The goal comes in many ways. After beautiful individual or collective plays, due to referee errors, by chance, by carelessness and, increasingly, by dead balls, corners and free kicks on the flanks of the attack.
Arsenal, leader of the English Championship and the European Champions League, is the team that scores the most goals from set pieces; almost 30% of all goals. There are more and more great headers and crossers all over the world. All the big clubs have dead ball specialists on their technical committees.
The great players are those who, in addition to their exuberant technique, are concise and make the correct decisions with just a few movements.
When I played alongside Pelé, I realized that one of his main virtues was making simple what was complex. With few actions, he decided the moves. Everything lit up in front of him.
The same applies to all activities. When I worked as a doctor, I took courses in psychosomatic medicine and psychoanalysis to better understand patients’ emotional issues. I thought I wouldn’t understand Freud’s concepts, but I soon realized that his texts were very clear, convincing and that even the mysteries of the soul had logic. Freud brought order to chaos. It’s a shame that many followers didn’t have the same wisdom.
There are many extremely skilled players who do not become stars, due to lack of better technique and/or because they do not know the simplest and most direct paths. Talent is the union of skill, technique, creativity and physical and emotional conditions.
Just as the best medical teachers are not always the best doctors, the best trainers are not always the ones with the most information. The special ones are those that combine scientific knowledge with the ability to observe, intuit, simplify and make correct decisions. Theory without practice is empty. Practice without theory is a gross simplification.
Pisando ball
The Brasileirão starts this Wednesday (28th) and the state tournaments are not over yet. Flamengo and Palmeiras remain the favorites, as they have the best squads.
Flamengo knows that, to be a world power, as it wants, it needs to reinforce the squad from the middle to the front. That’s why he tries to hire Paquetá. Palmeiras is often criticized for not being enchanting when they win. When you lose, the criticism is harsher. The ideal is to win and be enchanted, however, better than losing and playing well, is winning even when playing poorly.
Cruzeiro, in the 2-1 defeat to Atlético-MG, repeated Léo Jardim’s lineup and tactical scheme, but did not repeat the strategy of acting with great intensity, pressure to recover the ball and quickly reach the goal. Is the reason for this the start of the season or does Tite prefer the traditional way of closing spaces without putting pressure on whoever has the ball? We’ll see.
In the troubled São Paulo, coach Crespo said that the team will fight to not be relegated in the Brasileirão. The club president didn’t like it, as he thinks São Paulo will compete for a place in the Libertadores. Was the coach sincere or, unintentionally, belittled the squad? I think that São Paulo, with the players they have, is capable of having a good campaign.
The ball is in the coach’s court.
LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access seven free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.
