adminFor some years now, Barcelona and Spain were mentioned almost in the same breath and it had become difficult to separate them. Both were exponents of the newest kind of football in the world, revealed in its full glory in the final match of Euro 2012. Playing against Italy, a team that knows how to win championships, Spain put up its greatest display of the new global football philosophy called Tiki Taka by the Spanish media. In doing so they totally “destroyed” the great Azurris, with all their mastery of defensive play, with four beautiful goals.
Before the final match, many people had described the performance of Spain as monotonous and predictable with their one-style-for-all approach against all manner of opposition. Many had, indeed, concluded that the style would be short-lived and would be rendered ineffective, particularly by either Germany or Italy.
In the end Spain played and earned the respect of the entire world. Suddenly, everyone was agreed that through Euro 2012 the world was looking into the future and was previewing the 2014 World Cup, reported mathematical7.com.
There were many questions on what could be so radically different in football tactics or philosophy to impact on a team and make it the best in the world for years? Some argued that since Total Football was introduced in the early 1970s by the Dutch national team nothing of that magnitude had happened again to the game until Barcelona came along in the middle of the last decade.
It was Barcelona that discovered and introduced the secret formula that the rest of the world has since been trying to unravel and deal with without much success. The team started to stamp its authority in every game. Not everyone appreciated their increasingly steady and consistent performance, influence and eventual mastery of this new style of play. For some years now, Barcelona and the Spanish national team have been the most entertaining sides in the world to watch. They have dominated opposition with their passing and flawless ball possession, scoring goals in “baskets,” covering more miles on the field than other teams, and attacking and defending in endless running with uncommon enthusiastic gusto.
In the period, Barca won the Spanish La Liga, the Uefa Champions League and the World Club Cup, and Spain have won the European Championships and the World Cup. It was at the final match of Euro 2012 that the defining moment came to cast all doubts aside and reveal the genius and authenticity of the philosophy encapsulated in this new playing style, the blogger argued.
The world believed the Tiki-Taka kind of football was the best in the world, of course, it is beautiful to watch and brings results just as when the right eggs for the right omelette are there. It is the same philosophy that Warriors caretaker coach, German expatriate Dieter Klauss Pagels introduced to the Warriors when he took over from Rahman Gumbo.
For the first time, we woke up to hear a national team coach saying he would select players who fitted into his philosophy of play, and I guess many players were wondering what the guy was talking about. The Wikipedia explains a philosophy in general as a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and about society. A philosophy is a group of ideas, worked out by a philosopher (someone who has studied ways of thinking about the world). The ideas in philosophy are abstract, which means that they are “things that cannot be touched.” But this does not mean that philosophy is not about the real world. Ethics, for example, asks what we should do in our everyday lives, and metaphysics asks about how the world works and of what it is made. Sometimes people talk about how they have a “personal philosophy”, which means the way a person thinks about the world.
This article is not about people’s “personal philosophies”.
So in this case, Pagels was referring to the new type of football that he wanted to introduce to the Warriors set up. When he came in and played a friendly against Botswana, getting a positive result, the country applauded him and warmed up to his Tiki Taka business. But football is a funny game and just like when Barcelona were humiliated by German giants Bayern Munich in this year’s Euefa Champions League semi-final, the world started to believe the Tiki Taka had run its full circle, and likewise, when the Warriors lost to Egypt on Sunday, many started to question the style of play employed by the coach.
Of interest were sentiments from the national team high performance technical committee comprising Benedict Moyo, Gibson Homela, Cosmas Zulu, Bheki Nyoni, Charles Sibanda and Misheck Chidzambwa.
Moyo did not mince his words when he said the committee noted that the style of play was not taking the country anywhere, noting that in countries like Spain and Hungary where it was being employed, it took 20 years to produce results. The present generation of Barcelona stars were together in the Under-13s or so age groups and they grew up with that kind of philosophy of playing being drilled into them every day, and the national team was able to win the World Cup and Euros because the majority of players were from Barcelona, who were undoubtedly the best team in the world in recent years.
What it means now is that it is difficult if not disastrous to introduce a new philosophy at the senior national team level, when from juniors up to club level, players are playing a different kind of game. Across the Limpopo in South Africa, when Bafana Bafana broke into the international scene winning the African Nations Cup and Orlando Pirates winning the African Champions League, they were playing their own brand of football called “Shushine-piano”. That was the philosophy drilled into the minds and legs of the likes of Doctor Khumalo and John “Shoes” Moshoeshoe. When they were growing up as youngsters, they used to watch the likes of Jomo Sono playing the Shushine piano game and to them it worked because that is what they knew best. Of course, they are changing now because football is evolving, it no longer relies on individual flair and dribbling, but when the chips are down, the South Africans will demand that the national team reverts to their own brand of football.
The most successful club in Zimbabwe is Dynamos and they achieved a lot in the jungles of African football under Sunday Chidzambwa. He is also the same guy who took the national team to the finals of the Africa Nations Cup for the first time in 2004. Hate him or love him, his football philosophy typified Zimbabwean football and with it, we prospered, perhaps it’s about time we forget about this Tiki Taka and play our “natural” or “normal” game. Chidzambwa’s game was underlined by a very strong defence which was never skillful to start the ball at the back, except for a few occasions when there was Norman Mapeza, Thulani “Biya” Ncube and Dazzy Kapenya, otherwise, his football was played from midfield going upfront where the role of midfielders was to look for Peter Ndlovu to get us goals.
If we want to change the football philosophy, it cannot start at the top. It has to start at junior level with Pagels taking junior coaches and club coaches through some courses and drills so that clubs, which are the chickens that lay the eggs, can produce the right eggs for the right omelette called Tiki Taka.
I have watched Chicken Inn defender Felix Chindungwe play on many occasions and I can bet my last cent he is not a bad player. I have watched Partson Jaure play, he is not a bad player and neither is Lincoln Zvasiya or Denver Mukamba who became a fall guy when he was dispossessed and the Egyptians got a fourth goal, no. The reason why it will be difficult for the boys to perform to their very best at the highest level is that they will be forced to adjust and change their type of play, which naturally will put them at a disadvantage. You cannot expect a kombi driver to do the same wonders on the road (for the wrong reasons on most occasions), simply because you have given him keys to a Ferrari. The guy must first get used to driving a Ferrari before he competes at the highest level, otherwise for now if we want to get the best from him, let him compete with his kombi!
This is what Moyo said after the Sunday 4-2 demolition, the worst result on home soil since Independence. “The style of play will not give us results in the near future. We need to come up with a medium term plan that fuses the experienced and young players. Our style of play as Zimbabwe must also be incorporated so that some outstanding players on the domestic scene can be accommodated. Hungary started this Tiki Taka football and it took them 20 years to perfect. Even Barcelona got it right in 1974 having introduced it in 1954. Development is with the Under-23 team and with the national team a medium team goal is what we should look for.”
And the Warriors coach hinted after the game that he needed six to ten games to polish up his act and if you are to count the number of fixtures per qualify for a major tournament, then we have a long wait before we get results. I am bit surprised because the coach is German and that is not the kind of football played by his national team and top clubs. They play basic tactical football which is at times physical but gets the job done, and the success of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in the year’s European competition is testimony to that.
There have also been calls for the coach to consider experienced players to give guidance to the youngsters, which I believe is a valid concern and if you look at the Egyptian team that beat us, you will realise that there were some 20-year-olds and some over 30 in the starting eleven.
And England’s Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard summed it up when he was asked if old players were no longer useful. “I disagree with it, to be honest. I’ve seen many signings throughout the world who have gone to clubs at the age of 28, 29 or even older and done fantastic jobs. If Chelsea don’t keep Frank Lampard and another big club comes and gets him and he produces top attacking midfield performances for the next two years, they’ll regret it. What is he, 34? I can understand the policy that everyone wants young, bright, British players. I can understand it. But I don’t agree with it 100 per cent, that it should be the only way. I think you’ve got to add experience to young gifted players. At this level you need experience as well.”
By the way, I am no Liverpool supporter, I am an Arsenal man and we have played Tiki Taka football for years, but it has not given us trophies like it has done for Barcelona and I hope we get some Tiki Taka magic tomorrow away in Guinea so that we can afford a smile after a national team match.
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