The modern footballer – 03/19/2024 – Tostão

To clear up some readers’ doubts about the previous column, the interview with Nelson Rodrigues was fiction. The words I wrote said by him were said in his chronicles. I didn’t invent them.

In Brazil and around the world, in the past and present, small teams, from time to time, beat the big ones, sometimes playing better, putting pressure on, as Nova Iguaçu, a team from series D, did against Vasco, from series A of the Brasileirão. . Could it be a zebra?

Every profession has its own language, conventions, commonplaces that are repeated. Football is rich in words, clichés and slang. I prefer expressions that are clear, explanatory, easily understood by kids and people who are starting to learn the technical and tactical details and rules of a game. It’s not enough to support, you have to understand to make football more enjoyable.

Instead of high marking, low marking, last third of the field and so many other fashionable phrases, I prefer to say advanced marking, deep marking, close to the area and the goal. The fashionable verb in football is to deliver, which would mean whether or not the player fulfilled what was expected of him. I find it strange, because I’ve never heard anyone outside of football use this verb with this meaning.

The word winger should only be used in teams that play with three defenders and use wingers on the flanks to defend and attack. A wing is neither a winger nor a winger. Another fashionable expression is lateral builder, which works like a point guard. I prefer a supportive winger, as he has always been, who scores, sets up and advances. Wingers are today called wingers by many. Tite completed with the expression disruptive wingers, for quick wingers and dribblers. I notice that the coach has been policing himself in interviews and using more common expressions. I miss Titês.

In midfield, in the past, the centralized playmaker who protected the defense and initiated attacking moves with a great pass was called a central midfielder, nothing more clear, as there are center forwards.

Over time, the central midfielder came to be called the midfielder, I don’t know why, as the word doesn’t say anything. Today, the best teams in the world usually play with a central midfielder (midfielder), in addition to a playmaker on each side, who marks, organizes and advances like an attacking midfielder. I prefer to call them midfielders.

Coach Ancelotti uses several tactical options from midfield to forward, but the team always has a trio of midfielders who play from one midfield to the other. Sometimes the coach forms a quartet in midfield and leaves two fast and skilled attackers (Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo), more in the center than on the wings.

This formation with the two Brazilians in attack is one of the several options that Dorival Junior will be able to use in the team in the friendlies against England and Spain. The coach will probably use the most common scheme in Brazilian teams, with two midfielders and an attacking midfielder in front of the two, as well as a center forward and two wingers who attack and return to score. This is how Brazil played with Tite in the last World Cup.

Despite England’s favoritism in Saturday’s game, it won’t be an upset if Brazil wins and plays well. There are many good players on the team and Brazil maintains the tradition of being one of the great teams in world football. I have hopes that the team will be strong in the next World Cup, with a good chance of winning the title.

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