As football fever grips our island while top world teams lock horns in Brazil for fame and glory, boosted by excessive financial rewards, we realise that football is not just a game: its potential as a socialising power for players and genuine supporters, its agony in defeat and the ecstasy of victory know no bounds.
We are actually witnessing that football provokes more debate than politics and sex put together.
It is the first thing we turn to in the newspaper every morning and very often the last thing to watch in the evening. Quite often, the World Cup final dominates our weekends and dictates our calendar of events.
Undoubtedly, World Cup football, with its stark realities, occasionally conveys an underlying passion that no scripted television programme can regularly bring to the small screen. We have already seen games evolving into high drama as when two football giants, England and Italy, came crashing down from their lofty zenith to the bitter nadir of humiliating defeat.
Adepts of the game are fully aware that football can develop in song and dance, into comedy, into news, into tragedy often when least expected.
Since it presents all these aspects and it permeates our daily life, sport is no longer exclusively found on the sports pages.
Football analysts have come to the conclusion that to play the modern game, “you must have fire in your belly and there is nothing better to stoke this fire than brute force”.
Argentina, once dubbed ‘The butchers of football’, has emerged as one of the few burning beacons to show that skill and artistry should predominate over the other very important attributes, namely the three Ss: strength, speed and stamina.
Football provokes more debate than politics and sex put together
Nowadays, most teams collect all information on the tactics of their opponents and the strengths of individual players. It is easier to plan defensive measures to stop outstanding players than to adopt more open play and encourage innovation.
This results in greater attention being paid to defensive roles with midfield players instructed to fulfill their function in defence rather than assist in the attack. In my opinion, England was not so cautious because its midfielders were too committed to attack, leaving the affable Steven Gerrard in distress.
Defence in both technical and tactical aspects improved far more than the attacking techniques and, in Argentina, we have the exception that proves the rule.
I venture to speculate the future chances of Argentina while keeping the present in perspective. It is impossible after the fabulous match against Nigeria, with the ‘Fab Four’ – Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain, assisted by Javier Mascherano – sauntered seemingly confident throughout the whole match.
Although nothing is certain in football, I consider Argentina as the logical and rightful successors as world champions, a crown which they cannot fail to win fairly and much dignity. The exciting self-conscious talents displayed against Nigeria make their appeal to the football lover a fascinating possibility.
If football is indeed a synthesis of war and ballet, the ballet displayed by Argentina in their last game won the admiration of the millions of viewers.
As the battle rages on and off the field between the merits of entertainment and efficiency, Argentina combines superbly the two facets: a magical exception to the contemporary preoccupation with defence.
Lino Bugeja is a former national youth football coach.