Another not so bitter man , unless maybe he want to be TD in smart !
Football colonisers
Theodore Lewis
Tuesday, July 11th 2006
Trinidad Exptress Online
This World Cup has revealed the extent to which football has now been colonised on several levels. First, the major centres of the game in the world, the great leagues and teams, are based in Europe. Second, these teams are coached by Europeans, who have imposed a rigid, efficient style of play on the game, that consists of massive amounts of defence, control of the ball, and one - or no more than two - forwards. Goals have been scarce because of cautious play.
Because the great players from all over the world now congregate in Europe, they are all affected by this new oppressive regime of football ideas.
In the old days, Brazilian players played in Brazilian leagues. Pele played most of his career for Santos. When a Brazilian team came out, such as in 1970 in Mexico, what they played was original, not at all affected by this monstrous formula. You were at the edge of your seat, waiting to see which new talent they were going to bring out this time. And that wait was usually rewarded, with the likes of Jairzinho or Paulo Caesar. Last World Cup we saw Ronaldinho as a raw player, this time they had gotten to him. He still plays with the greatest economy, but there is no one to play with. There is no forward line. No samba partners, just Ronaldo loafing, waiting for something.Â
Proof that the game has been colonised can be seen with the proliferation of European coaches standing on the sidelines for teams like Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, and, of course, Trinidad and Tobago.
So we have a World Cup final and semi-final, with all European teams, the great and stylish African and Latin American teams, and our team, all by the wayside.
I read a piece based on an interview with Everard Cummings, and what he said was that there is a Trinidad and Tobago style of play, and it is premised on attack. And we never got to that, because we were playing defence, with Stern John up from alone, and with the great Russell Latapy on the bench. Everard Cummings is the greatest natural footballer we ever produced, and one of the greatest football minds. I am not against foreign coaches, I am just for local ones. For the same reason that I wanted Fr Clyde Harvey to be our Archbishop. We have to take up our beds and walk at some point.Â
Let me say that the only way I would leave Latapy on a bench would be if he came into the stadium in a wheelchair. Only a foreign coach, who does not understand us well, could keep Latas on ice like that. Don't get me wrong; I am not ungrateful to the coach. I am just a Trini, and I can talk if I want. No one who understands the country could leave Latapy on a bench. Everard Cummings is right; they should have played him, and that would have freed up Yorke to roam a bit more, up front with Stern John.
France got to the finals because they brought back older and wiser players-Zidane, Thuram, Makalele and Viera.
In the old days teams used to have a forward line with five men. So five forwards, three mid-fielders, a stopper, and two backs. Then they went to 4-2-4. The modern colonised game has killed off forwards and the idea of flair. Now there is one forward, who has to be serviced. The game is largely tiresome to watch now, except when the South Americans and Africans play.Â
These comments aside, this World Cup was just great for the country, sport always doing more than its share to sell us to the world. I felt some resentment when I heard that until the Soca Warriors, Haiti was the smallest country ever in the world cup. Our 1973 team played Haiti in Haiti, and lost having had several goals disallowed. How criminal it is that the world never got to see Warren Archibald, Everard Cummings, Jan Steadman, Leroy DeLeon, among others, on the World Cup stage. Â
We must not forget that prior to this year, we have had two very close calls with the World Cup. The Strike Squad was stopped by a single goal. So we are not a fluke, we are the real thing.
The question now is what do we do for an encore. I would get Gally Cummings, Russell Latapy and Dwight Yorke to form a management/coaching unit, that would be completely in charge of getting us ready for 2010. Messi from Argentina is 19 years old. Adebayor of Togo is in his early 20s. Rooney7 is 20. There are boys who are now 15 years old in this country, who should be playing for us the next time. That means we have to renew our efforts in the schools. That is not a job for a foreigner.
- Theodore Lewis is a professor at the University of Minnesota.