While we wait for the State and Central Governments to ease the restrictions caused by the pandemic, we bet many of you cut short sleeping hours in June and July to follow the Euro 2020 and the Copa America 2021.
Football is a fascinating game, full of surprises and in many ways unpredictable. This is also part of the beauty of the game. Who would have predicted, for example, that some of the world top teams that were in the so called “group of death” – the defending champions Portugal and the last two world champions Germany and France – wouldn’t go past the quarter finals? France and Portugal were ousted even before that, in the round of 16! Yes, in Copa America we had less surprises with Brazil and Argentina reaching the finals.
As we watched some of the top countries in the world play, perhaps we can be more attentive to the technical details that make a team perform: team formation, attacking and defending positions, set pieces, physical fitness, agility in transitioning from defending to attacking and vice-versa, creating spaces, goalkeeping, et. These are the very issues that we stress in our coaching sessions day in and day out!
So as we enjoy watching matches, let’s hope we will continue improving our own games, learning from some of these top teams in action. And let the best teams win!