In Search of a Master : The Artistry and Creativity of the Midfielder Holds the Key; Whose Brush Will Show the Stroke of Genius This Year?
It was Socrates--the Brazilian midfielder, not the Greek philosopher--who once observed that soccer “became popular because it was considered an art.”
In recent years, however, soccer artists have become more difficult to find and the emphasis on winning at all costs has robbed the sport of much of its beauty.
The financial rewards for success have become so big for clubs and players that fear of failure has brought a paralysis to the game. Too many teams nowadays play not to lose, rather than to win. Pele’s “beautiful game” has become a dour affair in all too many instances.
As long ago as 1978, Helmut Schoen, then coach of the German national team, remarked on this depressing trend during the World Cup in Argentina.
“The World Cup tournaments of 1958 and 1962 were garden parties compared with what is involved now, with the pressures that have developed,” Schoen said. “The increase in pressure seems continuous from one competition to the next.
“In 1966 it was terrific, in 1970 it was worse, in 1974 still more terrible and now it is completely out of hand. Soccer has become almost a kind of war.”
Despite Schoen’s comments, the 1978 World Cup did thrust into international stardom at least one artist, a player of exceptional skill who exemplified everything beautiful about the game.
His name was Osvaldo (Ossie) Ardilles, and his genius in midfield was every bit as important to Argentina’s World Cup triumph that year as the goals scored by Mario Kempes.
Later, after Ardilles had moved to England to play and eventually coach, a rival player in the English League summed up the little Argentine’s skills simply: “He was everywhere. It was like trying to tackle dust.”
In other words, one of the prime requirements for international stardom is the ability to appear and disappear at will, to be elusive, to leave your opponents trying to guess your every move.
There are midfielders who are nothing more than defenders playing in a more forward role; and there are midfielders who are nothing more than strikers in disguise, the so-called “withdrawn” forwards.
But the true midfielder is the key player on the field. Without him, the game cannot be won. He is the player who dazzles the opposing defenses, slicing them to shreds with his unexpected, darting runs or his calculated, precise passing. He is often referred to as the team’s “creative genius,” the so-called “brains” of the side.
Alas, such players are few and far between.
The reason is simple: The variety of skills required is enormous. To begin with, the creative midfielder must be highly intelligent, with an ability to read the game at a glance, to sense the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses and design a tactical plan to take advantage of what he has seen.
The ability to improvise is crucial to the midfielder’s success.
He also must be an exceptional athlete--not necessarily powerful or strong, but as quick-moving as he is quick-thinking. He must be able to leap and twist and turn at speed, often under pressure from defenders trying to cut him down with vicious, scything tackles.
He must be calm, almost imperious, and have extraordinary vision, with the ability to see not only all of the play going on around him but the possibilities inherent in that play. In short, he must have the ability to think two or three or four moves ahead.
He must keep running, moving into positions where he can do the most damage. Ferenc Puskas, one of the great Hungarian stars of the 1950s, explained it this way, referring not just to midfielders but to all players:
“The good player keeps playing even without the ball. All the time he is placing himself so that when the ball comes to him, he is able to make good use of it.”
To the creative midfielder, that “good use” usually means passing, rather than shooting. He must have the ability to pass the ball to the right place at the right time with exactly the right pace to set up his teammates while foiling defenders and the offside trap.
It was Glenn Hoddle, the former English national team player who never received the respect and adulation of the fans that his skill deserved, who described the value of timely and accurate passing in this fashion:
“For me, the ball is a diamond. If you have a diamond, you don’t get rid of it, you offer it.”
So it must be with the creative player at the center of the action, the hub in the midfield wheel around whom all plays revolve.
Will the 1994 World Cup feature any such players? Will an Ardilles be discovered in America? Perhaps, but it is more likely that an established midfield star will shine the brightest this summer.
There is, for instance, Carlos Valderrama, with his startling hairstyle and spectacular skills. Valderrama is the imperious midfielder personified. The Colombian genius strolls about the field with a seemingly indifferent air, fooling opponents into thinking he is uninvolved.
Then, before they know it, Valderrama has glided unnoticed into a dangerous position, received the ball, turned and passed it to a totally unmarked forward and watched the shot flash into the net before anyone even realized what he was up to.
“You can put Valderrama in a phone booth, put six defenders on him and he’d still come out with the ball,” is the way an awe-struck Sigi Schmid, an assistant coach on the U.S. team, has described him.
There is good reason why Valderrama, 32, of the Junior Barranquilla club in Colombia, was South America’s player of the year in 1987 and again in 1993. He is talented, experienced and dangerous--the perfect combination for a creative midfielder surrounded by strikers of the highest caliber.
Similar accolades could be bestowed on several other World Cup midfielders.
Brazil, the World Cup favorite, is counting on Rai to rediscover his touch. Since moving from world club champion Sao Paolo to new French champion Paris St Germain last year, Rai has struggled to impose himself on the game. Perhaps being back and serving such strikers as Romario, Bebeto, Muller and Brazil’s latest sensation, 17-year-old Ronaldo, will inspire Rai. After all, he is the younger brother of the brilliant Socrates.
Germany, the defending champion and second favorite, has moved team captain Lothar Matthaeus back from midfield into the sweeper position and is relying on Andreas Moeller of Juventus to provide midfield inspiration. Moeller, 26, is well-suited to the role, being tactically astute and inventive too.
If Moeller is thwarted, Germany also can turn to the diminutive but brilliant Thomas Haessler, 27, one of the stars of the 1992 European Championship. Haessler, of AS Roma, has the added advantage of being a superb free-kick taker.
The Netherlands, another potential World Cup winner, has the experienced Frank Rijkaard at the center of its midfield. Although he has been playing a more defensive role in recent years, Rijkaard can turn a game with a single pass. Because he has Dennis Bergkamp and Peter Van Vossen to supply, as well as a couple of fine wings in Bryan Roy and Marc Overmars, Rijkaard, 31, of Ajax Amsterdam, has become more of a threat than ever.
Argentina, of course, has what used to be the best midfielder in the world at its disposal. If Diego Maradona, now 33 and without a club, can recapture even 50% of his former skills, he could have a huge impact on Argentina’s chances, especially if he can supply the ammunition for star strikers Gabriel Batistuta, Claudio Caniggia and Abel Balbo.
If Maradona fails, there is always Leonardo Rodriguez, 27, of Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Rodriguez has nowhere near the skill of Maradona, but he is twice as reliable and quite capable in his own right.
There are others--Belgium’s Enzo Scifo, Bolivia’s Erwin (Platini) Sanchez, Romania’s Gheorghe Hagi and Spain’s newest star, Julen Guerrero--who probably will write their names in World Cup history in the monthlong tournament starting Friday.
