The Hindu : Sport / Football : Triumph of the collective

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 10, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Football

Triumph of the collective

Niren Tolsi

The Soccer World Cup, it has been suggested, has seen the triumph of the collective over the individual. But team spirit and ethics are, in no small part, owed to the coach. He must find the right chemistry in who he selects and how he moulds the group together.

Of the four semifinalists, Spain's Vicente del Bosque is perhaps the most laidback, but even he has, in recent months, retained his individual will and ignored public cries to forgo playing two defensive midfielders, persisting instead with Sergio Busquets and Xabi Alonso in his team's spine.

Uruguay, Germany and Holland, though, are moulded single-mindedly by the vision of their managers, respectively, the philosophical El Maestro, Oscar Tabarez, the tactically intelligent Joachim Loew and Bert van Marwijk. It is van Marwijk, though, who has been most resolute in his vision — often heavily criticised by fans and the media who consider his approach pragmatic and anathema to Dutch footballing tradition — to maximum effect.

Belief and stability

Holland will contest its first World Cup final in 32 years when it faces Spain at Soccer City on Sunday.

This week, responding to a question about the Dutch seducing previous World Cup crowds with aesthetically pleasing football but always failing to win, van Marwijk said his aim had been to instil and retain focus among his players: “I don't look at that [history]. I do things my way.”

This team had the “disciplined way we play and our [sense of defensive] positioning” drilled into them to ensure “retaining possession”, which allowed them “to dare to play freely, in an uninhibited way”. van Marwijk admitted to using the aesthetic masters at FC Barcelona as models for his side.

The country has waited a long time for the opportunity to inscribe its name on the World Cup trophy for the first time and endorse its claim to being a powerhouse in world football.

The chance has come because of a man who has dismantled the country's traditional approach to the game and reconstituted it into a winning formula.

But the swagger inherent in Dutch football and its psyche may not have been eviscerated but merely put on hold for the right moment.

As van Marwijk said: “Usually in tournaments we win and then we get arrogant and then we lose. I keep reminding the players to keep focus, especially on the next match.” The next match is the final! — © Guardian News and Media 2010

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport