The Death of the Beautiful Game

When Italy won the World Cup on 10th July 2006, it seemed to put the final nail in the coffin for the Beautiful Game. It used to be that soccer was about inspiration, about the amazing footwork that was to culminate in the goal that drew the thunderous cheers of supporters and left viewers breathless with the stroke of genius they just witnessed.

But no longer. There were many who were happy Italy won the title because of their tenacity and never say die spirit. So was the same said of Greece when it shocked the world by winning the Euro Cup in 2004. The similarities of the two teams were not coincidental. They were both very defensive teams, who counted on denying their opponents the chance to score and winning by wearing their opponents out and sometimes by luck rather than going out to score. Not that there is anything wrong with defending well. But when soccer became something like a trench warfare, something in the spirit of soccer seemed to have died. The victory of Italy following that of Greece would surely herald a new age for soccer when the wizardry of the likes of Pele, Maradonna and Zidane counted much less than sheer determination of defending unto death.

Perhaps I am a romantic, but I like to see games when I can wait in anticipation to see the sparks of creativity and diligence at the attacking front translate into great goals rather than stout but boring defence slowly chipping away at the attackers and then when they tire pounce back to score an opportunistic goal. Naturally such a style of playing is a direct cause of the dropping average number of goals per match and too many matches going into extra time and even the dreaded penalty shoot-out.

Fifa has tried to solve this problem by changing the football to a lighter one in the hope that more goals could be scored but when teams like Italy and Greece won the title through the defensive style which would surely spur other teams to emulate in the hope of boosting their chances of winning, even if Fifa decided to substitute the football completely for a vollyeball, the low number of goals trend would continue.

The World Cup of 2006 was utterly forgettable and disappointing, the finals particularly so for seeing Italy defend all its way to the cup. More deserving teams in the finals like Germany, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands and Argentina all fell short of expectations. I was particularly disappointed that Germany which for the first time in so many years switched from defensive to attacking and had given us some of the more exciting games lost to a dull and legionnaire-like Italy. My only consolation was that Greece did not even qualify. Imagine Greece facing off Italy in the final. I would really much prefer watching the grass on the pitch grow.