Word: soccer
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...much of the world soccer has long served as a form of ritual combat onto which neighborhoods, tribes and even nations could project their most passionate enmities. When Real Sociedad, the pride of the Basque country, comes up against Real Madrid, the soccer symbol of the Spanish crown, it's more than simply an athletic spectacle involving 22 men and a ball. And when a Republic of Ireland striker puts one past the England goalkeeper in an international fixture, the roar heard across the Irish Diaspora expresses a passion that long predates the game of soccer itself. But just...
...While something as subjective and ethereal as a national soccer idiom may be by nature impossible defend in scientific terms, it nonetheless shaped the sensibilities of fans for generations. Whenever the fans of a lowly English outfit such as Bristol Rovers see their players exhibit a flash of uncharacteristic individual skill or imagination, they sing "Brazil, it's just like watching Brazil...
...sociologists liked to see in the national idiom a reflection of the stereotyped view of the national culture: German efficiency, the Churchillian fighting spirit of the British, the Afro-Latin rhythms of the Brazilian game. It was even suggested that the dinky size of Dutch living space made their soccer players more innately aware of space than most others (a theory which ought to make Japan a world-beater...
...Today, however, the cream of the world's players all tend to play their professional soccer in European clubs, where they're expected to conform to the discipline of the local coaching system. Not that individual skill and flair is completely knocked out of Brazilians turning out in England or Spain, simply that it's placed within the frame of a large, more disciplined and organized team effort. The European clubs seek the silky ball handling skills, speed and unpredictability of players who play the Brazilian game - whether from Latin America, Africa or even France or Portugal...
...combination of players and coaches migrating has tended to iron out national idioms, to some extent, and produce a version of the game whose tactics share a far great number of common characteristics. To be sure, the victory of rank outsiders Greece will long be remembered as one of soccer's great Cinderella story. But the way they won through - a superbly organized defense soaking up hours of pressure from more skillful and attacking opponents, and then winning by a single goal scored a quick headed goal on the counterattack or from a free kick or corner, left afficianados...