yet, but one can deduce that South Africa 2010 has ushered in a new dawn in football tactics, the era of defensive-attack (not entirely new).
The days when teams played sweet, offensive, ball-juggling football (the Maradona and Pele days) are getting over. It is now the days when the Mourinho (Special One) football is beginning to take charge.
Before I launch into these and many more, let me first ask this question: What is wrong with the 2010 World Cup ball? The Jabulani, they call it (which means “to celebrate” in Isizulu, a South African language), seems the nightmare of goal keepers, at least for England’s Robert Green and Algeria’s Faouzi Chaochi.
According to FIFA, the Jabulani was created to “lend the ball a unique appearance in African spirit. Like the outer facade of Johannesburg’s Soccer City Stadium, individual design elements capture the colourfulness of South Africa.” That is undisputed.
But, is it true that it is the most stable and accurate Adidas ball ever?
And how about the German international and Chelsea midfielder, Michael Ballack describing the Jabulani as the ball that does exactly “what I want it to?”
With all these qualities, the question is: “Does it help the game?” Of what use is a ball that has all the good qualities, but is difficult to direct and catch on the field of play?
I suspect it is the Jabulani that has prevented us from witnessing beautiful long-shot goals, except for the few from the likes of Diego Forlan of Uruguay and Siphiwe Tshabalala of the Bafana Bafana.
The ball spins so much so that long shots always veer off the target as it gets to the goal post. If not for the Jabulani, we should have seen beautiful long-shot goals unleashed from the likes of Kwadwo Asamoah, Taye Taiwo, Steven Gerrard, Wesley Sneijder, Lucas Podolski and Frank Lampard.
The question I am left pondering over is why FIFA should always ask for the manufacturing of a new type of match ball during each edition of the World Cup. Is it so necessary? Inventions are welcome but too much of it becomes a disservice.
And talking of paradoxes, can one explain why Australia should lose heavily to Germany and yet manage to draw against a powerful team such as Ghana. Meanwhile, the German team that mauled the Australians could not beat the Serbian team, which Ghana had overshadowed. Wonders, right?
What about the New Zealanders, managing to break through the tight defence wall of the Italians. What went wrong?
Now, back to tactics. When Jose Mourinho used to coach Chelsea in the English Premiership, many a Chelsea fan hated the style of game he introduced into the millionaire’s team – stay behind, capture the midfield and exploit the fast break when the opportunity comes.
With this type of tactics, Chelsea would play little football and frustrate the opponent because they won’t come at you, and yet they won’t allow you to also play your game.
In spite of the defensive tendencies of this game style, Mourinho won the English premiership for two consecutive times, while the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, with all their sweet, fluid football, were left bemused.
It did not end there as Mourinho took the same style to Italy and won the Seria ‘A’ two times in a row and capped it with a Champions league Cup, where teams such as Barcelona were left to weep and eat humble pie.
Today, it is this type of game which is bringing glory to many teams considered unentertaining and not up to scratch. Ghana’s Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, has employed this tactics skilfully enough to lead the Black Stars to victory against many powerful teams at the African Cup and currently at the World Cup.
South Africa 2010 has witnessed a lot of this tactics in many games, most of which ended in draws or victory for the underdogs.
North Korea used it to frustrate Brazil, Ghana used it against the Serbs, Nigeria used it to frustrate Argentina and Italy is using it effectively.
Even almighty Brazil, one of the kingpins of stylish free-flowing attacking football, have equally embraced this tactic with the likes of Lucio, Maicon, Juan, Bastos and Alves keeping the defence tight and breaking into attack at the least opportunity.
If this continues, we would see more surprises in football, as the winning teams would not always be the teams that play sweet football, but those with better defence and fast-breaking skills.
For now, we continue to follow the World Cup and pray that Ghana’s pride, the Black Stars live above expectations.
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