Of mind as well as body. Over the ninety minutes the game usually goes to the fleet of mind rather than foot. Charlie Parker and Bud Powell on a day when they were talking to each other. Hidden under the fluid interchanges all teams play to the basic shape, the overall game plan in their heads. But the result will probably hang on the exploitation of an utterly unplanned split-second moment.
Soccer is existentialism with muscles.
Naturally, as the be-bop analogy inescapably suggests, it can all go horribly wrong. Watching bad soccer is as tediously painful as watching absolute beginners attempt tennis. But anyone who has taken part in a game, no matter how basic the level, knows that it possesses that characteristic of all sports worth playing. All you needed was a ball and a halfways horizontal playing surface. The men without work could seek to claim the self-respect their skill and bravery might now earn.