Pato brace puts AC Milan in the driving seat in the battle for the Scudetto

If the Rossoneri do go on to win the Scudetto this year, one thing is certain: no one will say the feat was attributable primarily to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede who happens to have won seven consecutive league titles in the last seven years. Brazilians Pato and Robinho have added pace and clinical finishing ability to the Milan attack, and nowhere was this more apparent than in Saturday's derby against Inter Milan. Pato, above all, showed why he deserves a place amongst the top 10 strikers in the world by demonstrating immaculate composure and positional awareness to score the first two goals for AC Milan that sent them well on their way to victory over Inter. In the first minute, Robinho ended up parrying the ball to Pato after failing to get around the keeper. Pato, in the number 7 jersey, made no mistake in burying the ball in the back of the net. In the 62nd minute, Pato got away from his markers once again and headed in a cross from substitute Flamini to give AC Milan a virtually unsurmountable lead, particularly given the red card that had been awarded to Inter's Chivu in the 53rd minute. Antonio Cassano sealed a 3-0 victory from the penalty spot in the dying minutes but it was Pato, complemented by threatening plays from Robinho that settled the victory for Massimiliano Allegri's team to give them a stranglehold on the 2010-2011 Scudetto.

Pato fires AC Milan to victory over Napoli

Alexandre Pato scored one goal and set up another as AC Milan dismissed Napoli 3-0 to open up a 5 point lead at the top of Serie A. In what was hailed as the match that could decide the Scudetto, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Pato scored second half goals to seal an AC Milan victory in a match where second placed Napoli failed to direct a single shot on target. Ibrahimovic converted from the penalty spot in the 49th minute after defender Salvatore Aronica handled the ball in the penalty area. In the 77th minute, Pato displayed great composure after steaming down the left flank and patiently waiting for Boateng to find space in the box before threading a delicate pass to the Ghanaian midfielder who slotted the ball home. Two minutes later, Pato displayed his cool yet again by chasing a through ball that left him in front of two Napoli defenders, before carving out that extra yard of space to curl a rocket of a shot into the far right corner of the net. In this game, Pato recalled the great Alessandro Rivaldo and his ability to wait for defenders to commit themselves into making a move before finding either the open man or the back of the net. Milan are now 5 points clear of Leonardo's Inter, who kept up the pressure at the top of the table with goals from Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto that earned them a 2-0 victory over Sampdoria over the weekend. The Rossoneri now face Italy's most successful club, Juventus, on March 5, while Inter have an easier match-up with Genoa on March 6.

Robinho, Pato and Ibrahimovic take AC Milan closer to the Scudetto

Robinho continues to make his mark on Italian football by scoring a crucial goal in the 58th minute against Catania to give AC Milan the lead minutes after Marc van Bommel received a red card. So far, Robinho has scored 7 goals in Serie A and has formed a crucial leg of a triumvirate Rossoneri attack featuring Alexandre Pato, who has scored 8 goals and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has 13. Much of Robinho's success should be attributed to the power of Ibrahimovic, who draws defenders in his wake in deep positions, thereby freeing up space for Robinho and Pato to demonstrate their speed and clinical finishing ability near the goal mouth. In the match against Catania, Robinho opportunistically dispatched a carom from an Ibrahimovic free kick. After a disappointing season against Manchester City last year and a mediocre World Cup in South Africa, Robinho is close to the best form of his career under coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Rivals Inter Milan came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 against Palermo thanks to 2 goals by the recent acquisition Pazzini and a penalty from Samuel Eto in the 76th minute. AC Milan are now closing in on the Scudetto but Leonardo, coach of defending champions Inter Milan, retains hopes for the title for the Nerazurri as articulated in a recent interview. Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, the Brazilian stressed of Inter remaining consistent and noted how other teams will invariably drop points as the season progresses:

"Consistency is the most difficult thing in sports. You can lose a game but the important thing is to control the situation after a defeat. Our loss in Udine (against Udinese) is not crucial for the league title. Our aim was to start well after the winter break in order to be in the group of teams that will fight for the scudetto and we are among those sides. In the long run, all the other teams will also lose games.''

Since taking over as coach of Inter Milan, Leonardo can claim 5 victories and 1 loss in what constitutes a dramatic turnaround for a championship team that lost its faith in coach Rafael Benitez in the first half of the season.

Eto and Milito combine to give Inter a 3-2 win over Cesena and move into 4th place in Serie A

Samuel Eto and Diego Milito continued to demonstrate their ability to collaborate effectively as strike partners as Inter edged Cesena 3-2 at the San Siro to move up to 4th place in Serie A, six points behind AC Milan with a game in hand. Eto and Milito combined neatly with a one two for the first goal, with Eto racing up the left flank and taking the resulting pass from Milito before cutting right across the face of goal and then firing the ball home in the 14th minute. Minutes later, Eto found Goran Pandev, who in turn unselfishly passed across the face of goal to Milito, who slotted the ball into the back of the net. Cesena pulled back two goals from Bogdani and Emanuele Giaccherini, before Chivu restored Inter's lead just before halftime by heading in Maicon's cross from the right flank. Leonardo now has a 100% record in charge of Inter with 5 consecutive victories as the battle for the Scudetto becomes more complex given Ronaldinho's departure from AC Milan. Meanwhile, Inter's Samuel Eto continues to make a compelling case as the best striker in the world.

Inter crush Bologna 4-1 as Leonardo's renaissance continues

Inter Milan cruised to their fourth successive victory with a 4-1 win over Bologna on Saturday as the club's revival under Brazilian coach Leonardo continues in dramatic fashion. Since taking over the helm from Rafa Benitez in late December, Leonardo can claim responsibility for the four victories that now leave Inter eight points behind AC Milan, with a game in hand. "We know what we are doing now and how we want to play,'' Leonardo said to Sky Italia in an interview. He later elaborated: "This is the Inter we saw for such a long time. It's a team with clear ideas and a clear vision of its football."

Inter beat Bologna thanks to goals by Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito and a brace by Samuel Eto. The first goal witnessed Samuel Eto steaming up the left flank and picking out the open Dejan Stankovic, who calmly slotted the ball home. In the 30th minute, Milito latched onto a long through ball from midfield, turned and dispatched it into the back of the net with his left foot to make it 2-0. For the third goal, Eto again raced up the left flank and leveraged a one-two combination with Diego Milito that enabled him to fire into the bottom right corner of the net from his right foot. Finally, Eto scored Inter’s fourth goal from a free kick in the 72 minute when he curled the ball over the Bologna wall into the far right left corner of the net.

Speaking of the victory against Bologna, Leonardo remarked: "This was an important victory against a Bologna side in good form. It is wonderful to see Samuel Eto'o and Diego Milito seek each other out on the field. Harmony in a team is essential." Cameroon striker Samuel Eto has now scored 23 goals in 26 games this season for Inter Milan.

Leonardo notches win for Inter in debut match as coach; AC Milan hold off Cagliari

New Inter Milan coach Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo got off to a flying start with a 3-1 win for Inter over Napoli today, while league leaders AC Milan consolidated their place at the top of the Serie A table with a 1-0 win over Cagliari. Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta opened the scoring for Inter in the third minute after some fine one touch passing between Goran Pandev, Dejan Stankovic and Motta, who finally volleyed the ball into the bottom right corner of the net, 18 yards from goal. Michele Pazienza equalized for Napoli with a header off a corner kick in the 25th minute, but Esteban Cambiasso put Inter back in front by heading home a Maicon cross in the 37th minute. Motta sealed Leonardo's first victory as coach with yet another header goal for the match, this time from an Inter corner in the 55th minute. Inter secured their victory without suspended striker Samuel Eto and the injured Wesley Sneijder and Julio Cesar. Leaders AC Milan now have 39 points from 18 games, whereas Inter occupy 6th place with 26 points from 16 games.

Brazil, Spain and the beautiful game: 2010 in Review

In recognition of the New Year, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on what we as a community of writers and thinkers about football have accomplished since this blog was launched, soon after the 2010 World Cup, roughly 6 months ago. This year, in football, we saw the ascendancy of Spain as World Cup champions for the first time in history alongside the emergence of promising young teams from Germany, Ghana and Uruguay. Spain's passing game emerged as a model of tactical awareness and coherence for teams all over the world to emulate. Our postings examined the legacy of Carlos Dunga to the national team, Mano Menezes's efforts to renovate the Selecao, deadly strike partnerships such as Romario and Bebeto, teen Santos sensations Neymar and Ganso, AC Milan starlets Ronaldinho, Pato and Robinho, the brilliance of Lionel Messi, Kaka's recovery from knee surgery and the widely controversial appointment of Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo as coach of Inter Milan.

We have also begun a deeper investigation into the history of Brazilian football more generally. We have had the privilege to reflect on Brazil's historic loss to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final, the legendary team of 1982, the World Cup championship team of 1994 as well as the teams of 1998 and 2002. All this leaves us ample territory in the months and years ahead, to dig deeper into the history of Brazilian football by covering teams and players that have gradually been erased from historical memory online and, to a lesser extent, in print as well.

We saw glimpses of the beautiful game in Brazil 2002, when Luiz Felipe Scolari fielded 6 attacking players in the early matches in the form of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Juninho Paulista, Roberto Carlos and Cafu. This year, Spain's Barcelona midfield quartet of Iniesta, Xabi, Xavi Alonso and Busquets gave us yet another tantalizing glimpse of beautiful football, but their elegant passing needs to be supplemented by more firepower up front in order to earn a place amongst the top 5 teams in footballing history.

We believe a historical investigation into Brazilian football will enable us to describe, recover and ultimately restore the true spirit of the beautiful game. We have an interest in stylish, attacking football and players and coaches that have a similar investment. And in all this, we have a larger interest in freedom, creativity, aesthetics and the capacity of sport qua art to enrich our lives with models of collaboration, mentorship, friendship, closeness, creativity and passionate modalities of self-expression.

Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo Quotes on AC Milan, 2009 - 2010

On coaching AC Milan for the 2009-2010 season:

"[AC Milan] was great...Thiago Silva needed confidence, directions. Europe isn't easy for a skilled Brazilian defender. Abate and Antonini had to improve mentally and believe: I can. It's nice to see Antonini on the national side. Borriello needed room. Dida never said anything, but he worked like a madman. He was great. Pirlo's silence was powerful. Ambrosini carried us in his first year as captain. Seedorf showed character. Ronaldinho regained his energy and enthusiasm. Occasionally he would start to fade and I would give him a push and he would come back. Pato's first season as a starter was marked by injuries and difficulties. Nesta returned after being written off. It was great. From the exterior they look like champions, but from an insider's view they are fragile, sensitive people. Leading them was personally an exciting and gratifying experience. It was great."

On his decision to leave and Silvio Berlusconi:

"Milan was so many things for me. I was a player, executive and coach for the club. At a certain point in time, after 13 years with the club, I thought that I would be with Milan forever. Instead, I broke it off. I'm going to need this year to change who I am, to see things objectively, not as part of the AC Milan organisation."

"Let's make two things clear. The first is that I would have never left after 13 years for tactical reasons, also because today Milan play the same way as they did before. The second thing is that I decided to leave. I forewent the final year of my contract to leave on the best terms possible. I left because my character and style were not compatible with his. I said all the same things to him. Narcissus does not like anything that is not a reflection of him."

Read the full text of the September 2010 interview with Leonardo here:
"Leonardo takes a Swipe: Berlusconi like Narcissus." La Gazzetta dello Sport. September 18, 2010. Interview by Luigi Garlando.

Leonardo appointed coach of Inter Milan

Former Brazilian international, World Cup champion and AC Milan manager Leonardo has been hired as coach of Inter Milan, just one day after the termination of Rafael Benitez's contract. Benitez's termination marked the end of a 6 month stint after the Spaniard took over from Jose Mourinho, who secured a historic treble with the club by winning Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia in the 2009-2010 season. Defending champions Inter are currently in seventh place in Italy's Serie A, with 23 points from 15 games, while arch-rivals AC Milan sit atop the league with 36 points from 17 games. Leonardo's previous coaching experience is limited to the 2009-2010 season with AC Milan, as a result of which his team finished third in Serie A. The Brazilian is known for creating stylish, attack oriented teams that play with a 4-3-3 formation where possible. Like his compatriots Luiz Felipe Scolari and Zico, Leonardo's coaching philosophy is fundamentally Brazilian with its emphasis on one touch passing, dribbling through defenders and taking the attack to the opposing team. The Brazilian left AC Milan as coach after failing to get along with club President Silvio Berlusconi. Leonardo's appointment as coach of Inter Milan stuns the football world given his long standing history as player, scout, technical director and coach of the club's foremost rival, AC Milan. His appointment runs from December 29, 2010 until June 2012.

For an article on Leonardo and World Cup 1994, see:
Bringing Back the Beautiful Game: Flashback: Tears of Regret and Friendship: Bebeto and Leonardo in World Cup 1994

Flashback: Tears of Regret and Friendship: Bebeto and Leonardo in World Cup 1994

Pele's tears of joy after Brazil won the 1958 World Cup in Sweden are well documented in photographic and video archives, as are Mario Zagallo's tears of joy in World Cup 1998 and Romario's tears of sadness after failing to make the 1998 World Cup squad. Less well known are Leonardo's tears of regret after earning a red card for elbowing Tab Ramos in the Brazil v. USA second round match of World Cup 1994. The Brazil v. USA match famously marked the continued evolution of the Romario and Bebeto strike partnership, featuring, in this case, Romario's assist to Bebeto after overcoming a tangle of defenders. Romario's pass set up Bebeto's game winning, Carlos Alberto-like strike on goal past Tony Meola from the right flank. Bebeto described Leonardo's tears in a FIFA interview as follows:

"When I went into the dressing room at half-time in that game, I saw Leo, someone I've always been very fond of because we started out together with Flamengo. He was sitting there in the corner, crying his eyes out, so I told him not to worry as I would score the winning goal for us."

Bebeto returns to the dressing room at half time to find Leonardo bawling his eyes out and consoles him by telling him he will score the winning goal and negate the setback to the Brazil team created by Leonardo's red card. In this exchange, Bebeto performs what contemporary psychologists call self-actualization by visualizing himself scoring the crucial game winning goal. True to his vision, Bebeto went on to score in precisely the manner that he promised to his friend and teammate Leonardo.

Speaking of his promise to Leonardo, Bebeto remarked:

"And with the help of God I did. When I returned to the dressing room afterwards, he gave me a big hug and thanked me profusely. Without a doubt, I felt something very strong in that game. Something God-given."

Something viscerally powerful about the friendship between Bebeto and Leonardo sparks Brazil's victory. Leonardo's tears touch Bebeto to the point where he assumes responsibility for his friend's sadness, and he returns to the pitch intent to restore his friend's spirits. And after the ball touches the back of the net, Bebeto becomes convinced that Brazil will indeed become four times champions with a conviction that borders on the sublime. "From that moment, I was convinced that we would become four-time World Cup winners," Bebeto reflected.

A similar red card incident transpired the next time Brazil won the World Cup in 2002 in the quarterfinals against England. Ronaldinho received a red card for a foul on Danny Mills and this time, Cafu played the role that Bebeto had played in 1994, by putting his arm around Ronaldinho's shoulder as he was leaving the field and telling him with uncanny conviction: "Don't worry. We will win the game for you."

For more on Brazil v. USA, World Cup 1994, see:

Bringing Back the Beautiful Game. Deadly Striker Partnerships: Romario and Bebeto (Part 2 of 2)

Sources cited: Bebeto's FIFA Interview

Ronaldo of Brazil: The Retirement of the First Global Sports Hero of All Time

Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo announced his retirement from professional football on February 14, 2011, citing difficulties maintaining his body and hypothyroidism, a medical condition which made it difficult for him to maintain an optimal weight.

Where will Ronaldo find his nest after retiring from professional football? Questions such as these about Ronaldo’s future hover like a ghost around the Brazilian legend's decision to retire in the wake of harassment from Corinthians fans because of the club's February 2 exit from the Copa Libertadores. After retirement, Ronaldo’s Selecao teammates Romario and Bebeto found careers in coaching, club management and, most recently, politics. Correspondingly, 1994 World Cup winners Dunga and Jorginho went on to coach one of the most tactically aware and defensively robust Brazil sides of all time. Right winger Leonardo coached AC Milan with considerable success from 2009-2010 and has transformed Inter Milan radically since taking over as coach in late December 2010.

Ronaldo has said little about his post-retirement plans but one senses he is less likely to pursue a career in coaching and more inclined to contribute to football in an advisory capacity for club teams or as a commentator on the game. As a global symbol of peace, goodwill and human rights for the United Nations at various moments during his career, Ronaldo may well end up following Romario and Bebeto in furthering causes for justice and the well-being of children worldwide, whether in politics or the non-profit sector. With respect to football, Ronaldo has professed an interest in remaining involved with his former club Real Madrid in an advisory role, and one would expect that he will continue to maintain close ties to Corinthians in subsequent years. But in all this, the question about Ronaldo’s retirement and attendant plans engages the fate of one of the first truly transnational sports heroes of all time.

Ronaldo rapidly became a symbol of goodwill and sportsmanship to generations of football fans all over the world. In the mid-1990s, his goal scoring feats and slalom runs catalyzed a renaissance of interest in the game that coincided with its emerging popularity in the United States and Asia. And most importantly, Ronaldo became the first truly global sports hero that men and women all over the world admired, shared and loved, beginning with his sublime goal a game ratio at Barcelona and Inter Milan, to his heart wrenching struggles with knee injuries, back to the glory of his 2002 World Cup victory and two goals against Germany in the final. Pele was never truly a global hero because he played in a historical moment that was not wired in quite the same way as the world is today with Google, YouTube and soccer websites and discussion boards in almost every language. Maradona had few fans amongst English football supporters and his greatness was ultimately eclipsed by his decline into cocaine addiction and alcoholism. Romario paved the way for the concept of a global super-hero, but his cat-like prowess around the goal mouth paled in comparison to Ronaldo’s almost superhuman speed, strength, dribbling ability and power. Moreover, the peak years of Romario’s career coincided with the dawn of the consumer internet era as opposed to the conjunction of the peak of Ronaldo's fame with the lightning fast proliferation of internet technologies across the globe.

Add to all this the manner in which football enjoys a global popularity that trumps basketball, tennis and golf, it becomes easy to understand how Ronaldo crossed national, class, generational and gender boundaries more so than Bruce Lee, Michael Jordan, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. His fame ushered in the conditions of possibility for a transnational sports hero embraced by fans all over the entire globe. In terms of fame and global power as a cultural icon, only Michael Jackson and Madonna bear him comparison. While soccer historians would do well to begin cataloguing Ronaldo’s dizzying array of goals and records, cultural historians should take stock of the way in which Ronaldo elevated sport in general, and football in particular, to a global language with the power to galvanize audiences in all corners of the entire world. Messi stands on Ronaldo’s shoulders because his circulation in the world of contemporary popular culture derives from Ronaldo’s unprecedented, organic creation of the concept of a truly global sports hero for the very first time.

The above article features a post-February 14, 2011 update to the original December 4 posting.

Brazil World Cup 1994 All Goals: Romario and Bebeto At Their Peak

Robinho Debuts for AC Milan in the Rossoneri's Shock 2-0 Loss to Cesena

Silvio Berlusconi's decision to sign Robinho from Manchester City for AC Milan at the 11th hour of the transfer window may well have inadvertently done Mano Menezes and Brazil's Selecao a huge favor. By allowing Robinho to play alongside compatriots Ronaldinho and Alexander Pato, Berlusconi's surprise move enables Robinho to garner much needed experience playing alongside Rossoneri star Pato, the 20 year old sensation who is likely to shoulder the weight of the Brazilian number 9 jersey. What role will Robinho play at the Rossoneri given its surfeit of attacking talent, now featuring recent acquisitions Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kevin Prince Boateng? Is Robinho likely to warm the bench and trade places with Ronaldinho as a left sided winger? Or will coach Massimiliano Allegri play all of Berlusconi's cards by featuring an ultra-attacking formation 4-2-3-1 formation with Ronaldinho, Pato and Robinho sitting behind Ibrahimovic in the role of the target man and lone pure striker?

Rumor out of Milan has it that it’s unlikely we’ll rarely see the quartet of Dinho, Robinho, Pato and Ibrahimovic on the field at the same time, since 4 strikers would leave room for only 2 midfielders. And the Rossoneri is bursting with quality midfielders such as Massimo Ambrosini, Rino Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Mathieu Flamini and Kevin Prince Boateng. In AC Milan’s 4-0 victory against Lecce on August 29, Massimiliano Allegri retained former coach Leonardo’s 4-3-3 formation but opted for a tighter 4-3-3 that more closely resembled Milan under Arrigo Sacchi, with the midfield and attacking trios clustered more tightly in the central channel of the pitch in a formation that leaves less room for Seedorf and Ambrosini to stray from their original positions and expose room for attacking full backs from the opposition.

Ibrahimovic and Robinho debuted today in AC Milan’s shock 2-0 loss to freshly promoted Cesena. Robinho came on for Ronaldinho in the 56th minute but failed to impress as the Rossoneri encountered a frustrating night featuring a missed Ibrahimovic penalty in the 86th minute and 2 goals by Alexander Pato that were disallowed. Coach Massimiliano Allegri called for more hard work and sacrifice from the entire team and stressed the need for forwards to track back in defense.

Allegri remarked: "This loss will only help us, because it shows that games need to be won on the pitch, with sacrifice," he said. "It doesn't matter how many champions you have."

Robinho may do well to learn from Allegri's advice and follow in the footsteps of his compatriot Ronaldo, who claimed he learned to defend only when he came to Italy and "suffer for a result", as the famous Italian football phrase goes.

The World Cup of Soccer: South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014

I looked forward to this World Cup, fervently, out of the belief that something historic or even cataclysmic would happen. Either we would see beautiful, fluid, attacking soccer from Brazil or Argentina or Spain to a degree that recalled Brazil 1970, or something dramatic would happen in a different vein such as a terrorist attack akin to Munich 1972. I had little compelling data to substantiate the belief in either of these claims, but somehow, the combination of “South Africa” and “2010” suggested that something extraordinary would happen. South Africa was different from Japan and Korea of 2002 because many of the games would be played at altitude and in near freezing temperatures unseen in previous World Cups, including those held in Europe.

On one hand it seemed that something truly extraordinary and pivotal was happening with the Brazilian team. They had qualified for the Cup with three games to spare, won Copa America, won the Confederations Cup and created a backline that promised to silence pundits that said Brazil couldn’t defend and relied too much on their strikeforce. And intriguingly, for the first time in at least two World Cups, they didn’t have any serious gunpowder amongst their strikers or attacking midfielders. Instead we saw the first Brazilian squad in decades that functioned like a team, with players who knew how to find each other and grind out a victory in difficult situations without relying on players who could “change a game” like Ronaldo, Rivaldo or Ronaldinho.

All of this was inspiring and suggestive, particularly because Brazil didn’t have minnows near the mouth of goal, either. Luis Fabiano and Robinho could certainly put the ball in the back of the net and anyone who knew anything about football saw how Kaka headed to the dugout at half-time against the USA in the Confederations Cup, in South Africa 2009, and returned to the pitch in unstoppable form to orchestrate Brazil’s 3-2 comeback victory in the final from a 2-0 half-time deficit. Compared to other winning World Cup teams, this year’s Brazilian team was ordinary but promising by virtue of its coherence and record of success. And for the first time in decades, they were blessed with a coach who believed in hard work and discipline instead of players who would celebrate the nightlife with abandon.

And then there was Argentina. True to form, the South American team that qualifies last in a World Cup often does strikingly well, and this year was no exception. We saw flashes of brilliance from Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi against highly competent teams such as Nigeria, South Korea and Mexico. And viewers were treated to the engaging spectacle of Diego Maradona gesticulating wildly up and down the coaches box in light beige suits, pausing to put his fingers to his chin or stroke or his mane of curly black hair. As with Dunga, Maradona’s squad selection was the subject of much debate since he had left out Javier Zanetti and Cambiasso and opted instead for players that he trusted and to whom he was close.

But Brazil and Argentina failed to deliver, as did Spain, even though Spain went on to win the Championship by notching up victories against formidable opponents such as Germany and the Netherlands. Spain played their passing game as best they could, but their victories lacked the goal scoring displays of Argentina or Germany or Brazil. And all in all, the Cup was a magnificent disappointment for the sport and the game. True, we all saw glimpses of brilliance and excitement from Germany, Ghana, Uruguay and even Argentina. But the number of total goals continues to drop from 171 in France 1998, 161 in Japan/Korea 2002, 146 in Germany 2006 and 145 in South Africa 2010.

Everyone will remember the sublimity of Landon Donovan's stoppage time strike against Slovakia, Asamoah Gyan’s extra time goal against the U.S., Diego Forlan’s sublime free kick against Ghana and his long range strike against South Africa. Or the spectacular, curling free kicks from Japan’s Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo in their 3-1 victory against Denmark. And then, there was Germany’s magnificent 4-0 demolition of Argentina heralding the emergence of a new generation of German players in the form of Muller, Ozeil, Podolski and Schweinsteiger in what appeared, in more than a few moments, as quite possibly the greatest team in modern times. Yet the irony was that all of these remarkable teams were eliminated before the final, most pertinently by the Netherlands and Spain.

The Netherlands played well, even if they didn’t play the total football for which they were famous in the 1970s. Arjen Robben’s attacking threat down the right side emerged as a threat to be reckoned with as the games progressed and Wesley Sneider, meanwhile, like all great goalscorers, opportunistically found himself in the right place to put the ball in the back of the onion bag at the right time. Spain, on the other hand, didn’t fail to disappoint or impress. They found their form, for the first time in the tournament, against Germany, pressuring the Germans in midfield with Xabi, Iniesta and Busquets combining to keep their opponents from launching any kind of serious counter-attacking threat. But their strength in midfield interestingly failed to translate into any kind of torrent of goals of the kind that you would expect from creative midfielders that would serve up the ball, on a platter, for strikers of the quality of David Villa and Fernando Torres. True, Villa scored five goals but the team as a whole edged its way to its first World Cup championship on the back of four consecutive 1-0 victories against Portugal, Paraguay, Germany and the Netherlands.

All this is to say the goal machines failed to continue chugging in South Africa 2010, even though we saw plenty of glimpses of them throughout the tournament in different moments. The lack of goals may have something to do with the 4-3-2-1 or 4-2-3-1 formation that teams are increasingly using, with less emphasis on the wingers and more on a frontal attack, straight down the center of midfield that fancies its chances against the traditionally strong central defense. As one might expect, the debate about how to reform the game has begun most fervently in Brazil as they prepare to host the Cup in 2014. Almost everyone has an opinion but refreshingly, no one really has an answer about how to both bring back jogo bonito and ensure that Brazil wins on its own soil. As if it were a political debate of some kind, former players and coaches such as Romario, Branco, Leonardo and others have thrown their two cents in the ring, only for us to see nothing of substance stick in the form of a real vision of how to reform the sport to produce more attacking, attractive football marked by more goals. The good thing—amidst all this uncertainty about the sport and what comes next—is that all of us with an investment in attractive football should take heart from Spain’s victory because it underscores the power of a strong midfield that we should expect to see replicated by teams in serious contention for the trophy in 2014.