The Copa America, the premier continental football championship of South America, will conclude on Sunday. Did you know? I didn’t think so. Do you care? Not very much.
Till a few years ago I would have been blue in the face screaming about how nobody’s paying attention to the Copa, everyone’s so bloody Europe fixated, nobody really likes football any more. After all, the two most exciting teams in the world – Brazil and Argentina – are from there. As are two-time World Cup winners Uruguay, now enjoying a resurrection with Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, and perennial dark horses Colombia. And we all know how the South Americans play football. Just look at Messi.
So when I heard that Neo Sports had actually gone to all the trouble of buying the rights, not advertising it at all and bringing the championship to us, I went out and bought a round for everyone. There would be hard tackles and fights, beautiful plays, great dribbles, amazing passes, fantastic skill. This would be joga bonito. The Beautiful Game.
Three matches in, I raised a toast to and played a requiem to the death of South American football. I wanted my money back.
First, the duds. Brazil and Argentina played football like they were on pot. Loose passing, uninspired playmaking, insipid attempts at goal and total lack of footballing commitment was only matched by the hype and the complaints. The two giants won one match out of the four each they played, drew three and went out ignominiously in penalties. And now we have a final between 15 time winners Uruguay and a team that has reached the final not having won a match: Paraguay drew all their matches and got through on penalties twice. Not very bonito, really.
Such was the story of the entire tournament, and I raised a toast to and played a requiem to the death of South American football. The beautiful game of Pele and Garrincha, the super skills of Maradona and Romario, the flair of Jairzinho and the elegance of Rivelino and Kempes, the predatory instincts of Zico and Ronaldo, the vision of Tostao, Socrates, Valderrama and Riquelme – they’re all gone. Gone too are the driving runs through the middle, the little backheels, the stepovers, nutmegs, floating crosses and driving volleys.
The South Americans are now Europeans – at least in their football. With so many of their players either already entrenched in the major European leagues or definitely dreaming of heading there, the style of football has now become standardised. Nobody wants to play the beautiful game any more. O joga bonito is dead, long live o joga feio.
Except FC Barcelona. If ever the beautiful game still lives on, it’s at the Nou Camp. Huzzah for Pep and his merry men.
hey -joga bonito lives on(on my calf).also after copa my eyes are now on 2014-hoping to actually make it to brazil this time-not just fart in the air and let it fizzle out.
ReplyDelete2014 will be good-but what shocks me is the fact that unlike the previous years where brazil or argentina had players that could dazzle and play-joga bonito-as a unit,they do not have that magic now.i personally think there are too many club games and far too less country games,though club games are very interesting-these guys need to practice together more often-only then can they make a pass without even looking up to know where their team mate is.
and come 2014,i'll be all vamos vamos argentina-but really need to keep an eye out for germany.they played the best football ever seen in WC 2010.very precise passing,totally eliminating high passes-that they were famous for (obviously for their good reach and height-towering over the rest) and passing anywhere from the ground level to the head they caught their opponents off guard and gave them a drubbing they'll remember.why they could not win 2010 will probably be proven why they can win in 2014.
about copa america-uruguay and paraguay in the finals-not that i would lose sleep to watch it-but could be an interesting game-its football after all and it will always be joga bonito.
I don't think we'd get people practicing more often for their countries - clubs already keep a tight leash on their players and give them up for national duty reluctantly - nobody can fault them, they've invested a lot of money on these guys. What these guys need are coherent coaches who know what they're doing. I'm saying get Diego back.
ReplyDeleteDude, Paraguay hasn't won a match and they're still in the final - all draws. They can potentially win the tournament without winning a proper match. What a joke! I'm gonna be watching for Forlan.