FOOTBALL PARADIGM SHIFT

By Namakando Nalikando-Sinyama The Hitlerites have this week stamped their tactical supremacy on the European football scene in a very authoritative manner. The outfits from the Fatherland, Deutschland that is, made easy meat of the Iberians like they were not even there. The last two nights UEFA Champions league fixtures further underscored the fact that any ‘team’s’ over reliance on individual players usually exposes their Achilles heel and consequently spells their ultimate doom . This point football managers world over can choose to ignore at their own peril. This psychological aspect has been known to completely kill off self-esteem and confidence of other players or make it remain inert forever without having an outlet. The general belief and expectation is that only a select few can perform wonders and so it stays in those teams. The diminutive Amazonian from the Andes was virtually nonexistent even invisible in the team from Catalonia and believe me this was not for his lack of vertical reach at all. You could clearly see how the Bavarians were running circles around him as they brought the juggernaut in their territory as a unified force without any identifiable solo soldier. They could not know who to pick out and concentrate their resources so as to neutralize the threat. And so it was, a tidal wave came and what we saw was a 4 nil drabbing of an otherwise quite useful side by mainland European standards of performance in football. The Bumble Bees from Borussia as I endearingly like to call them were equally relentless against the Spanish municipal Whites from Madrid. Out of my immense respect for their maverick coach who thank heavens might be making his way to Stamford Bridge to stage a daring come back, soon I hope, I will not be saying much here. Let us just say for now that they made him look, well, not so special but more ordinary than he would have us think of him! In the end I guess this reality check has been long overdue. I can imagine how he must have relished the possibility of leaving Madrid on a high, say with a continental trophy for them to remember him by but alas Dortmund had other ideas on their mind. All I saw was that goal from Cristiano which he celebrated with much pomp only to have it expunged by someone’s solo effort. I but blinked after the half time break only to see the scores which at first sight were unbelievable 4 goals to the Germans against the one for Madrid. In case anyone is entertaining illusions of a possible upset of these first round results in their next encounters, you may wish to know that most of us do not share your optimism. The only down side to all this sporting duels is that permutations permitting, sadly the prospect of an all-German final looms large on the horizon and some of us would rather not have had this outcome. Granted, that the modern generation of Germans would rather discard and completely sever any ties with their past and the immense influence that the Fuhrer has had on their affairs. I do not mean to get historical but what the world should never forget is that these teams are extremely disciplined and are still inspired by age old German values for the pursuit of excellence in all they set out to do. This is akin to the war machine that he(The Fuhrer) put together which made the whole wake up from their slumber which consequently almost caused large territories to be taken over. These virtues are still engrained into their psyche in all they do. This aspect may not have been noticeable to most but it was there for all to see. Look, this is what has given us such state of the art technological aesthetics like BMW, Mercedes Benz, Audi, Volks Wagon, OPEL etc The lesson we get from all this is that just because we are constantly bombarded with commercialized biased television imagery of Spanish and English football leagues does not mean there is no football skill elsewhere in the world. Humble pie sure does have a bitter taste sometimes which makes it rather hard to swallow.