Why I like football

There are plenty of reasons why I like football. Like most sports, it's exciting. It's entertaining. It has adventure, suspense, mystery. There are scandals, dramas, plot twists. But the no.1 reason why I like football; it's because of how it reflects life for me. It is the flexibility and the diversity in football.

It's interesting how diverse football actually is. The best example would be diversity in philosophy. There are 2 distinct philosophy in football. There's the "if we don't score, we don't win" philosophy. And then there's "if we don't concede, we won't lose" philosophy. Mirroring that to life would be the optimistic and the pessimistic philosophy. The former will play attacking football; the latter defensive. And both are successful! The most defensive football strategy ever devised is the Catenaccio which led several teams to glory, most recently Greece at Euro 2004. On the other hand, you have very attacking styles like Total Football which allowed Ajax to win the European Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Fabio Capello is well known as a successful defensive minded manager while Arsene Wenger's Arsenal gain much successful for a very attacking lineup. I like the fact that unlike other sports, you have a choice of which philosophy to choose from and to play.

Regarding the philosophy, there is much diversity also regarding tactics. There's the long ball tactic that England is famous for using. Defensive minded teams may play possession football to keep the ball and countdown the clock. Attack minded teams may use the same strategy to work their way up the pitch. There is wing play where teams stretch the game from one side of the pitch to the other. There are also teams who play a narrow game by keeping the ball in the middle of the pitch. All these tactics have been used and are currently used to bring success at various levels.

Further along these lines, even formations are very diverse. In the history of football, we can see an evolution of formations from the early 2-3-5 and 4-2-4 to the 90's favourite 4-4-2. And today, the choice formation is often a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with 2 wingers and a solitary striker. And even along the same formation choices, there is diversity. Man Utd plays 4-4-2 with 2 wingers and 2 wingbacks. Arsenal also play 4-4-2 but with 4 central midfielders who attack mostly through the middle. Werder Bremen won the Bundesliga using a 4-4-2 with a midfield diamond (or what some would call a 4-1-2-1-2). Mourinho uses 4-3-3 with 2 wingers and 1 striker while other clubs use 4-3-3 with 3 strikers.

The diversity doesn't stop there. Sometimes, it's hard to predict if a manager decides to go offensive or defensive by looking at their formation. 4-4-2 with 2 central DMs is more defensive but 4-4-2 with AMs are more offensive. I've even seen Man City play 4-5-1 (which is what most people call defensive) but spend majority of the match attacking the opponent! Added to that, you can pick just about any tactic and use it with any formation too! If you count all the different permutations possible, it's really a wide range of choice to play the game! This is not yet adding to the fact that the same formation can be played with different kinds of players. For example, some teams play a 4-4-2 with a central playmaker or they can forgo the playmaker altogether.

Speaking about players, there's such a diversity in the types of players; virtually anyone can play football successfully. Such different skills are needed for each position, it's really quite easy to find your niche in the sport. Strikers are usually very offensive and have an eye for goal. Defenders need to be very good with their marking and tackling. Most midfielders are good passers. Players on the wing usually practice their crossings and dribbling. Of course, goalkeepers are very unique in that the skills required are mostly skills unnecessary for outfield players.

Even within the same position, different sets of skills can bring you success. Rooney is a striker who prefers to play in front of the defense. His strength is well, his strength, dribbling and pace. Van Nistelrooy doesn't really dribble but he is very valuable because he has an uncanny knack for finding the goal. Ryan Giggs and Becks were both successful wingers in Man Utd's treble-winning squad but with very different styles. Giggs is well-known for his dribbling skills whereas Becks is famous for his long balls. Vidic and Terry are defenders who prefer to just punt the ball away ASAP. Rio on the other hand, holds the ball longer and tries to 'play the ball'. All 3 are famed defenders. Many clubs often have players who play the same position but have different styles which give the teams different options.

Lastly, don't fret if you don't find yourself extremely good in 1 position. Another player that managers treasure is the utility player. He/She's the person that can play in a variety of position, thus allowing managers to move them around as and when needed. This is very helpful especially when managers have limited choices on the squad or more importantly, the substitute bench. Let's face it; we can fit all the different positions on a subs bench of 5 players. Phil Neville was very valuable at Man Utd because of this flexibility. Now, O'shea seems to filling that role.

Football is always evolving; allowing the diversity to increase further. Lately, the role of impact player has become popular (ala Ole Gunnar Solskjaer). Claude Makelele has a role named after him due to it's unique role as a play breaker. Towards the end of the 90's, the playmaker role was in fashion with players like Riquelme, Zidane and Ronadinho gaining popularity for playing in that position. Beckenbauer gained fame by inventing the sweeper/libero role. New formations have come to fame such as the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-2-1. These days, football becomes even more fluid with players frequently switching positions during the course of a game. The best part is: this evolutions comes with very little or no influence from changes to the law of the game!

In short, football's fluidity of movement and continuous play creates a whole host of positions, formations and tactics. I believe that the number of players are just enough to fill the pitch while leaving space for play to continue. Unlike many other sports, football is not a '1 size fits all' sports and that allows experimenting as well as diversity. I really enjoy diversity as it reminds me of life and how God has made it so life doesn't become '1 size fits all'. Anyone can find success in life, no matter what talents we have, no matter what background we come from. That's the beauty of life and football. Anyone can play it and everyone can be successful in it. And that, is what life and football is all about. It truly is; The Beautiful Game.