Close your eyes. Tune in to your favorite song. Picture your
partner. Imagine the two of you dancing, elegantly gliding your
feet across the dance floor. No matter the tune, the two of you are
moving in unison, like you were one. Eventually, you are making
your own music.
Close your eyes. Tune in to your favorite song. Picture your partner. Imagine the two of you dancing, elegantly gliding your feet across the dance floor. No matter the tune, the two of you are moving in unison, like you were one. Eventually, you are making your own music.
This is the Beautiful Game – soccer. It is about graceful, elegant players. Players whose partner is the soccer ball and whose dance floor is the green grass beneath their feet.
Like a muscled gymnast or a petite ballerina, the greatest soccer players have a strength and gracefulness that set them apart from others. It is as though the ball is fastened to their feet with Velcro. World-class players have the innate ability to hypnotize opponents, to lull them to sleep and then, with a burst of speed or a flick of the foot, leave the defender with his feet twisted.
The skillful player’s supernatural ball control can energize and ignite 100,000 futbol enthusiasts packed into a stadium.
I can recall the first time I realized the power of talent and skill. In 1984, just after the Los Angeles Olympics, I attended a UNICEF benefit All-Star game held in the 100,000 seat Rose Bowl.
Tickets were sold not necessarily for the game, but to give fans the opportunity to see world’s most creative player touch the ball. The attraction was Argentinean Diego Maradona. The impact he had on those in attendance was unforgettable. Never before had I seen a player able to mesmerize his opponent with a shake of his hips or mesmerize the crowd with his deftly jaunts with the ball.
Each time Maradona touched the ball, the crowd rose to its feet. The closer he and the ball advanced to the goal, the louder the voices of the spectators became. As soon as Mardona gave up the ball, the stadium became silent and fannies found their seats.
Maradona was a magician whose soccer talent could hypnotize confused defenders and cast a spell over soccer stadiums. You did not have to be Argentinean to be a Diego Maradona supporter. Diego was the epitome of the Beautiful Game.
Players like Maradona ignite the passion of tomorrow’s soccer stars. Although Maradona’s name lives in the mind of today’s soccer players, players like Brazil’s Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, or Zinedine Zidane of France, or Englishman David Beckham are players that live in the feet of young players throughout the world.
As a referee, I have been fortunate to share the pitch with many big names. These were names that I had always admired from afar, from the couch in front of my big screen TV. Running behind and chasing the big-named athlete gives you a different perspective. You can see the player’s balance, gracefulness, their strength and feel for the ball. Attributes that are not so evident 7,000 miles away.
Top-class players have an aura. When you stand next to them, a commanding presence oozes from their pores. Confidence. Intensity. Elegance. Qualities that don’t seep out of other players but are embodied in these stars.
In my house, I have Ronaldo’s national team jersey mounted on my wall. In 1993, I refereed a 16-year-old playing for Brazil’s youth national team against the US youth national side. During the game, I could sense there was something special about the young man. By the time I blew the final whistle, Ronaldo had notched a hat-trick, three goals. The young Brazilian’s darting runs and dribbling ability left the American defenders looking like spinning tops.
After the game, there was a knock on the dressing room door. On the other side of the door was Ronaldo and a team trainer. Ronaldo wanted the game ball to commemorate his first national team game in which he netted three goals. In return for the ball, Ronaldo offered his sweaty jersey. It was a no-brainer. I accepted.
Thirteen years later, the crafty striker has won three FIFA World Player of the Year honors and is a double World Cup winner. Could I have predicted Ronaldo’s climb to the top? No. But, his aura and his ability to dance with the ball would have given me confidence in predicting his name would become synonymous with the Beautiful Game.
Ronaldo’s countryman and two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho is the modern-day poster child for the game. Any video involving Ronaldinho’s magical feet are amongst the most downloaded on the Internet. Youngsters play and replay the breathtaking moves that are the 26-year-old’s trademark. Their goal? To dissect the foot movement so that they, too, can be Ronaldinho. Hours are spent in the back yard, at the park, or in the living room practicing and failing.
The next time your eyes become entranced with the beauty on the soccer field, imagine the music that is going through the player’s head. To what tune is the player and ball dancing? Is it the samba, the salsa, or the cha-cha?
The movement of the ball and the player will tell you.
Brian Hall, a former World Cup referee and two-time Major League Soccer Referee of the Year, is a guest columnist of South Valley Newspapers. He resides in Gilroy and is the co-head coach of Gilroy High’s boys varsity soccer team. You can reach him at [email protected]
