Beautiful football and the 'dark arts'

Most fans and many people working in football always want to enjoy beautiful football, but that goodwill is always hindered by the so-called efficiency, beautiful but losing becomes meaningless, not beautiful but winning then at least there is a place, a reason to rely on, to comfort. So in football, besides the beauty that many people always aim for, there are also the opposite things, that is, the bad, not beautiful things always exist, side by side here and there.

The Italian defender is famous all over the world, handsome, good-looking, and plays with unparalleled bravery. Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper

Hundreds of years of football history have left behind many tragic and funny stories, many lessons that cannot be “learned”. Just know that, even in the teams that play the most excellent attacking football, more beautiful than expected, in that formation, in that person, not always play fair and only fair.

On the contrary, when necessary, when the rules allow, an ugly situation will immediately appear from a player who is considered "sparkling" in the eyes of everyone. In addition to the occasional occurrence of racism that is always handled very severely, on the field there is no shortage of stories about "dark arts" and effectiveness, from the most prominent stars, the most successful teams.

Brazilian football has long been associated with the beautiful words “samba dancers” or “artists of the field”. But not long after hearing those beautiful words, Brazilian coaches were forced to put in their squads strongmen and warriors to be the backbone and pillars of the team. Names like Dunga, Casemiro…, receiving yellow cards in every match as usual, represent the change in the new playing philosophy to achieve success of the Brazilians.

The Brazilian team always plays beautiful football. Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper

Of course, there will be teams that try to find ways to "resist" the beautiful playing style of Brazil and any opponent, starting from Argentina, Uruguay or Paraguay, and further away from the European giants. Then, everyone knows the famous Argentine with the genius goal of Maradona from the "hand of God" and countless master tricks from the players of this team. And how can we forget the world's top striker Suarez (during the Liverpool and Uruguayan era) with the classic "bite" on Chiellini's shoulder at the 2014 World Cup, on Ivanovic's ear (Chelsea) in the Premier League more than once despite being heavily fined and being criticized and shunned afterwards.

But those are just typical examples of individual “dark arts”. For example, against teams that play attacking and dominating football, a team that wants to not lose and then win must inevitably focus on defense, even to the point of collective “dark defense”. That is how Atlectico Madrid of coach Simone played and won against Liverpool of coach Klopp in the Champions League last season. An ugly victory in the eyes of Liverpool fans but beautiful because of the victory, the beauty here is victory, in the eyes of Atlectico fans in that sense?

If we talk about pragmatism and the use of “dark arts”, it is difficult for anyone to compare to Argentina or Italy, although these teams have always had countless interesting and exciting things in history about both dedication and… dirty play! Maradona, at his peak, scored with both his feet and hands, played football “like a beast”, but still could not escape the stubborn marking of Italian defender Jentile at the 1990 World Cup. Zidane was so good, so wonderful, but in just a moment, he was immediately provoked by Italian defender Materazzi, received a direct red card and led to the home team losing the final match of the 2006 World Cup between Italy and France!

Just recently, in the EURO 2020 final between England and Italy, captain Chiellini was still willing to pull Saka's shirt very roughly when he was passed by and realized the danger for his team. In the previous semi-final, when starting the lucky penalty shootout, the Italians also "caught the ghost" of their opponents right from the draw, meaning they always practiced enough "vile tricks and dirty tricks" without breaking the rules, to gain an advantage for their team!

The Italian defender is famous in the world football field, handsome, handsome, plays with unparalleled bravery, always the fear of many famous strikers in the world football field. Yet there is still a very "interesting" story: before the match, an Italian defender used to eat a lot of... garlic, to gain momentum and always intentionally breathe hard into... the face of the striker accompanying him! Here again, midfielder Chielini recently wrote a memoir admitting to being "shocked" by the part about Suarez's bite, saying "he doesn't need to apologize for anything. We are the same and are both bastards when playing and I'm proud of that"!

To achieve victory in the context of a very strong opponent with a desire to win no less than anyone else, in addition to maximizing the strengths of individuals and the team, it is inevitable that "all of us must be bastards when competing" as Chiellini admitted. In the end, everyone must accept that a beautiful victory is the eternal, legitimate dream of many people and the reality makes it clear: only the final victory is truly beautiful, real, and can be held in the hand!