The truly beautiful game

Imagine playing football for a whole season, and every passing game ending with defeat. Those defeats not coming by a narrow margin, but with a score that would embarrass the most confident of individuals. Each defeat heavier than the one before, each match as one-sided as previously.

Add to this an inability to threaten the opposition defence, not only struggling to create a clear-cut opportunity but failing to score a single goal as a team since you began playing with each other.

How would you feel if that was you? You’d be happy, wouldn’t you? Smile through it all, applaud the opposition at the end of the game, look forward to each game, and play the game with a passionate love for what you were doing.

No? Well, you should.

After all, that is exactly what has happened to the little boys and girls of Margatania FC in Catalonia, Spain. The youngsters, coming together in an under seven’s team, are the subject of one of the sharpest, most heart-warming and genuinely brilliant videos currently doing the rounds on the Internet – l’equip petit (the little team).

l'equip petit from el cangrejo on Vimeo.

The team has lost every game it has played, sometimes by nine, sometimes by 11, sometimes with the potential to concede as many as 27 goals without reply. Not once have any of Margatania’s youngsters achieved the basic target of football – to score a goal. Yet, that is the last thing on their mind as they step out on to the miniature, dusty pitches of Castelldefels near Barcelona where they come together as a team.

Their philosophy on football, something that the youngsters are probably unaware they even possess, has been heralded as something to look up to by many, including Nick Levett, an academy coach at Fulham FC and FA national development manager for youth football.

Levett uses the l’equip petit video at numerous workshops across the country to set the scene as part of his drive for a better youth football platform for children in England. His presentations across the country, preceded by the l’equip petit video, endeavour to show where English youth football can improve to ensure that the enjoyment of the youngsters involved is the paramount priority.

Levett’s excellent presentation (available here) holds up many reasons why English youth football needs drastic redevelopment in order for it to become a healthier environment in which football can be played. Some of the quotes from boys and girls across the country are telling:

·       “I don't like it when we try something new and it doesn't go right first time and the adults shout at me” (WorcsU10)

·       "When people shout negative stuff it makes me just want to leave the pitch and go home” (Beds U10)

·       “Why do I have to defend the same size goal as Petr Cech?” (Josh, U11, Huddersfield)

·       “Why is the pitch so much bigger than last year? We’re only a little bit bigger” (DJ, U11, Huddersfield)

·       “25 minutes still to go ref! You must be joking. I'm absolutely knackered!” (U14 during a game on adult pitch)

·       “Why can’t we take one step at a time? It’s really unfair for the goalkeepers” (Alex, U11, Worcestershire)

·       “How am I expected to save shots in a goal that’s so big, when the adults come to take the nets down they use a step ladder?” (Adam, U11, Bedfordshire)

Levett’s main argument is the need for 9v9 games to take the place of 11v11 matches for youngsters in England, who feel dwarfed by massive pitches. From a personal experience, having to play on huge pitches, particularly as a goalkeeper, feels far too overwhelming to take in, especially having to defend goals where you can’t touch the crossbar or dive to either post from the centre of the goal.

An approach that replicates some of the continental nations, namely Spain, Germany and France, would see youth football return to a youth-orientated mantra, where the pitches, games, philosophies and expectations, from the children themselves but also the parents/adults involved as coaches/spectators, are all geared to get the best out of those playing, on both a developmental level and an enjoyment level.

The children of Margatania FC and those quoted in Nick Levett’s presentation share similar thoughts:

L’equip petit:

·       “What I like is stopping balls, and that’s it. I have a lot of work.” (Haritz)

·       (when asked about scoring a goal) “I’ll be happy, I’ll jump, shout… I’ll become crazy and that’s it.” (Haritz)

·       “If one day I’ll score, I’d be so happy that I’ll fly.” (Pol)

·       “We don’t care if we don’t score, because we have fun. We’ll score when we grow old.” (Pol)

Levett’s presentation:

·       “Setting your mates up to score is as good as scoring as they say thanks and stuff” (Liverpool U10)

·       “Losing is ok, its good to learn you don't have to win everything” (Beds U9)

·       “Not bothered about winning the league, the game is just for fun” (North Riding U9)

If in Spain, and other countries, these types of football philosophies are already working, then it is surely the right decision for The FA to take this approach on board and return football back to the children.

Rafa Benitez for England?

Benitez's greatest achievement at Liverpool was the 2005 Champion's League victory

The time is nigh. The déjà-vu feeling of a soon-to-be-departing England manager needing to be replaced is about to rear its ugly head in the nation’s press to a crescendo of Anglophilic patriotism, where only an English manager will appease the majority of the red-top reading cognoscenti.

Yet, for what reason? Has it worked in recent years? The last homegrown manager to assume the helm at Wembley was Steve McLaren, whose managerial stock crashed under the down-pouring of both the heckles from his own fans and the skies above his final, fateful match.

Harry Redknapp may be the favourite for the England job once Fabio Capello departs in a pre-agreed deal following the conclusion of England’s Euro 2012 campaign, with Stuart Pearce likely to be close by in the running by way of his stewardship of the under 21s.

Redknapp is an obvious candidate, due to his position as the most successful English manager currently plying his trade in the Premier League, and an uncanny knack of being able to motivate his players to perform on the greatest stages – something that England may class as a major weakness.

But Redknapp apart, (discounting Pearce as being anywhere near ready for a job of this magnitude) the scarcity of English managers suitable for the job is obvious, so surely the candidate pool should stretch to those born out of these shores.

One such man, Rafa Benitez, may be the perfect groom to take England, perennial bridesmaid’s since 1966, down the aisle of football’s greatest ceremonies once again.

The former Liverpool manager left Anfield for the final time in June 2010, and endured a torrid short spell at Inter Milan, where he felt the wrath of Massimo Moratti’s short shrift and lasted just six months. Yet, Benitez’s undoubted qualities as a manager would fit like a glove in international football, and his familiarity with the facets of the English game should bring his name into the foreground as a prime candidate.

By breaking down what exactly is needed to be a successful international manager, Benitez’s stock rises high above the majority of the available or attractive candidates. His prevalence as a tactically astute thinker – a student of the game for many years – is exactly what is required in a job with an evident emphasis on knockout football.

Those matches are music to Benitez’s ears. Think Istanbul. Think two Champions League final appearances with Liverpool, and a quarter-final berth with Valencia. Think of the UEFA Cup and Super Cup triumphs with Valencia and Liverpool respectively, an English FA Cup and Community Shield, and an Italian Super Cup and Club World Championship in just six months as Inter coach, and Benitez’s abilities to win tournaments where one defeat can spell the end of the road is a remarkable feat. This strength sits on top of his footballing CV, with the miraculous and unfathomable success in Istanbul in 2005 being the best reference possible.

Benitez’s ability to play the media game will also go in his favour should he become England manager. A job known to be poisoned chalice, not least by Harry Redknapp himself, involves a media circus which past managers (Taylor, Hoddle, Eriksson, McLaren) are only too well versed with. At Liverpool, Benitez was more than happy to face the media, with memorable press conferences covering the good, the bad and the ugly (“it’s a fact, no?”) side of his job.

Yet, he was always willing to answer the questions, and in doing so held no fear for his contemporaries, standing up to the managerial might of Mourinho and Ferguson at every opportunity. With the England job requiring a greater reliance on forming these understanding relationships with club managers, Benitez’s ability to talk openly and freely to his peers may be a hindrance at times. However, to quote an old proverb, a palm tree growing in the shade will not bear ripe fruit – the openness to talk to managers is necessary and should be respected, if not always agreed upon.

As a man who still lives in England (Benitez calls Wirral his home and his daughters attend a nearby school), the former Liverpool supremo has always made his sentiments to the club, and English football, clear. After departing Anfield, he made a substantial donation of £96,000 to the Hillsborough Family Support Group from his own pocket just hours before becoming Inter Milan manager. And recent speculation towards his future has heralded claims that Benitez has turned down job offers from clubs across Europe to make sure that his next job is the right one. Residing in England, there may be few to suit his requirements, yet the one that would do so perfectly may be just a matter of months away.

Unlike Capello, Benitez is fluent in English and bears a true understanding of the English game, yet acknowledges the need to move away from the archaic and failing 4-4-2 system on the international stage. Benitez’s tried and tested 4-2-3-1 formation, something he became au fait with in and around La Liga, worked wonders at Liverpool, and the oft-mocked zonal-marking system was far more successful than claimed – yielding countless clean sheets and one of the best defensive records of any club during his reign.

Most recently, Benitez has launched a blog of his own, www.rafabenitez.com, a statistical analysis of some of football’s subjects that he so intently studies as though he was a manager producing a case report to prepare for an upcoming fixture. What it shows most vocally is that Benitez puts pride in his work as a manager, going out of his way to forgo the punditry cashflow of his managerial colleagues to stay true to what he really cares about – employed or not.

It is time for the recrudescence of Rafa Benitez, and what better man to lead the English revolt against the tiki-taka of the Spanish magicians than a pupil of the philosophy itself.