Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

1841 WORDS

5/27/06

ARTICLE

On June 9, host country Germany will open the competition for the [2006] soccer World Cup by playing Costa Rica, inaugurating a month of football frenzy. For the first two weeks, there will be three matches a day as the thirty-two survivors of a global competition that started three years ago are whittled down to sixteen by playing in eight groups of four. The top two teams [of] each group advance to a sudden-death round, culminating, after some 62 matches, in the final on July 9 in Berlin. Thus each team is guaranteed a minimum of three games, and the ultimate winner must prevail in seven games over the course of a month. Billions around the world will be glued to their television sets when the games are being played; this means early morning hours in Asia for the evening games. Millions will find ways to

Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

interrupt their work schedules. The national morale in winners and losers will be affected particularly by the sudden-death elimination games.

I will be one of those viewers and have arranged my schedule to accommodate its necessities. Most viewers would find it difficult to describe what it is about the game that so enthralls the world. They would probably identify it with their passionate adherence to their favorite team - a passion that, in America, is shared only [by] the fanatical adherence of major college football teams.

I grew up in Fuerth, a little town in southern Germany, where soccer had the status of football in Green Bay. Soccer in the 1920s and 1930s was played by amateurs, and it happened that Fuerth won the German championship there [for the first] time in a decade. I have not lived in Germany for many more decades than I care to admit, [but] I still follow the fortunes of that club, which has fallen on

Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

P.4

hard times in the age of high salaries and has been relegated to the
second division. It makes periodic efforts to emerge from this
condition but always manages to fall just short of the third place in the
standings, which would enable it to advance - thereby guaranteeing
the continuation of misery and hope that sustains the typical football
fan. (This is true even of Brazilian fans, whose national team wins
every third World Cup - a higher number than any other nation - but
not satisfactory to its irrepressible and buoyant fans.)

But those fans who go beyond the frenzy evoked by eleven men
on each side maneuvering a ball along a 100-meter long field into an
opposing goal [see] additional mysteries of the game reveal
themselves. For one thing, manipulating a ball by foot for prolonged
distances requires an activity analogous to ballet. Especially teams
that concentrate on this aspect of the game - like the Brazilians and
many South American teams - astonish one with their versatility and

Jan, 30 06 10:46P

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

abandon. On the other hand, they sometimes are so infatuated by their artistry that they forget that the purpose of the game is to score goals, and they are sometimes overcome by more elementary and

single-minded, tactically-oriented teams.

[The former - dribbling & passing but not scoring - are surely all tactics & no strategy.]

This is because only the rarest players - Pelé for Brazil,

Maradona for Argentina, Platini for France - can score goals by essentially solitary efforts. In almost all other circumstances, it is teams, not players, which win games. The reductive quality of soccer resides in the almost intellectual penetration with which the best teams move the ball down the field to solve the challenge, which seems so simple but is prone to turn into a riddle: how to get a ball past eleven opponents, with each side moving at high speed, one of whom - the goalie - is permitted to use his hands to intercept the ball.

This turns the game into an exercise like a mathematical equation, an ability to find uncovered open space, leading to a position from which

Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

p.6

to launch an unimpeded shot on the goal. The great field generals like Zidane or Beckenbauer had the uncanny skill of distributing the ball among their teammates in a manner that seemed inconceivable in the abstract and self-evident in execution. Soccer at its highest level is thus a game of complicated simplicity.

Over the decades the game has become increasingly strategic: When I first became a fan, the ten field players were distributed as five attackers, three midfield players, and two defenders. As a result the attackers usually outnumbered the defenders - especially as the players were not as well conditioned as today, so they more or less stayed in their assigned positions on the field. Since then a radical change in deployment has taken place. It started with the center midfielder becoming in effect a third defender and one of the forwards taking his place at midfield. By now it has evolved into reducing the forwards to two and deploying the remaining players in various ways,

Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

6

of which, for illustrative purposes, the 4:4:2 system is among the
most widely used. As a practical matter one of the midfielders is
usually assigned the role of libero that is to act as a "sweeper" in
defense, charged with reinforcing the most threatened position on the
field. Beckenbauer gave this role an additional significance by acting
as a sweeper on defense and like an American football quarterback in
directing the attack with his subtle passing. Whatever the formation,
the speed of modern soccer and the conditioning of the players lead to
a kind of total football, which means that, whatever the assigned
position of the player, his task is to reinforce the center of gravity,
attack or defense, depending on the situation.

The practical consequence is that goals are much harder to come
by and that defense tends to dominate over offense, at least compared
to the situation when I first became acquainted with the game. Teams
therefore play first of all not to lose and rarely launch all-out attacks

Jan. 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

unless, of course, they find themselves behind. Since the number of
points on the field from which a shot on goal has a prospect of leading
to a goal is finite, a disciplined defense can occasionally thwart a
technically superior team. Thus a superbly coached Greek team
defeated a Portuguese team of probably superior individual players in
the 2004 European Cup, and a very disciplined German team
overcame a marvelous team from the Netherlands in the World Cup of
1974. Similarly, almost every Italian national team over the decades
has relied on its tenacious defense to wear down the opponent. These
theoretical aspects can be illustrated by looking at the finals of the
World Cup over the last twenty-five years. I have attended seven of
the last nine and never cease to be mesmerized by their different
character[s].

My first exposure to the exuberant all-or-nothing style of
Brazilian football [was in 1970.] Led by the incomparable Pelé and an

Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

8

all-star cast of irrepressible virtuosos, the Brazilians overwhelmed a
very good Italian team by a score of 4:1. The Italian team scored
first, which usually in continental football gives it the opportunity to
apply its Machiavellian skill in frustrating the opponent into rash errors
by a give-no-quarter defense. But Brazil did not play by the book. It
abandoned whatever theoretical formation it entered the game with
and threw every player into a wild offense, literally running the Italian
team into the ground. Panache was aided no little by [the] high
altitude of Mexico City, which wore down the defenders [in] the brutal
semifinal between Italy and Germany. [It] was won by the Agguris
3:2 in overtime and [was] so rough that Beckenbauer, having
dislocated his shoulder, completed the game with his arm in a sling.

While offense triumphed in 1970, a psychological shift helped
turn the tables in 1974 in the game between the Netherlands and
Germany. The Dutch [team] was elegant and offensive-minded,

Jan. 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

inspired by one of the all-time greats, Johan Cruyff. It had defeated Brazil in the semifinal by the complexity of it[s] maneuver[s] rather than individual virtuosity. In the final it was awarded a penalty kick in the first minute, giving it a 1:0 lead. It proved a poisoned chalice. For it tempted the Dutch to abandon [its] finely tuned game in favor of an Italian-style defense. The Germans, led by Beckenbauer, thereupon threw everything into an all-out attack, reinforced by a frenzied home public. This led to a 2:1 lead, which Germany defended tenaciously through the second half.

In 1978, the Netherlands found itself once more in a final before a rabid hometown crowd. In an extraordinary game, the Dutch tied an Argentine team playing with Brazilian flair and European killer instinct in the last minute. But as four years earlier, they could not stay the course and lost in overtime to the home team, providing a demonstration of the healing power of soccer. Argentina was wracked

Jan 30 06 10:46p

Arshad Zakaria

973 425-1387

10

by near-civil war conditions and brutal repression so that official
guests had to move with armed escorts. But for forty-eight hours
after the Argentine victory, Buenos Aires celebrated with such
tumultuous abandon as to observe for a brief moment the bitterness of
the national style.

[ I don't quote understand this. Why bitterness? ]

In the remaining final, I saw Italy beat Germany in Madrid in
1982. An Italian team that had been lethargic in the early group
matches emerged as dominant in the finals. In 1990, in an uninspired
game a systematic German team overcame a hard-boiled and
uninspired Argentine side. In 1998, an elegant French team overcame
a Brazilian squad which, after a brilliant semifinal victory over the
Netherlands, turned inexplicably lethargic.

The most disappointing match for me was the final of the 1994
World Cup at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. As honorary chairman of the
organizing committee, I had hoped for a high-scoring match that

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might do for American soccer what the Giants-Colts football game of
1957 did [by inspiring] the public interest in professional football.

Unfortunately, the game was decided in a penalty shootout after 120 minutes of scoreless tactical maneuvering.

Altogether, in the seven games I watched, I saw Brazil, Germany and Italy three times each, the Netherlands and Argentina twice. The only other start went to France.

Will this elite be broadened in the World Cup about to begin?

Not having seen the national teams, I dare not make a prediction. I expect England to reclaim major role, though the recent injury of its star player Rooney reduces its prospects. This may be the year for an African team to emerge; their technical brilliance has so far been thwarted by lack of experience. The United States plays in a very difficult initial group. It would have to overcome Italy and [the] Czech Republic, both established soccer powers, to reach the elimination

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round. It if goes that far, the US team might reach the quarterfinals.

The German team has been a mystery. It has an inventive new coach and passionate public support. If it gets on a roll, it could go far. And there is always Brazil, which will guarantee excitement and fans aiming for happiness rather than endurance. We will know the answer by July 9. In the meantime, thirty-two games guarantee to shake the thirst for football of even the most frenetic fans - to the extent that their addiction to the game permits it.

05-28-2006 08:38 WIL 5405923639

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P.C

mag c1 uo uc:1sp

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## ARTICLE

On June 9, host country Germany will open the competition for the [2006] soccer World Cup by playing Costa Rica, inaugurating a month of football frenzy. For the first two weeks, there will be three matches a day as the thirty-two survivors of a global competition that started three years ago are whittled down to sixteen, by playing in eight groups of four. The top two teams [of] each group advance to a sudden-death round, culminating, after some 62 matches, in the final on July 9 in Berlin. Thus each team is guaranteed a minimum of three games, and the ultimate winner must prevail in seven games over the course of a month. Billions around the world will be glued to their television sets when the games are being played; this means early morning hours in Asia for the evening games. Millions will find ways to

05-27-2006 14:16 WIL 5405923639

PAGE2

2

Interrupt their work schedules. The national morale in winners and losers will be affected particularly by the sudden-death elimination games.

I will be one of those viewers and have arranged my schedule to accommodate its necessities. Most viewers would find it difficult to describe what it is about the game that so enthralles the world. They would probably Identify it with their passionate adherence to their favorite team - a passion that, in America, is shared only [by] the [fanatical adherence of major college football teams].

PAGE3

3

hard times in the age of high salaries and has been relegated to the
second division. It makes periodic efforts to emerge from this
condition but always manages to fall just short of the third place in the
standings, which would enable it to advance to a thereby guaranteeing
the continuation of misery and hope that sustains the typical football
fan. (This is true even of Brazilian fans, whose national team wins
every third World Cup - a higher number than any other nation but
not satisfactory to its irrepressible and buoyant fans.)

PAGE4

PAGE4
P.O.

4

abandon. On the other hand, they sometimes are so infatuated by their artistry that they forget that the purpose of the game is to score goals, and they are sometimes overcome by more elementary and tactically-oriented teams.

This is because only the rarest players — Pelé for Brazil, Maradona for Argentina, Platini for France — can score goals by essentially solitary efforts. For almost all other circumstances, it is teams, not players, which win games. The reductive quality of soccer resides in the almost intellectual penetration with which the best teams move the ball down the field to solve the challenge, which seems so simple but is prone to turn into a riddle: how to get a ball past eleven opponents, with each side moving at high speed, one of whom — the goalie — is permitted to use his hands to intercept the ball.

PAGES

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P.O.

[Y]

5

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PAGE6

05-28-2006 08:56 WIL 5405923639

The practical consequence is that goals are much harder to come
by, and that defense tends to dominate over offense, at least compared
to the situation when I first became acquainted with the game. Teams
therefore play first of all not to lose and rarely launch all-out attacks

PAGE7

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WIL 5405923639

933225045 TIM 5405923639 24:80 9002-82-50

inspired by one of the all-time greats, Johan Cruyff. It had defeated Brazil in the semifinal by the complexity of it[s] maneuver[s] rather than individual virtuosity. In the final, it was awarded a penalty kick in the first minute, giving it a 1:0 lead. It proved a poisoned chalice. For it tempted the Dutch to abandon [its] finely tuned game in favor of an Italian-style defense. The Germans, led by Beckenbauer, thereupon threw everything into an all-out attack, reinforced by a frenzied home public. This led to a 2:1 lead, which Germany defended tenaciously through the second half.

In 1978, the Netherlands found itself once more in a final before a rabid hometown crowd. In an extraordinary game, the Dutch tied an Argentine team playing with Brazilian flair and European killer instinct in the last minute. But as four years earlier, they could not stay the course and lost in the overtime to the home team, providing a demonstration of the healing power of soccer. Argentina was wracked

PAGES

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may 27, 1997 U.S. vs. Japan

10

by near-civil war conditions and brutal repression, so that official guests had to move with armed escorts. But for forty-eight hours after the Argentine victory, Buenos Aires celebrated with such tumultuous abandon as to observe for a brief moment the bitterness of the national style.

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not c/ us uc:isp

11

Altogether, in the seven games I watched, I saw Brazil, Germany
and Italy three times each, the Netherlands and Argentina twice. The
only other country went to France.

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WIL 5405923639

05-28-2006 08:43 WIL 5405923639

12

05-27-2006 14:18 WIL 5405923639

PAGE13

1841 WORDS

5/27/06

ARTICLE

morning hours in Asia for the evening games. Millions will find ways to
 television sets when the games are being played; this means early
course of a month. Billions around the world will be glued to their
games, and the ultimate winner must prevail in seven games over the
on July 9 in Berlin. Thus each team is guaranteed a minimum of three
sudden-death round, culminating, after some 65 matches, in the final
eight groups of four. The top two teams [of] each group advance to a
started three years ago are whittled down to sixteen, by playing in
matches a day as the thirty-two survivors of a global competition that
month of football trensry. For the first two weeks, there will be three
the [2006] soccer World Cup by playing Costa Rica, inaugurating a
On June 9, host country Germany will open the competition for

ARTICLE

1841 WORDS

2/27/06

2

I will be one of those viewers and have arranged my schedule to
accommodate its necessities. Most viewers would find it difficult to
describe what it is about the game that so enthralls the world. They
would probably identify it with their passionate adherence to their
favorite team – a passion that, in America, is shared only [by] the
fanatical adherence of major college football teams.

admit, [but] I still follow the fortunes of that club, which has fallen on
have not lived in Germany for many more decades than I care to
to the German championship there [for the first time in a decade].
and 1930s was played by amateurs, and it happened that Fuenten
soccer had the status of football in Green Bay. Soccer in the 1920s
I drew up in Fuenten, a little town in southern Germany, where
fanatical adherence of major college football teams
would probably identify it with their passionate adherence to their
favorite team - a passion that in America, is shared only [by the
would probably identify it with their passionate adherence to their
favorite team - a passion that in America, is shared only [by the
describe what it is about the game that so enthralles the world]. They
accommodate its necessities. Most viewers would find it difficult to
I will be one of those viewers and have arranged my schedule to
games.

3

X]

hard times in the age of high salaries and has been relegated to the
second division. It makes periodic efforts to emerge from this
condition but always manages to fall just short of the third place in the
standings, which would enable it to advance – thereby guaranteeing
the continuation of misery and hope that sustains the typical football
fan. (This is true even of Brazilian fans, whose national team wins
every third World Cup – a higher number than any other nation – but
not satisfactory to its irrepressible and buoyant fans.)

But those fans who go beyond the frenzy evoked by eleven men
on each side maneuvering a ball along a 100-meter long field into an
opposing goal [see] additional mysteries of the game reveal
themselves. For one thing, manipulating a ball by foot for prolonged
distances requires an activity analogous to ballet. Especially teams
that concentrate on this aspect of the game – like the Brazilians and
many South American teams – astonish one with their versatility and

many South American teams - especially one with their versatility and that concentrate on the aspect of the game - like the Brazilians and distances requires an activity analogous to ballet. Especially teams themselves. For one thing, manipulating a ball by foot for prolonged opposing goal [see] additional mysteries of the game reveal on each side maneuvering a ball along a 100-meter long field into an 8x8 meter field. (This is true even of Brazilian fars, whose national team wins the continuation of majority and hope that sustains the typical football standings, which would enable it to advance - thereby guaranteeing condition but always manages to fall just short of the third place in the second division.) It makes periodic efforts to emerge from this hard times in the age of high salaries and has been relegated to the

4

This is because only the rarest players – Pelé for Brazil, Maradona for Argentina, Platini for France – can score goals by essentially solitary efforts. For almost all other circumstances, it is teams, not players, which win games. The reductive quality of soccer resides in the almost intellectual penetration with which the best teams move the ball down the field to solve the challenge, which seems so simple but is prone to turn into a riddle: how to get a ball past eleven opponents, with each side moving at high speed, one of whom – the goalie – is permitted to use his hands to intercept the ball.

5

M

Over the decades the game has become increasingly strategic: When I first became a fan, the ten field players were distributed as five attackers, three midfield players, and two defenders. As a result the attackers usually outnumbered the defenders – especially as the players were not as well conditioned as today, so they more or less stayed in their assigned positions on the field. Since then a radical change in deployment has taken place. It started with the center midfielder becoming in effect a third defender and one of the forwards taking his place at midfield. By now it has evolved into reducing the forwards to two and deploying the remaining players in various ways,

forwards to two and deploying the remaining players in various ways,
taking his place at midfield. By now it has evolved into reducing the
midfielders becoming in effect a third defender and one of the forwards
change in deployment has taken place. It started with the center
stayed in their assigned positions on the field. Since then a radical
 players were not as well conditioned as today, so they more on less
the attackers usually outnumbered the defenders + especially as the
five attackers, three midfield players, and two defenders. As a result
When it first became a fan, the ten field players were distributed as
over the decades the game has become increasingly strategic:
thus a game of complicated simplicity.
abstract and self-evident in execution. Soccer at its highest level is
among their teammates in a manner that seemed inconceivable in the
Zidane on Beckenbauer had the uncanny skill of distributing the ball
to launch an unimpeded shot on the goal. The great field general like

6

7

8

[y]

Germany. The Dutch [team] was elegant and offensive-minded, turn the tables in 1974 in the game between the Netherlands and While offense triumphed in 1970, a psychological shift helped dislocated his shoulder, completed the game with his arm in a sling. 3:2 in overtime and [was] so rough that Beckenbauer, having semifinal between Italy and Germany. [It] was won by the Agrippina altitude of Mexico City, which went down the defenders [in] the brutal team into the ground. Panache was aided no little by [the] high and threw every player into a wild offense, literally running the Italian abandoned whatever theoretical formation it entered the game with by a give-no-quarterm defense. But Brazil did not play by the book. It apply its Machiavellian skill in trifattating the opponent into such errors first, which usually in continental football gives it the opportunity to very good Italian team by a score of 4:1. The Italian team scored all-star cast of intrepidable virtuoso, the Brazilians overwhelmed a

8

9

[y]

demonstration of the healing power of soccer. Argentina was wacked
course and lost in the overtime to the home team, providing a

In the last minute, But as four years earlier, they could not stay the

Argentine team playing with Brazilian flu and European killerinstinct

a rapid hometown crowd. In an extraordinary game, the Dutch tied an

through the second half.

This led to a 2-1 lead, which Germany defended tenaciously
public. They drew to a 5-1 lead, which Germany defended tenaciously
through the second half.

It tempted the Dutch to abandon [its] finitely tuned game in favor of an
the first minute, giving it a 1:0 lead. It proved a poisoned chalice. For
than individual virtuosity. In the final it was awarded a penalty kick in

Brazil in the semifinal by the complexity of its [a] momenta[er][a] rather
inspired by one of the all-time greats, Johan Cruijff. It had defeated

10

12

The German team has been a mystery. It has an inventive new coach
and passionate public support. If it gets on a roll, it could go far. And
there is always Brazil, which will guarantee excitement and fans
aiming for happiness rather than endurance. We will know the answer
by July 9. In the meantime, thirty-two games guarantee to shake the
thirst for football of even the most frenetic fans – to the extent that
their addiction to the game permits it.

12

their addiction to the games permits it.

that for football of even the most frenetic fane - to the extent that

there is always Brazil, which will guarantee excitement and fane

and passionate public support. If it does on a roll, it could go far. And

dround. If it goes that far, the U2 team might reach the quarterfinals.